It was mad, the rush to Antarctica. Crystal's training was cut short; demigod and Assassin weapons were bundled into a private jet; demigods and Assassins were crammed in alongside them and then Joel and Leo nominated themselves as pilots. Neither of them were co-pilot. They both had to be pilots. Leo insisted Louisa was the stewardess, but that only resulted in a violent threat of having his face smashed into the dashboard. Joel didn't even dare suggesting the same to Lucy-Jo, but he did say that there were probably stewardess uniforms in the cargo.

"How long until we get there?" Percy asked, leaning on the back of Leo's chair and frowning at the controls. Leo rested his hand on the dashboard and concentration passed through his eyes.

"I'm guessing about three or four hours, depending on turbulence." Percy just nodded and returned to the passenger part of the plane. Leo watched him go, his lips pressed together. "Make it three hours or he's going to kill us." Joel grinned, which worried Leo even more.

Crystal glanced nervously out of the window, the petrol station vanishing below the clouds in a few minutes. The plane reached fifteen thousand feet and still climbing in no time. Alvie didn't like heights, she recalled. That look of panic on his face and refusal to look down when they stood at the edge of the cliff. That felt like a lifetime ago, but she could picture it like it was yesterday.

Tears welled in her eyes and she turned away from the others, resting her forehead against the cool glass. Closing her eyes, she tried to get her mind set and ready for the task ahead.

Her first quest.

It was quite daunting, but even more exciting. She just hoped and prayed that everything went to plan. Annabeth had back-up plans and back-up plans for the back-up plans, but there was always that worry of something going wrong.

Crystal dried her eyes on her sleeve and took a shaky breath, sitting up straighter. The past was the past now. If- no, when this was over, she would set things right. Alvie might not like her anyway, but she would be able to say she had tried.

"What don't you understand?!" Alvie startled. The big muscle man- 'Strike'- slammed his fists onto the table, red in the face with anger. He had dismissed the lab coat wearing man quite harshly and was now demanding various, extravagant details from Alvie.

Alvie couldn't do it.

This guy was bad news- real bad news. Even if he could, Alvie would never give him vital information that could empower him and prove the downfall of others.

Strike's hand shot out and his fingers dug into Alvie's head painfully. He tightened his grip and growled, "You better not be wasting my time, boy. I hate time-wasters." Strike let him go, but only to smack his knuckles across Alvie's cheek. Pain flared across the left side of Alvie's face, his eyes watering. "Do you want to know what I do to time-wasters? No, you don't." He snarled, not giving his prisoner time to respond. "Answer the questions and I might let you live." He moved back, sneering at Alvie. "So, what are the plans of that wretched family of yours?"

Alvie felt his bottom lip trembling and tried to think, but his mind was rushing and he was sure bruises were forming around his left eye and to his lips.

Strike drew a knife, the steel blade glinting in the semi-lit room. Terror chilled Alvie to the bone and he would have given anything to run from the room, but his hands were strapped to the table with thick metal cuffs.

Alvie couldn't find anything and his voice was caught in his throat, too scared to sound.

This didn't sit well with Strike and he moved around the table with slow, deadly grace. He used a similar style; a similar pace to draw a fine scarlet line across Alvie's bruising cheek. "I'm running out of patience." He snapped. "Last chance or you'll find out what happens to time-wasters." Strike grabbed Alvie by the scruff of his T-shirt, the cuffs popping open by some unseen force.

Alvie was harshly dragged from the room, choking as the collar of his grubby T-shirt dug into his bruised neck. Strike purposefully dropped him a few times, kicking him in his battered, exposed ribs. He was underfed, exhausted, injured and beyond fear. His matted hair fell thick and shaggy over his forehead and his wrists were more bruised and blood-splattered than the rest of him. If Strike didn't get what he wanted, he had no fear of trying various means to get it.

But Alvie couldn't do what Strike wanted, he couldn't get the information. His mind, his powers- they didn't work like that. Especially not under pressure.

"Hold it!" A voice from the shadows called. Strike stopped and looked around, frowning and dropping Alvie. He placed a huge, booted foot on Alvie's chest, applying force. Alvie felt some of his ribs crack.

Two silhouettes stirred in the shadows, their features getting clearer as they moved towards the light.

Luke crouched next to Alvie, sneering. "Long time no see." He looked up as footsteps echoed around them. He motioned to Harvey, who sent a ball of light floating down the hall. Alvie fearfully stared after it, stricken to see William smiling back at him.

Harvey laughed and waved Strike away. The muscleman bristled angrily, not used to following orders, but this guy could do advanced magic with unknown sources. He wasn't stupid.

"We're all here, Alvie." Harvey smirked, his fingers closing around Alvie's upper arm and harshly yanked him to his feet. "Of course we are. Nobody here likes you or your stupid family. It's high time we won for a change. For starters, no more you." He pressed his hand to Alvie's head and blinding, white hot agony seared through Alvie. He heard a faint yelling amongst the shrill ringing in his ears, but he didn't think of it as him until much later on. It felt like every fibre of his being was being superheated and stretched to breaking point. His blood was on fire, his skin like molten lava, but inside it was like sub-zero temperatures, spikes of ice snapping at his small, starved and sore frame.

"Oy, wake up." Somebody harshly prodded Crystal in her side, making her squirm and smack them in the shoulder. She glared at the intruder, but Nico remained unfazed. "Get up and get your gear on. We're landing in ten minutes." Crystal nodded, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She started to get up, but fell back in her chair following a spot of turbulence.

"That was Leo's fault!" Joel called from the cockpit.

"Was not!" Leo argued. "You're flying."

"No I'm not."

"Joel!" Percy checked on the pair and saw that Joel had abandoned the controls, startling Leo into grabbing them.

"You're an idiot." Percy told him, looking Joel in the eye. His new friend just grinned.

"Why, thank you, kind sir." Joel turned his back on him and was suddenly secretive about pressing various and seemingly random points on the wall. Before Percy could ask what he was doing, there was a hiss of air being released and a secret compartment revealed a coffee machine.

"What?!" Leo protested. "Dude, no fair!" Joel just gave a maniacal laugh and helped himself to coffee, closing the door afterwards. It sealed and Percy could never tell it was there.

"I love being me." Joel grinned, taking a triumphant sip of his coffee. "Ah, that's good." Leo glowered at him jealously, slouching in his seat and sulking. "Ooh, it's Crystie."

"Crystal."

"My bad. I'm terrible with names. What's the matter?" Crystal pulled on that Artic camouflage hat, feeling tired already. She had demigod armour on underneath the Artic camouflage winter clothes, Assassin and demigods weapons concealed in the pockets.

"Nico just told me we're jumping out."

"We'll have parachutes." Percy assured. Crystal angered then and turned sharply.

"Liar!" She yelled. Percy heard his cousin give one of his wicked, trademark evil laughs and cracked a smile of his own. He left the two pilots to bicker over coffee and saw Crystal throwing seat cushions and anything else within range at her father. Nico batted the cushions away, saw the empty coffee mug and ducked.

"Violent!" Percy pulled Crystal back and located one of the parachutes. Lucy-Jo came over and helped secure it to Crystal.

"Right, after jumpin', count one thousand, two thousand, three thousand 'n' then pull the blue cord, 'kay?"

"OK." Lucy-Jo gave a content nod and went about helping the others get their parachutes on.

Crystal didn't mind heights. It was the jumping out of the plane bit that scared her.

Joel appeared at some point, bubbling with caffeine fuelled hyperactivity. He passed out ski goggles, giving Nico a pink pair on purpose. Crystal, Annabeth, Louisa and Lucy-Jo all point-blank refused to swap with him, but Tobias volunteered, trading in the snot green pair.

"I thought pink wasn't manly?" Max quizzed, setting a pair of blue ski goggles over his eyes.

"It's not pink; it's a light shade of red."

"Bull." Louisa cut across. They were all kitted out in Artic camouflage winter clothes with armour underneath and weapons concealed in all the pockets. Lucy-Jo, Neville and Maria had managed to find thick, insulated winter boots that matched their outfits and their shoe size. Tobias wanted to keep the outfit- he looked cool, pun intended.

"So, we jump out of the plane, find Alvie and make things go boom?" Tobias asked.

"Um, in a nutshell." Annabeth replied, peering out of the window. "Leo, when do we jump?" She called.

"Another minute!" He called back. "Joel, tie stuff down or something!"

"I want to jump out of the plane." Joel whined childishly, setting about with Leo's orders.

"You'll splatter." Lucy-Jo told him, acquiring her own parachute and tightening the straps. "Knowin' you, you won't pull the cord until the last second."

"It'll be a cool death."

"All hail Joel, the frozen and lumpy blood splatter on ice."

"With bits of parachute symbolising his amazing and colourful life."

"All the parachutes are black. Ya should know- ya made them." Joel glared at her. "Hey, you said black disguises all the techno-whatsits ya've got installed to hide us from radar, thermal 'n' whatever the other one was."

"X-ray, sonar, regular binoculars…" Joel added. "Lots of stuff. I could sell all this and live a very comfortable life, but I'm so nice and give it all to you horrible lot."

"Joel."

"Mm?"

"Shut it."

"Yes ma'am."

"Can we jump out of the plane yet?" Tobias called.

"Joel, open the door!" Joel grumbled something, moving towards the holographic laptop he had built into or illuminating the kitchenette counter. He pressed a few buttons and the door opened with a loud hiss, icy wind rushing about the cabin and threatening to rip up everything Joel had tied down.

He waved at them to jump, his shout carried away by the strong winds. Lucy-Jo jumped first, followed by Louisa. Percy and Annabeth went next, Tobias after them. Nico grinned at Crystal and fell out backwards, not even bothering to jump.

Max forced his way forward and put his hand on her shoulder, giving a reassuring smile. His lips moved and even though she couldn't hear him, she knew what he was saying- Together.

She nodded, swallowing her fear. Max held her by the wrist and they jumped together.

After the initial fear, Crystal quite enjoyed sky-diving. Max let her go and motioned for her to hold her arms out to the sides, feet apart. She mimicked and her descent slowed a fraction.

One thousand… The clouds whooshed past them, the icy wind biting into their very little of exposed skin.

Two thousand… the ice appeared below them, the sun reflecting from it and waves washing over the jagged edges.

Three thousand… Crystal fumbled for the cord, seeing Max do the same. He twisted away before pulling the chute. She yanked on the cord and her parachute billowed out above her, catching the air and giving her a sharp judder. Then she was falling at a slower, much more tolerable pace.

Max grinned at her, tugging his hat back down.

"That was so cool!" He shouted over the winds. She could only nod in agreement, marvelling that she had jumped out of a plane.

Her mother was going to kill her.

Harvey had only stopped his magic when everything started shaking violently. Alvie collapsed to the floor, pain thundering through every ounce of him. He couldn't see or think and breathing was just as pleasant as inhaling fire.

A part of him still had a fraction of sense and he somehow managed to drag himself into a nearby doorway. In case of an earthquake, sit in a doorway and make yourself as small as possible.

It was agony, torture, to move, but he had to.

He managed to regain a small sample of his bearings and saw the walls and ceiling crumbling, falling in chunks around him. His captors ran for it, shouting out orders. William was flatted by a massive shard of rock, his legs caught beneath it.

The shaking stopped. The building around him had been reduced to mere rubble and snow was already settling on them. Alvie shivered as a frozen chill soared over him and he tightened his arms around him, fighting to stay conscious.

His dad could make earthquakes, right? Was he here?

Hope flittered through him and he checked his surroundings again, but he only saw Strike clambering over debris. He ignored William's unconscious form and spotted Alvie. A smile as cold as the wind stabbing at exposed skin spread across his twisted features.

Alvie was going to find out what happened to time-wasters…

"Do it again!" Tobias insisted childishly, his voice crackling slightly over the microphone concealed in their hats.

"No. We need to find Alvie." Percy sighed. Earthquakes were mainly Louisa's speciality, but she and Lucy-Jo had run off, following Joel's directions and Annabeth's plan, to create a secondary distraction elsewhere.

"Can we break more buildings afterwards?"

"Maybe."

"Sweet!"

"Tobias, focus." Annabeth cut across.

"Yes, Mom."

They set off through the blizzard, visibility limited to a few feet. They had flashlights, but Joel warned the heat from the lamps and the light could be picked up by hidden sensors. They all joined hands- something Nico wasn't happy with- to keep together. Percy held Riptide, providing a small portion of light, and Annabeth's hand, offering her reassurance and courage.

It was hard, draining work. They had to trudge through thick snow and over ice while practically blinded by the harsh weather, but Tobias tried to make light work of it- "Can we build snowmen? How about a snowball after this? A free-for-all! Last man standing! Or… Hunger Games- The Artic Edition."

"Why don't you have an off-switch?" Nico growled.

"Dude, lighten up. If I had an off-switch, everyone will be bored and miserable."

"But they'll also be headache-less and not plotting your murder."

"Mom, he's gonna kill me."

"Nico, make sure to use frying pans."

"What?! Why are you on his side? I'm your son."

"You're adopted." Annabeth replied seriously. Percy snickered.

"Aw, don't tell him that."

"He seriously is though. I can get up records if you want."

"Leo, get off the mic!"

"No. I just thought I should let you know that we've landed a mile away from that building Louisa just levelled and that we're sitting here with hot chocolate and are trying to hack Hephaestus TV."

"Why?" Tobias asked curiously. "Am I gonna be on TV?"

"More ta the point," Louisa interrupted, "It wasn't me that broke that buildin'."

"For once." Leo added.

"I'm gonna drown ya in coffee if ya ain't careful."

"You wouldn't do that."

"Try me."

"No. I'm still sane and know not to, uh, dance with death or whatever the phrase is. Oh, it's so warm here."

"Yeah, you're gonna drown in coffee." Louisa confirmed. "Now shut it 'n' do somethin' useful."

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Whatever you techie people do."

"Fine. We'll hack the FBI and say there are two psychotic, blood-thirsty killers on the loose."

"You do that." Lucy-Jo grumbled.

"Anyway…" Tobias cut across, clearly looking to change the topic. "What about these snowmen?"

"Tobias, later."

"What's that?" Crystal pointed, dropping Max's hand. Max looked at him, following her point and then mimicking to get the message to the others. It took them all a while to see the beam of light jostling about. There was a faint yell and a sharp crack.

"Oh gods… Percy, you can't go under the ice, they've moved him." Percy stabbed Riptide into the ice and a jagged hole collapsed. He disappeared into the water and Annabeth called him an 'idiot' in Ancient Greek. "OK, fine. Everyone, move around and go towards that light. Within fifty paces, drop to the ground and crawl forward. Don't get seen and we'll surprise them."

"What about Dad?" Max asked. Annabeth sighed.

"He's going to break stuff."

"Ooh, I want to go with him now."

"You can't breathe underwater or will the water to push you forward at impossible speeds." Tobias paused.

"Can to." He mumbled.

"Really?"

"No, I just like breaking stuff."

They followed Annabeth's new orders, dropping to their stomachs and army-crawling forward at fifty paces.

When they reached ten feet or so from the light, Percy acted. He had clearly been waiting for them to appear.

A huge, watery serpent slammed through the ice. They all curled up and covered their heads as ice chunks rained down around them. The wind nearly drowned out the startled shout and the resounding thud. Percy's silhouette appeared, labelled with Riptide.

"You're too late!" They shouted, waving their arms about and giving a victorious laugh. Max scrambled up and launched himself at this guy, despite his parents' yells, but instead of tackling the man as expected, he dived past him and into the icy water.

Percy pulled himself together and attacked the man. "I have back-up! I wouldn't bother if I were you!"

"Back-up?" Lucy-Jo said over the microphone. "Ha! Get him ta look round… now." An explosion rocked sky-high, white hot flames and smoke pluming into the sky and slicing through the blizzard.

The man's expression faltered slightly and he angered then, drawing short swords and running at Percy.

Tobias crawled to the edge and peered into the freezing black waters.

"Max?!" He shouted. His call was replied seconds later when Max broke the surface. He was shivering, his teeth chattering. He was frozen to the bone, but that wasn't why he was despairing.

"I can't get him!"

"What? Alvie's down there?" Max nodded desperately.

"That guy's chained him to something really heavy and he's just sinking. I can't get him." Tobias shed his jacket, pulling Max from the water and wrapping the jacket about Max's shoulders. He dived in after Alvie, ignoring Max's pleas.

Percy slammed the hilt of his sword into the man's face, sending him staggering back and into the water. He willed it to drag the man down and noticed his wife was screaming at him.

"Percy! Alvie's in the water!" Percy saw Max kneeling on the edge, peering anxiously into the water with Tobias's jacket wrapped tightly around him. His hair was dripping thick icy water droplets.

Hurrying forward, Percy cast Riptide aside and saw Tobias break the surface, Max's nervousness mirrored on his face. Percy dived in, giving his eldest two sons some relief.

Alvie was deeper down than suitable for him and he was already unconscious. Percy drew a celestial bronze knife, willing a bubble about Alvie's head. He sliced through the chain connected to the weighted ball and hooked his arm around Alvie, kicking up. Despite the air bubble, Alvie remained unconscious, but he had coughed up some water.

Tobias helped remove Alvie from the water and Percy jumped up. He rested his hand on his sons' shoulders in turn and they were all dry, but still shivering. Tobias had gone a bit blue with cold. Nico had given him his jacket and Annabeth was fussing over the pair and ordering Leo and Joel to bring the plane around.

"Alvie?" Tobias managed, shivering uncontrollably. Percy felt for a pulse- it was there, but weak. Percy rolled him onto his front and willed the water from Alvie's lungs to come up. Alvie choked, but didn't wake. His breathing was steadier and his pulse grew gradually stronger.

The plane arrived a few minutes later, a ladder falling down. Percy put Alvie in a fireman's lift while Annabeth waved Tobias and Max up the ladder first.

Crystal followed Percy up, Alvie's unconscious and pale face staring down at her. He was as gaunt and as sickly as he had been in her dream. His hair was shaggier and dirty, his skin ghostly and taut over his bones. Her worry for him increased, but she should really just think about the fact that he was in safe hands now.

Well… over a safe shoulder climbing up a rope ladder into a flying plane with two hyperactive pilots.

Such fun.

Sorry for not updating lately. I've been working on this one for a few nights now.

And I will watch Atlantis- you know who you are. I just had to get the update down, but I'll try and watch it tomorrow! :D