The door swung wide open all the way so it wouldn't close automatically when released. Nico stood in the doorway. He had a grin etched in his strikingly Italian features. His goatee looked like it had grown a bit on his chin.
Annabeth walked right through as Percy and Nico acted as though they had forgotten that they left the door standing wide open. Annabeth checked her map display in the top right corner of her mask. The women were still there as she suspected they would be. The dots were very slowly edging closer to the room. If Annabeth had to guess, she would say they were trying to figure out what kind of friends were with Percy. Probably trying to find a separate guy for each of them.
Then loudly in Italian Nico exclaimed, "Peleus! We can be so forgetful! We left the door standing wide open!" He walked over and shut the door. The dots in Annabeth's map were going at a steady pace down the hall. They knew that the walls and doors were all soundproof in this hotel. Something Annabeth had never fully appreciated until that moment.
Percy just chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed he had been on earlier. He looked over to where Daniel and Travis were sitting. Based on Annabeth's map, Travis had his earpiece and gizmo. She could see the gizmo, and the strong pulsing light on her map told her that his earpiece had been activated.
A message popped up in front of Annabeth's eyes. It read: The gizmos can only be activated by their earpiece. The earpiece can only be activated by its official owner. Therefore it can only be deactivated by its official owner. Its first use it can be activated by anyone once it's already been attached. Then it recognizes it's owner. We hardly ever take our earpieces off. -Percy.
Once Annabeth had read the message and comprehended all its information, her immediate thought was wondering how Percy managed to send it. She never saw him give any sign he was sending a message. She would normally think that was just the sign of a good actor, but he also didn't have anything to send a message with. Then Annabeth remembered what Percy had been trying to drill into her head since she got her earpiece and gizmo. They're operated by the mind. At least the earpiece was. She could ask about the gizmo later.
Annabeth decided to try to communicate a message back. She thought back to what Percy had been telling her. It helps to have a goal in mind. She had a goal and it was to send a message to Percy. In her mind's eye she visualized being able to type a message out then send it to Percy. Her screen filled with two boxes. One was empty and had the blinking bar that was always seen on computers when typing something. The one above that box had PERSEUS JACKSON written in green lettering.
Annabeth thought of what she wanted to reply. She finally wrote: Thanks for the extra info. You couldn't have said it during the brief lesson? It's kind of inappropriate right now. I thought you'd have some respect. -Annabeth.
She wasn't sure how to send it. She focused on sending the message to Percy through their earpieces. It took a few seconds of concentration, but the message disappeared and a small notice came at the top of her view saying message sent successfully. She herself was proud of the fact that she was learning all the things that Percy was trying to teach her by hands on experience and learning on the move.
Another message popped up. It said: Excellent job. I knew you'd figure it out. :) -Percy.
Annabeth figured that this message was the end of the conversation until they were safely able to speak freely. She just shut the message down so it wasn't filling up her screen, so she would be able to see her surroundings.
It was lucky she shut the message down when she did, because Travis was walking toward her. It wouldn't worry her except Daniel might think it was a bit odd that Travis stumbled over air and it also ran the risk of her cap falling off. As it was, Annabeth managed to barely get out of the way without drawing any attention. She had wedged herself in between the bed Percy was sitting on and the wall. She thought Percy probably noticed a shift in the mattress, but she was confident no one else in the room was aware of her location. Then she reminded herself that she didn't know what the masks looked like from the outside so they might all be wearing them and know her exact location from a simple glance at their own maps.
Travis emerged from the bathroom in a change of clothes. It was very minor. He was wearing a tan striped button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up twice. He was wearing very dark grey cargo pants with it. Annabeth noticed that all the men had the same complicated model of wristwatch. Something Annabeth added to the list of things to ask. The list was starting to get long again.
Daniel and Travis discussed the problem of Travis and his party having to leave by three. Travis then stood and said in Greek, "Alright. Let's get going. I'll check us out and you all just get to the van. Have it started so we can leave soon. We don't want to miss our flight."
The men all nodded and set out the door. Annabeth was ahead of them all. When Travis said had started talking to them in Greek she went to stand next to the door. Her plan was to be able to immediately slip through when the first person opened it. She knew at least one of them would see her on the map and allow space for her to get through.
As it happened, Percy was the first to approach the door to open it. He seemed to know where she was and her intentions. He opened the door and stepped back then turned to wave goodbye to Daniel. In the time he was showing his farewells, Annabeth skirted out the door. When she got out the room, she went to the right. She wanted to check if the women were still loitering in the hall. Not that she would've been able to do anything if they were, but she wanted to find out before Percy. She wanted to be able to be prepared even though she knew that she couldn't stop any flirting that might occur if they were there.
Thankfully, when Annabeth stepped out and looked up and down the hallway, she didn't see any sign of the three women. That improved her irritation that she hadn't noticed was present until then. She waited as the other men came out from saying their own goodbyes to Daniel. They, like Annabeth were all waiting in the hall for their own companions.
When Travis came out he was running and dragging a half-conscious Daniel with him. He just shook his head quickly at their questioning looks. The men all followed without questions running and keeping pace with Travis.
Annabeth was impressed by the amount of trust they showed when they followed another member without question even when he wasn't the leader. She quickly followed in their wake. Once they were all in the elevator, Travis had Frank take his place in supporting Daniel saying that he would have to check out and didn't want to draw more attention to Daniel's condition than he already would just transporting him to the van.
When the elevator arrived at the lobby, Annabeth hurried out first with Frank close behind supporting Daniel. Annabeth rushed to the van and when she looked back Percy was just stepping out of the elevator. Travis had gone over to the front desk to check out. The person at the desk seemed to be distracted with Frank having to practically carry Daniel out. Annabeth stood waiting by the door. As Percy went past her, he gently pushed her with his shoulder. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough so that she got the message that they needed to keep moving. They did have to leave at a moment's notice after all.
They arrived at the van and Leo ran ahead of Frank so he could open the back doors. When they were both wide open, he ran to the driver's door and jumped in. He put the one-way screen down so he could see in back. Nico was just stepping in when Leo turned around. Frank and Percy were strapping Daniel to a seat so he didn't fall out because of his half-conscious state.
"Keys!" Leo called. Percy stood, reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of car keys.
"I thought you had the spare, Leo." Percy said as he threw the keys to Leo.
"Nope. Nico does." Leo said as he turned around to start the van.
By the time Leo had gotten the van started, Nico and Frank had both chosen seats and sat down. Annabeth also went over and sat down in one of the swivel chairs. She checked her map display and was surprised that it didn't show the outline of any vehicles that were around. It just looked like they were in the middle of a parking lot. She wondered if she could pull up a more detailed map.
As Percy had been constantly reminding her, she concentrated on a more detailed and complex map. It took several attempts, but she got it through and she could see the outline of vehicles, many more borders than earlier and a wider range. The size of the circular map had grown slightly. It gave a wider view of things. It was still in bird's eye view, but Annabeth figured it would probably be the most helpful like that so she left it.
Annabeth watched Travis's dot finally leave the front desk and walk to the door. He came to the van speed walking. When Percy saw him approaching, he got up and shut the first back door. Travis jumped up into the van and shut the second door behind him. Once Travis's feet had connected with the floor of the van, Leo started to drive. Annabeth turned to look at Leo in the driver's seat. She noticed that he had already put the one-way screen up again.
Percy opened a panel and hit a few switches. Lights came on and monitors came to life. The monitor that was behind Daniel's chair stayed off and his chair had armrests come out from the side and rise up so they were further preventing him from falling. Nico and Frank turned to the monitors behind their seats and immediately started working on something. Annabeth was prevented from getting a better look by Percy. He had come behind her chair and turned it so it was facing towards her own monitor which, to her surprise, was on with the keypad out from the wall.
"This is your station. It is now your permanent seat. Not that you really had a choice. It was this or Daniel's lap which wouldn't have been okay with either of us." Percy said as he sat down at the station next to her.
Annabeth gave a brief chuckle before asking, "Are you making me a permanent member? Or is this just my station for the time that we're here?"
"For now, it's temporary. You're earpiece and gizmo are not. They are yours." Percy answered.
"Hey, Perce!" Leo called.
"Yeah?" Percy answered.
"I told you I want to change the name of the earpiece to headset. It makes more sense and you know it. We don't want to get the two confused or something."
"Leo! I haven't explained the other yet. We'll discuss name changing later. Just leave the subject alone for awhile, would you?"
"Sorry. You didn't give me specifics on what you told her so I didn't know."
"Don't assume I would tell her that immediately. I was planning on explaining it in a few minutes. I'm going to teach her the basics of these systems right now."
Leo nodded. Percy turned back to Annabeth with a slightly irritated expression. Percy raised an eyebrow at Annabeth's monitor. It was asking for identification.
"What?" Annabeth finally asked.
"Why haven't you logged in?" Percy shot back.
"I don't know how."
"It's fairly straight forward. All you have to do is give it identification. Who are you?"
"Does it want my name or my purpose in this mission?"
"Name. If it needs anything else to identify you, it will ask for it."
"Alright how do I type it in?"
"Just use the keypad."
"How do you suggest I get the keypad out of the wall and turned on?"
Percy raised an eyebrow. He reached over and clicked on a button on the keypad that said ACTIVATE. When he pressed it, the keypad came out from the wall and positioned itself in front of Annabeth. When it did, the button read ACTIV. She could then see the support it was on once it was extended. She tried to reposition itself and was surprised to see that it adjusted manually quite easily. Percy looked like he was greatly amused by watching Annabeth figure out how to run her station. She glanced over at the button again and it read DEACTIVATE. She thought that was different than what it had been when she last looked, but she was far too distracted to worry about that.
"You can retract the mask and armor now, Annabeth. It's quite safe in this van." Percy said.
Annabeth looked up from her struggle with the keypad. "What do you mean?"
"I mean your armor and mask are still active. You can retract them both now. We're safe inside here."
"I didn't know I activated armor and a mask. How should I know how to deactivate them?"
"Well you activated them with your mind immediately after you threw me off." Percy said lowering his voice. "You deactivate them with your mind as well. Also how did you not know that you were wearing your armor and mask, while you seemed to be using them to their full capability?"
"I don't know. Let me focus." Annabeth said. It came out slightly snappier than she had intended, but she was a bit too preoccupied to care.
When she was concentrating, Annabeth's ADHD mind noticed something. How did Percy know Annabeth had her armor and mask on when she should still be wearing her Yankees cap? She felt her head. Yep. The cap was still there. She made yet another mental note to ask Percy about that later along with a number of other things. She did take the cap off and Percy's amused expression turned to outright laughing. He was laughing so hard he slipped out of his chair and was on the floor of the van.
Nico, Travis and Frank all turned to look and saw Percy practically rolling around on the floor cackling. They looked at Annabeth and also started laughing, though not as dramatically as Percy was. They were just chuckles as they turned back to whatever they were working on.
When Annabeth didn't think Percy was going to sober himself up and the other men had no intention of assisting him, she stood up and attempted to at least drag Percy closer to his area. He had been laughing for a good couple minutes and it was just barely starting to waver. When Annabeth grabbed his hand and tried to pull him across the floor, he burst out in a new round of laughter. Annabeth usually wouldn't have minded as much if it wasn't also affecting the rest of the men. Travis's chuckles were becoming increasingly louder, Frank's were harder to disguise and Nico gave up trying to hide his mirth.
Annabeth didn't know what was so funny, she just wanted to get to the airport and onto the plane for Xi'an. Annabeth was attempting to figure out the complicated electronics of the A2 while going at speeds of 80 mph without a tutor that knows how to stay focused. Not the best way to learn a new skill. Traditionally the teacher should be someone that doesn't see something and immediately burst out laughing to the point where they can't stop even if they wanted to.
Percy finally was able to struggle into his chair again. He was still chuckling, but he was sitting slightly upright and he had the armrests come up. It did assist him in staying in the chair.
When Percy looked up at Annabeth and took a deep breath. He said, "Nicely done. You've successfully retracted your mask and armor. Excellently done. Now point the gun somewhere else."
Annabeth looked down. She didn't know holding a gun. She didn't see any sign of any sort of firearm. She looked up at Percy. His eyebrows were slightly raised and his expression was full of amusement.
"Did you not know you had activated your gun?"
"I still don't know. I don't even see a gun."
"Look at your gizmo, daughter of Athena."
Annabeth gave him a look, then turned her gaze to her gizmo. There was some barrel looking thing sticking out of it. It was angled up at Percy's chest. If it was to fire, it would probably kill him by hitting his heart. If not directly his heart, then a major vein or artery. All she knew was she didn't want it going off.
Percy didn't look overly afraid, more like a apprehensive nervousness. Annabeth practically stared down the gun. It's angle changed so it was pointing directly ahead and with the gizmo being attached just above Annabeth's knee that would probably fire a bullet right between Percy's legs. The barrel then turned directly up and folded so it was the same size as the gizmo. Then it seemed to mold into the gizmo and disappear.
Annabeth looked up at Percy. His expression had dropped the nervous air and gained a slightly amused one. "You didn't think that I would shoot you did you?" Annabeth asked him.
"Not on purpose, no. With the experience you have with this I can't exactly be sure that an accident won't happen." Percy said.
"Hey, I got the gun to retract!" Annabeth said a little defensively.
"Why was it out in the first place?" Percy shot back.
She didn't have a comeback. She didn't know why the gun had come out. She didn't remember requesting it out. When she looked at Percy, his expression was one that she didn't see on his face very often. His expression was exceptionally smug. It annoyed her, but there wasn't anything she could do to wipe it off his face except admit that she didn't quite know how to control the gizmo at that point.
She gave an irritated sigh and said, "Okay. Fine. I didn't know how the gun was activated. I guess I don't quite have complete control over the gizmo yet."
Percy grinned and Travis turned around with an astonished look on his face. As Percy opened his mouth to say something Travis interrupted loudly with, "Did Annabeth Chase just admit she doesn't know something? That's got to be a first. The most prideful daughter of Athena-"
"I'm Annabeth Jackson, Travis. Get it right."
Nico and Frank also turned around at this. Leo even turned the mirror to see the back easier. Apparently he had been listening in.
When Annabeth looked back at Percy he had this proud look in his eyes. "Thank you, Annabeth." He said quietly.
Annabeth gave a nod. His face was flushed a light pink. Annabeth turned back to her monitor. She had said that on impulse. She hadn't even risen to the pride bait. As she thought about it, she could feel a blush creeping onto her own face.
She muttered to Percy, "Just tell me how it activated."
"Essentially, it deployed according to your emotions. That's why you have to keep your emotions in check. The gun that you had out was a tranquilizer and would have hit me directly in my aorta, immediately knocking me out because of the direct injection to my bloodstream going to the rest of my body. You must have gotten a bit exasperated at me to want to put me to sleep."
Annabeth's face felt like it was on fire. As Percy was explaining it, the logic of it all began to make sense to her. His short speech also reminded her that she lost control over her gizmo and her emotions. That embarrassed her slightly as she had usually been the level headed one.
"So I lost control and that's why the tranquilizer activated?"
"Yep. That sums it up." Percy said with a small smile on his face.
"Why did you look nervous though?" Annabeth asked coming back to the slightly nervous expression on Percy's face when the tranquilizer was out.
"I knew why the gun had deployed so I didn't know if you knew how to control it enough and I don't think we need two unconscious people." Percy answered.
Annabeth didn't think that was why, but Percy expression told her he would explain more in-depth later in private. It raised her curiosity, but she didn't mention anything else about it. She just nodded and sat back in her own chair that she hadn't noticed she was sitting in.
Percy left his armrests up so he could lean against them as he was assisting Annabeth in operating her computer system. He gave her access to certain files. They were basic maps and information. He had told her that he was giving her information that she would need to have being the field strategist.
When she was working out certain potential issues, a question rose in her mind. She looked over at Percy to see he wasn't even working. The screensaver was displayed on his monitor and his keypad was in the wall. He was sitting back in his chair with a thoughtful expression on. His left hand was supporting his head while resting on its armrest. He right hand resting in his lap. His eyes had a faraway look to them.
Annabeth decided she would wait to ask her question when he seemed more alert to the world around him. As the thought came to her, the van stopped and Leo turned around saying, "Shut the computers down. We're getting out in five minutes."
Annabeth leaned back so she could see through the two front seats and saw we were at a red light at the parking lot for the airport tarmac. Why they were going to the tarmac instead of the parking garage was beyond her.
Leo pulled up to the back entrance that they had left from. There were guards in the same spot they were the last time Annabeth saw them. Annabeth assumed they were going to take the plane that they used to get there. Annabeth didn't know how it had come back, but she had seen the tail of it as Leo was pulling the van closer. She could have sworn that Connor had flown the plane away.
Percy had stood up. He had shut down his monitor. "Annabeth, I suggest you shut down your own computer. We don't want to have to rush more than we already have to." He advised.
Annabeth turned and hit the deactivate button on her keypad. She didn't know how to shut off the monitor, but Percy hit a button on the side of it and it shut off. The keypad and gone into the wall. Percy also put his armrests down on the chair as well.
Leo looked out the windshield then put down the one-way screen to climb in back. When he had, he put the screen up again. He nodded to Percy and Percy in turn looked at Nico. Nico also gave a confirming nod.
Percy turned and said, "Alright. Let's get moving. We need to be departing from here by sixteen-fifteen."
The other men nodded. Nico lowered the one-way screen and climbed into the driver's seat. Frank opened the back doors then doubled back to grab Daniel and help him stumble along. He had just woken up and was still too disoriented for walking.
Leo was the first out then Frank supporting Daniel. Travis was closely following them. However Annabeth didn't know if she should be in disguise. Apparently not because Percy grabbed her lightly in the crook of the elbow and gently pulled her out the double doors where Travis was waiting to close them.
The plane hatch opened. As Annabeth got closer, she was able to confirm in her mind without a doubt, it was the same plane that Connor had flown off somewhere. Connor stepped onto the stairs that had unfolded from the hatch. He grinned and waved. The men all started ascending the metal stairs that had been placed by the hatch.
Nico drove by and waved from the open window. When he drove by, the men all stood at attention and saluted. Then relaxed and continued into the plane. Annabeth thought that was odd considering Nico didn't even salute back, but she wasn't exactly accustomed to the traditions of the military or the A2 for that matter.
All of them got inside the plane and Connor seemed shocked to see Annabeth. "I thought you were planning on putting her on a public plane back to the states, Percy." Connor had exclaimed once they were all inside and had closed the hatch.
"Plans are almost always meddled with, are they not?" Percy reply came. He went to the cockpit and sat in the pilot seat. He put a headset on and that seemed to kill the conversation.
Leo went up to sit in the copilot seat. He also put on a headset. When he was settled in his seat, he shut a small door that separated the pilot seats from the rest of the plane. Frank, Travis and Connor all exchanged significant looks before taking seats in the front two rows. On each side of the plane there was only one seat, so Annabeth sat in the seat behind which she had hidden when she was a stowaway. Travis and Connor took the two seats of the front row and Frank came back to the second on the left side. He shot Annabeth a smile as he sat down and buckled himself in.
Annabeth looked around for Daniel. He wasn't in any of the seats and when she checked underneath them, she could tell he hadn't fallen out of his seat. She had not been paying attention to where Frank had put him. She thought that they would just buckle him in and he would be safe to fly. However, she trusted Frank's judgment and knew that he would never do something that was fatal to them or to Daniel.
Over the PA system of the plane, Percy's voice rang out, "Good afternoon everyone, the temperature's 83 degrees Fahrenheit. We are going from the capital city of Beijing, China to the old historic city of Xi'an, China. There is much history behind the city that will be saved for a later time. We will be taking off in about five minutes. Most flights would have safety instructions about now. Here they are: We can't crash in water because the plane has been secured against it. If we crash on land, we would all have been ejected safely by then. If Zeus blasts us out of the sky, we will thank the remaining gods that we have rubber lining on the outside, insulation, and seats. We will make it very obvious if we can't supply the cabin with oxygen and everyone is to deploy their earpiece armor and mask. They will supply fresh and clean oxygen to the wearer. This has been tested. If you don't have a mask and armor, you will be transported to a secure compartment that will supply fresh oxygen. For assistance ordering from Skymall magazine please notice there are no Skymall magazines. If you can't figure out how to buckle your seat belt, I suggest you make your way back to elementary school. Thank you for your patience, I will call into the tower and we shall be off."
Everyone, including Annabeth, had laughed at the Skymall and seat belt comments. She figured that he was mostly reassuring her with the explaining of the safety features. Along with reminding the men that they would have to remember to watch Daniel to make sure he stays safe as well. Annabeth assumed Percy knew where Daniel was even if she didn't.
They could all hear Percy call into the tower with, "Tower this is Ghost Rider Oh-nine-zero requesting takeoff."
He must have been cleared because the plane started moving. It began to gain speed and then the nose was rising off the ground. The tail quickly followed and they had taken off. They were inbound for the city of Xi'an, China with two good pilots and Annabeth was ready for a nice little siesta.
A/N: I've been doing my best to have fairly quick updates. A couple people have asked over PM if I work on a schedule and the answer is no. I just type when I feel inspired I guess. I post when I finish the chapter. Usually I'm able to get a chapter up almost once a week unless I'm preoccupied or can't get online.
This chapter was a bit longer than average again. Hope it was enjoyable.