Enjoy.

Just when the car was running down the highway smoothly and steadily, music filling the inside of the car as the Hollywood star leaned against his luxurious leather seat, snoring and drooling, taking his sweet nap. The strong vibration coming from the brick like object in front of the wheel caught the driver's attention. The blonde eyed the road and took her eyes off for a moment to reach for the vibrating object. Lifting her eyes back on to the road to check for any change, she glanced at the screen, debating whether she should take it or not. When she was about to put it back, not wanting to disturb the silence mainly, she saw the caller ID, Luke.

Sighing, Annabeth slid her thumb across the bottom of the phone, accepting the call. She didn't speak, she was waiting for the other side to make the first move, like she always did with every conversation.

"We've got Nico here in HQ with us." Luke's voice came from the other side of the line, a feeling that sounded like excitement radiating off him as he spoke. Annabeth nodded in acknowledgement of the information, he was very obedient when it came to reporting and that was what she liked about him. "But, he's not co-operating." He voiced his concerns and the problem that he was facing, or more like the issue that they'd encountered and waited for their boss's response.

"With what reasons are you holding him hostage?" The blonde kept her voice low, glancing at the figure next to her, she had to make sure that Percy was still sound asleep - partially because the conversation was confidential, partially because she didn't want to wake him.

"I think we've got proves that he dug up the case." Her minion beamed at her, she could literally sense the enthusiasm from him even over the phone. Rolling her eyes, she moisten her lips in an attempt to get rid of some nervousness that she was feeling.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Castellan." She growled back into the phone, glancing at Percy, who stirred after her outburst. "Out of all the time that you've had, you chose this moment. Tell me this is the best you can do." She scoffed, "can you be more stupid?" She huffed.

"I didn't know what to do, because I just got the information and I thought I should act fast." He defended himself.

"You could've just informed me in advance, you idiot." She knew that she had already woken him up, so she decided to finish letting out her anger before apologizing. "Do you know how much workload you're adding on to my plate right now? Do you even have a fucking brain, Luke Castellan?" She paused, phrasing the last command that she would give him over the phone. "Just stay out of my sight for as long as I tell you otherwise." She ordered, hanging up before he could have a chance to even say a 'yes, boss', she was too pissed off by his timing.

"Fuck my life." She slammed her fist on the steering wheel, making the car swivel a little to the plantation next to them, but she quickly adjusted it and returned to the lane.

After a while of driving in silence, she could feel Percy's eyes on her, even from behind the blindfold, she could tell that he was focused on her and had been since he woke up.

"Sorry I woke you." She muttered the apology, only glancing at him to check if he still had his blindfolds on. He did. When he didn't reply, she started to panic, hoping that she hadn't enrage him. "You drool when you sleep." She blurted out before it could process through her brain.

Percy let that phrase sank into his brain, then he laughed. "You certainly are something, Annabeth." He commented, adjusting himself in the seat to a more comfortable position for him. "I like it." He then added, just to make sure that what he said didn't offend her.

Few moments later, when he was about to apologize, he heard a chuckle coming from her direction, sounding like her. "Thank you." She said between her chuckles. "I'll take it as a compliment then, Percy." She feigned courtesy, and he could feel the playfulness in her eyes when she turned to look at him briefly.

"How far along are we now?" He asked, sinking back down in his seat, finding the position more suitable for a blindfolded person like himself.

"We're almost there." She assured him, feeling guilty for making him suffer. "We're off the highway now, so there's only a few miles left." She almost said the name of the place out loud, but held it back. The decision was hesitant, but she thought it was necessary.

When she scanned her surroundings as she waited for the last traffic light to turn green, another internal debate had started in her mind. Should she give Percy a heads-up or not about Nico and what he was about to learn?

¢.¢

"Um… Percy?" She turned to her boyfriend, as she made one last turn into the lot.

The figure beside her stirred in respond to the call, but then it was it. Annabeth laughed lightly to herself. Reaching for the card in her chest pocket, she rolled down the window and handed it to the guard that was waiting for it. He took the card, swiped it against a machine that was behind him without looking at the content of the card, then handed back to the owner. When the machine beeped a green light, he bowed slightly, stepping back as the arm lifted in front of her. She eased the car into the opening. That was the last security to the parking lot on the ground floor and the second last to the garage.

"We're here, Percy." She gently placed a hand on his thigh, squeezing it and moving it slightly to alert him. "Wake up, sleepyhead." She cooed softly, observing the reaction from him. "Hey, if you don't wake up, I'm seriously considering on taking a test on you to see if I've drugged you unintentionally." Her voice raised a little as she punched his side. "Okay, don't say I didn't warn you." Rolling her eyes, she decided to follow through with her plan.

Making sure that she was in an empty parking space, she leaned over and peeled off the blindfold that was covering his eyes. A smile touched his lips after several failed attempts to suppress it. His eyes were still closed, but she knew he wasn't asleep now. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she reached over, using her fingers to carefully peel open one of his eye lids.

"Oh, so you're clean." She pretended to muse over her observation of his orbs. She was about to pull away when two hands grabbed hers, pulling them with it.

Annabeth yelped in surprise, but was soon silenced by his kiss. His hands made their way to her scalp, lacing it through strands of hair as hers mirrored the actions. As Percy unbuckled his own seatbelt to place a hand on her waist to deepen the kiss, she stopped him. Much to their disappointment. "Not here, not now, Percy Jackson." She chastised him, even though she got a little carried away herself too. "I'm the boss," in addition to her declaration, she planted a kiss on his pouted lips, "for now." She finished as a smile spread across her face, to cover up the other thoughts that were racing through her mind.

"Now get out of the car." She shooed him playfully as he feigned offended.

"Hey, this is my car, for your information, Miss." He opened the door and said before getting out. She stuck out her tongue and did the same.

Tossing the keys from a hand to another, Annabeth walked around the car towards the entrance that wasn't far from their parking place.

"This place is huge." Percy observed, "where is this though?" He mused to himself, but also silently hoping Annabeth would answer him.

Only nodding to acknowledge his presence, she handed the keys to a male and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and then set off to the car with the keys in his hand. Percy decided not to question, since she seemed like she owned this place by the way she was acting, such confidence and pride. He trusted her all along, so he decided to do it one last time.

They continued to walk down a long hallway that seemed to not have an end. There were several turning points, but she never took any turns. Reaching into her pocket where she conjured her card, she took out an earpiece and stuffed it into her ears. Ever since getting out of the car, everything about her had changed. She had not only ignored Percy, but had also acted more professional and in a more domineering way. He wondered why.

"Castellan." She said into the earpiece, while taking out her phone to check for the signals and the connections.

"Copy, boss." Came the reply from the person she summoned.

"Location." The one word demand made Percy feel like everything around him appeared to be like he was in the FBI or CIA archive, following an agent around. He wasn't aware of the conversion, until she took a sharp turn into an empty room that had the same level of quietness as the building. "Copy." He heard the blonde said as she locked the door behind him.

"Clear your pocket, Percy." She told him. He was relieved that she was still calling his first name, at least this was a part that was still normal. "I need you to walk through that tunnel for me, please." She instructed in a professional voice, but not a monotone like most instructors in the field. He obeyed; stepping into the dark hallway that seemed to be a few meters long. Reaching to the other end, he finally saw light again after submerged in the dark. Looking satisfied, Annabeth nodded, gesturing him to follow her. "Remember your locker number, it will be where your belongings are." She said as she pointed to the roman numeral written at the corner of the metal box. He nodded, once again, confused of what was happening. "Let's go then." She said half-heartedly.

He followed her closely, trailing behind her like a lost puppy. Annabeth constantly turned around to glance at him, but he didn't know the purpose of it. After a long walk down the identical hallways, turning in all directions that he could think of and lost in the maze already, they came to a stop. In front of them was a huge metallic drop-down door, like the ones in prison. Annabeth went to a machine next to the gate, the room dimmed as a stream of red-light came through the device, scanning her orbs then her face, then to her whole body. Finally, asking for a pin and then a fingerprint, the gate lifted. The environment was entirely different from both sides of the gate. It was obvious to him once walked through it.

The metallic door shut behind them with a soft, cushioned thud, but he still jumped nevertheless. When he quickly recovered from the shock made by the door, he saw a small smile dancing on her lips, so small that he almost thought he had imagined it, but it was soon proven to be real, because it turned to a chuckle then to a laugh.

"Was this another test of yours?" He asked, despite slightly annoyed at all the stuff she made him went through only to make him feel stupid and embarrassed. Her laughter ceased, shaking her head, she gestured him to follow her, again.

"Where are we going? Where is this place? What is it?" He spat out all the questions that he could possibly conjure in his gut like vomit, sprawling over her on her face.

"Your question will soon be answered. Every single one of them." She said. They've reached an empty working office desk with two chairs across each other. "Please, take a seat." She gestured to the chair that looked somewhat comfy. "Would you like anything?" She asked, walking to the mini bar that he hadn't take notice of until now.

"Actually, no, but thank you." He just wanted her to get to the topic and stop prolonging his misery, it was agonizing.

Annabeth nodded in respond to his reply and poured herself a glass of beverage. Walking back to him and taking the unoccupied seat across from him, she took a sip of the liquid and placed the glass on the table in front of her. All this time, she had her eyes glued to him like she'd never done before. It was creeping him out.

"I do apologize for causing your inconvenience, Mr Jackson." She started, placing her laced hands on the table in front of her. No matter how business-like she just sounded, the smile on her face gave everything away. "I brought you here today," she stood up from the chair and started to pace around the room with her arms in front of her chest, "with only one soul purpose." She paused, so did her pacing, as she turned to gaze at her client. "And that is to hand you a torch so you can find your way out of the darkness that had been purposely engulfing you." She started to pace again, her eyes landed on every object in the room, but just not on her client. It was a strategy. "I will try my best to keep everything simple, but you need to know that nothing here isn't complicated, and you will find difficulties and challenges on your way out of the dark, even with the strongest torch we can provide you." This was carried out much better than the ones that she had rehearsed in mind, perhaps she was more suitable for improvising than rehearsed drama? Although the respond she was getting was not what she'd expected, but at least the protocol was better than planned.

"So, in order to provide you the best torch I can get in my power, we shall start here." She stopped, pointing at the ground that she was stomping on and locked her eyes with Percy's. "This," she continued without giving him a chance to react, "is my office, the very heart of this organization and this building; also the safest place on Earth, for me." She added, just to clarify. He nodded, all the new information that he had been fed with was too much for him to register, there was no way that he could think of a question because the information was cramming his brain system, he couldn't think, let along come up with a quality inquiry.

"You want to know what I do, so I'm answering your question now." She walked to the desk that he was sitting next to and pulled open a drawer, taking out a stack of documents that had been nearly piled together, tidied in some order that she had wanted. "These are a small portion of the classified files that I've got, they're on international trade." Putting them back in and taking out another pile that was identical to the last. "These, are a small portion of the classified files that include every most recent report on our targets around the world." Repeating her previous actions, she started to introduce the third pile of documents. "The cases that we're associated with." She said and placed the last pile on the table.

They looked slightly different than the previous three, it seemed to be smaller in size or thinner in weight, but he couldn't really tell. "This is the collection of my very own investigations. Keeping track of my experiments and events that I should take notice of." She flipped through the pages quickly for him to have a scan. It wasn't making much difference to him. "So, that's what I do. I control the illegal trade across country and around the globe, because I am the single largest market in the world." She concluded proudly.

Percy gaped at her, not sure what to make of it. He knew it was only the start, so he wasn't sure if he could handle the rest.

"Hold your tongue, young man." She stopped him from saying a single word. "You get to decide and judge after the tour." She smiled, even that smile seemed distant and indecipherable. "Don't worry, it won't be long, because I am not going to show you everything in HQ, you're only going to know about the stuff that's related to you. My office is just a bonus for you, due to personal reasons." She winked at him when she said the reasons were personal, this made him relax a little, knowing that she hadn't completely ditched him.

"Let's go to our next destination shall we?" She held out her hand for him to hold, in which he accepted it gracefully. Leading him out through another door, he found himself facing a laboratory. "Welcome to my lab." She announced, gesturing to the grand room with her free hand and holding on to his with the other. She beamed at him when she saw him starting to observe, it was obviously a genuine expression, something from the heart.

"What do you do here?"

"All sorts of things." She shrugged, clinging on to his arm in an affectionate way, making his heart soar. This woman had always had ways to make him melt in the inside when she wanted to and when he most needed, he was more than impressed with her. "The list can go on forever."

"Is this, HQ, where you spend your day while I'm gone?" He asked out of the blue, but it was probably time for him to figure out. She nodded, not sure what else to add to it. "Do you spy on me or what? Because you're always home earlier than I am." He continued to voice his thoughts.

"Coincidence?" She suggested, immediately regretting the choice of word, because it was probably the lamest joke she had ever heard, let along made. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, "I do keep an eye on you and out for you." She admitted right after the apology.

He nodded, but said nothing.

Heading out, she led him to their next destination, somewhere with a little more civilization, or maybe, human activities.

"Castellan." She said into space, it took him a while to remember that she had an earpiece.

"Yes, boss."

"All clear?"

"Not yet, boss."

"How long do you still need?"

"Uncertain, boss."

"Useless son of a bitch." She muttered under her breath, hating the procrastinating habit of Luke's.

"I'm sorry, boss." She heard him murmur guiltily. "I'll inform you as soon as I'm done."

"Copy." She answered before pushing through a door that led them to a conference room.

"Percy, here's the background, take a seat as I explain."

Percy did what he was told and took a seat. Annabeth, on the other hand, walked to the projector and turned it on. On the big screen in front of them, showed a picture of two people.

"Athena and Fredrick." Annabeth introduced, not wasting another minute.

"Your parents." Percy said to no one in particular.

"Yes." She nodded. "What do you know about them, apart from the stories that I've told you?"

"They're criminals. Your mom's a drug dealer and your dad's a serial killer." He replied instantly.

"Very well." She nodded, again. "That's really all you need to know for you to understand this story." She said as she turned her full attention back on to him. "My parents died before my birthday, but how long exactly?" She asked him, trying to keep him focused and following.

"I don't know." He shrugged, finding it unimportant.

"A week."

"Okay." He nodded, waiting for to continue.

"Ten days before my birthday, they showed up at your old apartment, demanding you to grant them permission to access your safe, do you know why?" She made sure to keep her sentences short in order for him to understand better.

He shook his head to her question.

"I've told you briefly about this before." She patted his arm in an attempt to sooth him. "They were trying to scapegoat you."

"Why?"

"My parents are smart. They would never just die without stirring up something big while maintaining their legacy." She explained. "Even their deaths were planned." His eyes bulged out in shock, but she continued, not wanting to be interrupted when she didn't want to be. "Your brother, Triton is the trigger to the action of the scheme." She started. "Like I've said before, he's one of my mother's biggest customer, but he had low credibility, so my dad had to hunt him down in order for him to pay his debt."

"Yes, you've told me that he was murdered by your father." He remembered.

"But he never actually paid his debt." She shrugged, carrying on with her story. "So did you think they just let your brother slip? Hell no. They've pinned the debt on his family, and you're the unlucky bastard that got chosen to act as the bait, then as the victim, in the end, the scapegoat."

"What do you mean?"

"What's your favorite public pseudonym?"

"Riptide."

"And the symbol?"

"The one you tattooed on your shoulder blade."

"Correct."

"Why did you do that by the way?"

"To prove my devotion."

That answer silenced him. She didn't expect herself to just say it either, but it just slipped out.

"Exactly I thought." She said, going back to the previous topic. "What's the name of the ultimate poison that I've told you about?"

"Riptide?" He was unsure of where this was going and what she was referring to.

"Yes." She nodded in confirmation. "And remember I come clean to you a long time ago telling you that I lied to you in jail when I told you I've no idea about what's in the bottle you gave me?" He nodded. "That's Riptide. The last bottle from my parents."

"That's the poison that killed Triton."

"Also the poison that killed themselves."

"Can't you see it? They've even used the same method." Seeing Percy's confused face, she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Retell the story that I've told you about Triton's crime scene."

"There's a glass, with the word 'riptide' written at the bottom. Oh…" Realization struck him as he put the pieces together.

"Exactly, my parents' crime scene was the same as his, but no one made the connection surprisingly." Percy was still in awe at the discovery. "The purpose of calling the poison Riptide, leaving the name on the glass, hiding the gin bottle containing the liquid in your safe. The purpose of all that was to make you take the blame, make you become a suspect and to then scapegoat you. It was one of their ways to make their victim's family suffer and then to get the money that they've indebted."

Percy stared at her in utter horror. "But, why didn't anyone come find me?"

"Because the police were too stupid to connect the dots. I've told you this, they closed the case because they couldn't associate the name Riptide with you. That's also why I called you a lucky bastard."

"Is that why you didn't tell me and kept me in the dark?"

"Partially, yes." Annabeth nodded.

"What's the other part?"