"…Alright. What are you doing now?" Amphitrite huffed and put her hands on her hips. Watching as her stepson and his friends made their way through the abandoned water park. Dressed like outdated hippie. Even her husband has better taste in lousy patterns.
"So, Ares and Aphrodite, they have a thing going?"
"That's old gossip, Percy, Three-thousand-year-old gossip."
Amphitrite raised an eyebrow. Why are they talking about the old, stale news? It wasn't as if it was secret Ares often took Aphrodite to rendezvous outings. There was even a betting pool when and where he would take her, and what Hephaestus would do to them.
When they reach the tunnel, then Amphitrite understands why they are talk about that old gossip.
"How and why did you come here to retrieve them?" She asks, exasperatedly. She knew Demigod have ADHD. Her husband's bastard children are even more so. But if they deliberately side-tracking…
No.
It would be more likely Ares or Aphrodite made them do side-quest.
Honestly…
The Athena's kid traced the boat and said something. Eta.
Hephaestus' handiwork, then. And yes, Satyr can't smell anything. Automatons and machine don't have distinct smell. Though… what with this Echidna thing?! Is that why Triton raced out of the meeting room at the other day?!
The Demigods enter while the Satyr was left behind as backup. Sound plan… against monsters, not automatons. Percy must be triggering something when he reaches for the Shield. Eros' statues shooting arrows that left metallic wire in their wake, that magically weave with each other.
The Net.
Huh. So, this is how it works. First time Amphitrite saw the progress with her own eyes and not just the result. Look at how when the Satyr tried to open a way, only for the web tried to wrap itself around the Satyr's hands.
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, with special emphasis on the demigods, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute… Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…"
Oh.
Well.
Who to blame in this situation? The demigods, for being easily accept the side-quest, the one who issue said quest, or Hephaestus who set this all up?
The demigods tried to make run for it. Only for the mirrors to open and flooded the floor with army spider automatons.
Athena's kids become next to useless.
Severe Arachnophobia. Courtesy of a very angry Arachne.
This is one of reasons why Amphitrite didn't bother to pull Hera on her husband's bastard children. It will find a way to bite on her bottom one way or another.
Percy manage to drag Athena's kid on the boat and commandeered the Satyr to turn on the water. Amphitrite expands her senses and… yes. It still connected to main water tank, which means the plan will work.
If it doesn't… well. Here's to hoping Percy inherit the storm-making power and not the earthshaker. Both are destructive, especially in enclosed space, but Earthshaker even more so since it risk bringing down the ceiling on them. At least with stormbringer, high-powered one could blow the debris away, and low-powered one would short-circuit the automatons.
"…Two, One, ZERO! Begin Livestreaming!"
And… showtime.
Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. A tidal wave slammed into the boat, whisking the spiders away (and short-circuiting them as they slammed into the wall and explode) and dousing the demigods completely, but not capsizing the boat itself. It still, turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.
Percy seemed manage the boat just fine. Amphitrite know, if not for his boat and ship controlling power, they would've been thrown offboard the second the wave hit them, and drowned.
She easily swam along the current from under the water, having jumped in when the water explodes the pipes. Cannot risk being recorded. Who knows what stuff Hephaestus put into his cameras. Maybe one of them can see spirit or through invisibility. One cannot be too sure.
Well, she amended her opinion when the boat did forty-five-degree plunge, Percy manages it mostly fine.
Now there's new problem.
The exit was blocked.
The gates were chained, and blocked by two ships. One submerged, one cracked down.
She heard Percy order Athena's kids to unfasten her seatbelt.
Ah. They plan to jump over the crash. That was reckless, but that was the only way they are not ended up in bloody pieces.
Sadly, Amphitrite cannot follow them anymore. Unless she want to take a risk.
She can hear the Satyr complains about heavy weight, so she suppose they are fine. Banged up, but fine.
"Show's Over! Goodnight!"
And that is her cue that things are safe.
Emerges from the water, Amphitrite watch with amusement as Percy internally cursing the gods while nursing his bruises. Ares' shield strapped to his arm.
"We need to have a little talk with Ares."
Ah. So it was her nephew who orchestrated this all.
Huh. That was incredibly petty and unlike Ares. He usually set them straight to battle, not against trap. This kind of trickery is what one would expect from Hermes or Apollo, not the God of War.
Either way, Amphitrite need a placard and a marker.
To write down her score for the "show".
Then she will whack her annoying nephew with said placard.
Ares should know better than mess with demigod who's doing the god's work in preserving the world's balance and safety.
Literally.
