Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and The Olympians series belongs to Rick Riordan. I do not profit from this in any way. Sometimes I borrow lines directly from the books but for the most part this story is AU. I just decided to put the original series in a blender to see what comes out.

A/N: Hey everyone! I know it's been a while but I've been both busy and life has kinda smacked me around a little. Despite all that I still write and plan to write fanfiction because it genuinely brings me joy. Thank you to everyone who has left a review so far with a extra special thank you to Tayeisnotamused. Yes, there was a bit of info dump. My bad. I'll try to do less of that moving forward. I also plan to go back and revise this fic once it's finished. So thanks for your honest reaction and thoughts. Now on with chapter 5.

Chapter 5: Buses Are Not Meant to Bend That Way

12 June 2007

Percy

The first morning after Camp Half-Blood declared war on the monster incursion all those months ago resembled a kicked beehive. Following the theft of Zeus's master bolt, and the sudden onslaught of monster sightings throughout Manhattan, camp came alive with an energy that can only be found in the anticipation of combat and the preparations of war. The forges grew hot to fill orders for weapons and armor. The arena, archery range, and various obstacle courses became filled with the growls and grunts of demigods honing their martial skills and learning to fight as a team.

It seemed to Percy that the morning of a quest brought the opposite reaction. Everywhere he looked as he strode through camp that morning, people seemed to almost be in mourning. The only sounds that Percy could hear were the birds chirping in the trees and the clinks and clanks from the forges. No one said hardly anything all throughout breakfast save for the occasional whisper and stolen glance his way.

"They're scared." Percy looked to his left to see Annabeth sitting there with the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes.

"What makes you say that?" Percy took a huge bite of bacon.

"You really don't see it do you?" Annabeth squinted a Percy in a way that made him self-conscious.

"Stop that," Percy said, unable to stand the intensity of her gray eyes.

"Stop what?"

"The look you do."

"What's wrong with the way I look," she said with a tone. It was a tone that usually indicated that someone would soon feel her wrath.

"Nothing," Percy sighed and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "Just…tell me what you meant."

"Whatever," she said with an eye roll. "I just meant that everyone is so quiet because they're scared. It's one thing for us to assign each other missions and go off to fight monsters but this… Percy this is the oracle. A quest given from prophecy. It means that something major is about to change. And for the quests to be given to both sons of the Big Three means—"

"That whatever that change is will be massive. Okay. I see your point."

"Yeah. Percy, you and Jason have powers the rest of us could only dream of. And to know that that power will be the difference between life and death for demigods everywhere is honestly…"

"Empowering? I mean… I am the best fighter at camp after all."

Annabeth grinned and rolled her eyes. "I was going to say terrifying. We'd be absolutely doomed if we had to rely solely on your brain power to finish this quest."

"Excuse you. I may not be a brain child like you but it doesn't mean I'm a complete idiot."

"Sure thing, seaweed brain," Annabeth said with a chuckle.

"That's still the dumbest nickname ever. And name one time," Percy said.

"Two words. Horse tranquilizer."

Shit. He'd forgotten about that.

"Fuck off," Percy grumbled.

Annabeth's resulting laughter made him feel warm in a way he couldn't name.

"Percy, Annabeth," Chiron called while trotting up, "Jason and his team will be going underway soon. If you are going to say good-bye, now would be the time."

The two questers thanked the old centaur and rushed off towards Fireworks Beach. They were shocked to find the beach crawling with skeletons wearing clothes from the civil war. Ragged muddy blues and grays seemed to be in a constant state of falling off the undead soldiers as they loaded supplies and weaponry on to an old steam engine ship, anchored just off the dock at the far north-western edge of the camp. It was the strangest ship Percy had ever seen. It sat low in the water like a submarine, its deck plated with iron. In the middles was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for cannons. A black flag waved from the top—a wild boar's head sat on an anvil with crossed lightning bolts in the background and the words Camp Halfblood emblazoned in orange across the top. The ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser with the name CSS Birmingham barely visible with the faded paint and rusted metal on the prow. Standing in a huddle at the edge of the dock were Jason, Beckendorf, and Clarisse.

"Where did you get this?" Percy asked as he approached the Golden Fleece quest team.

"It's a gift from my father," Clarisse said. Her voice always took Percy by surprise with how deep yet feminine it sounded.

"I didn't think the God of War could call up ships like that," Annabeth squinted her eyes and twirled her hair around her finger in a way that temporarily drew Percy's eye. He turned away quickly but not before seeing Jason smirking at him with a wink.

"The spirits on the losing side of any war are automatically cursed by Ares. They can be called back into service at any time he chooses. However, it is a one-time deal. Once they fulfill their oath, they are free to be judged in underworld instead of wandering the fields of Asphodel for all eternity."

"Pretty crazy right?" Jason said with a grin. "I wonder if I could do something similar with Zeus and downed planes."

Thunder rumbled in the distance and Jason rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Sheesh. It was just a thought."

"I'm going to go check on my modifications to the engine. Clarisse, think you can do a last check on our weapons, armor, and ammo supply?"

"Sounds like a plan," Clarisse responded. "Later Percy. Annabeth."

"This is so cool but I should probably finish packing. Percy, I'll meet you at the top of the hill in a couple hours?"

Percy agreed and Annabeth jogged off the beach toward the Athena cabin.

"So." Both boys said at the same time. Percy let out a weak chuckle and rubbed the back of his head.

"You first," Jason said while scuffing his shoe on a creaky wooden plank, his hands shoved deep into the hoodie pockets behind his celestial bronze chest plate.

"Right. Well, uhh…" Percy's mind was suddenly blank. What could he possibly say in a moment like this?

"Any, um, any last-minute tips?" Jason let out a weak chuckle at Percy's awkward silence.

"Well, you know the basics. Play to your strengths and allow Clarisse and Beckendorf to cover your weaknesses. And uh…try not to get too predictable when you're fighting, all right?"

Jason rolled his eyes. "I know how to fight Perce. I definitely don't get 'too predictable'"

"Yes, you do," Percy said flatly.

"No. I don't. I—" Jason responded and Percy growled a little as his frustration built.

"Look. You asked for my advice and I'm telling you, you're predictable. You use your powers to try and throw people off balance before charging in with a low spear thrust and then swinging the butt of the spear towards the head. If you don't have weapons, then you do the same thing with your hands and feet. Every. Single. Time."

"I only asked for your stupid, wrong, and totally unhelpful advice because you suck at saying goodbye to people."

"Why can't you just accept it," Percy asked while gripping his hair tightly. "I'm a better fighter and I'm trying to help you. I won't be there to bail you out of trouble this time. This isn't gonna be like camp. You gotta take things seriously for once in your life, Jason!"

"Oh, screw you, Mr. I'm-a-better-fighter," Jason said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Just because I prefer to actually have fun during training doesn't mean you're better than me. And I am sick of you always acting like you are."

"Training isn't supposed to be fun! It's supposed to keep you alive!"

"All the training in the world isn't gonna keep you alive if something bigger and badder than you really wants you dead! I'd rather enjoy whatever time I have."

"You'd get more time if you'd just—"

"Uhhh. Guys?" Beckendorf stood off to the side looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"What?!" Percy and Jason shouted together and then promptly went back to glaring at each other.

"Not to interrupt…or anything, but we really gotta go, Jason."

"Right." Jason picked up his duffle bag and stormed past Beckendorf without another word.

"Ooookay," Beckendorf said. He couldn't seem to meet Percy's eyes. "I'm just gonna head out then."

"Wait," Percy said. Beckendorf stopped and Percy sighed. "Please, Charlie. Don't…don't let anything happen to him?"

Beckendorf nodded. "I'll do my best. Be safe, Perce."

Percy returned the gesture before trotting off to his cabin to pack his quest bag and light armor. It didn't take him long. A couple dozen golden drachma, several hundred dollars wadded up together along with a small Batman lunch box containing ambrosia squares and nectar in a thermos. After stuffing a couple clothes on top and sliding in an extra breast plate, Percy took a second to look in the mirror. Like every time he went outside camp's borders—whether that be for a quick monster response, a routine quest, or even a midnight pizza run—Percy would take a few moments to look for the pieces of his mother in him. He would practice a smile to see if it was anywhere close to the way mom used to smile at him all those years ago.

Everyone always said how much he looked like his dad. And while that was true, people often forgot that he had a mother once. She was just as much as part of him as Poseidon. More so even because she was actually human. Now, on the cusp of a quest that would change things no matter the outcome, Percy found himself looking for those tiny flecks of blue in his bright green eyes. He found himself looking for that little bit of motherly warmth that he kept tucked away in the far reaches of his mind for moments like this. Moments where he was terrified and he felt like he really needed her. After a few moments, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No matter what, he would find Zeus's master bolt. Everyone's lives depended on it. He could sort things out with Jason once he knew the world wouldn't end.

"I'll do my best, mom. I promise." Percy grabbed his stuff and made his way toward the hill where Argus, Annabeth, and Connor were likely already waiting.

When Percy finally walked up the hill toward the long driveway that led away from camp, Annabeth was pinching the bridge of her nose as Connor prattled on about something. Both were dressed casually in jeans, a camp t-shirt, and various pieces of light armor strapped to their forearms and shins. For a second, Percy could almost imagine that the three of them were off to go play paintball, race on motorbikes, or other normal kid stuff. Instead, they were dressed for war. Annabeth sporting Luke's abandoned dagger sideways along the small of her back and Connor's 'watch' was the latest and greatest tech from the Hephaestus cabin, an expanding shield. The camp's security director waved at Percy as he approached the group.

'You ready for this, kid," Argus signed at Percy.

'No,' Percy signed back. 'But do I really have a choice? Someone's gotta do something.'

Argus nodded in acknowledgement and started walking toward the car.

"Since when do you know sign language," Annabeth whispered once Argus had gotten some distance away.

"Yeah, dude. That was pretty cool. I didn't think he liked anyone other than Chiron," Connor added as the group started walking down the hill.

"Nah, that's just a rumor some dumb Aphrodite kids started after he caught them out after curfew," Percy said as they settled in to the car.

"Gus is pretty cool once you get to know him. He started teaching me sign right after…I came to camp. Jason never really had the patience for it but I found it relaxing, you know? Talk without talking kind of thing." Percy muttered the last bit while watching the trees become a blur as Argus sped down the road toward Manhattan.

When he finally looked over, Annabeth was giving him that weirdly intense 'I might hit you at any second' look that she'd sometimes give him if he happened to be on the opposing winning team for capture the flag.

"What," Percy asked while crossing his arms.

"Nothing," she said quickly. She blushed and jammed her iPod headphones into her ears, turning the music up loud enough for Percy to wince.

Connor dozed against the window as they rode in silence for the rest of the trip. Eventually they arrived at the bus terminal in Manhattan and Annabeth punched Connor in the shoulder to wake him up. Argus purchased bus tickets for the three of them while they the pulled their quest bags from the trunk of the car. Once they were all set, Argus nodded at Annabeth and Connor. Then he signed something to Percy that made Percy blush. Percy responded by flipping the bird at Argus, but the security just grinned and sped away.

"What was that about," Connor asked as Argus drove away.

"Just a private joke," Percy said. "Anyway, we should find our bus before Murphy decides to say hi."

"Who the heck is Murphy?" Connor scratched at the back of his neck like he always did when confused about something.

"He means Murphy's Law," Annabeth said with an eyeroll.

"Oh yeah. Wait…what's Murphy's Law?"

"We're doomed," Annabeth said before she followed Percy.

"Annabeth, wait! Is this like something I could go to jail for? Come on guys, this isn't funny."

Once the master-bolt trio (as Connor had taken to calling them) had settled into their seats, Percy fell asleep almost immediately, ignoring the light bickering between Connor and Annabeth. He was once again plagued by images of the beautiful horse and majestic eagle fighting as an evil voice laughed and egged them on from a crack in the ground. Percy was also once again completely powerless to keep the two creatures from hurting each other, being nearly unable to move as if he were stuck trying to swim through molasses. He woke to Annabeth shaking him and asking if he was alright.

"I'm fine," He responded while standing up and looking around. "Where is everyone? Where are we?"

"We're at a rest stop in New Jersey. Connor went looking for snacks. All the passengers got off for some reason or another." Annabeth readjusted the straps on her fanny pack. Something about all the passengers getting tugged at Percy's senses however. It didn't seem right somehow.

"That's…kinda weird don't you think?"

"What? Why is everyone getting off the bus weird?"

Percy looked outside and there were a crowd of people standing near the vending machines of a small building. The rest point was tucked into the side of a hill, a small brick wall framed the road on either side. Near the southern edge of the parking lot, a forest loomed over the rest stop like a crowd of bullies ganging up on the new kid. There were no lines to the bathroom on either side. Connor was walking back over to the bus with a couple bags of fruit snacks and chips. Percy looked up and saw the sky was overcast, making everything darker despite it only being the early evening during the summer.

"Something's off," Percy said, voice so low it was almost a whisper.

"Percy, what is it? Tell me." Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder, her stormy gray eyes so focused on him that he could practically feel her trying to read his mind.

"I don't know. It…it's just a feeling but…something isn't right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters," Percy pointed at the crowd of people milling around the vending machine. "Why are none of them even trying buy anything?"

"Hey guys! You want anything? Those idiots aren't even trying to buy anything." Connor held out a bag of Funyuns to Annabeth and that's when Percy spotted 3 black dots far away in the sky.

"Huh," Connor said looking out the window with Percy. "Those are some funny looking birds."

"Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. Annabeth, did you bring your ghost hat?" Percy pulled his shield out of his quest bag and strapped it to his arm.

"Yeah. Recon," Annabeth asked while rummaging around in her back pack.

"Not this time," Percy said while clipping his quest bag tight to his back. It would be awkward to fight with but it was better than potentially losing it.

"I need you to go invisible," he continued with a slight tremor in his voice. "Use your little mist trick to get the civilians out of here. Convince the bus driver that he's a nature tour guide or something."

"And me?" Connor's mouth was set in a thin line with his eyebrows pulled together in a deep frown. It was the most serious Percy had ever seen him be, even in combat situations.

"I need you to scout the area and find a potential escape route in case things go south. It's flying, so it will be harder to follow us if we go into the trees," Percy said.

Connor nodded and tapped a button on his watch. In a matter of moments, he had a full celestial bronze shield on his arm.

"What are you gonna do?" Annabeth chewed her lip and wrang her hat tightly in her hands, rolling up the bill of the cap like a newspaper.

"I'm going to draw the attention of whatever is coming. Hopefully I can keep it occupied long enough—" Percy was interrupted by an explosion of glass and high-pitched screams of pain and surprise.

Connor was gone. Gone. Taken by something that had blown straight through the bus window with the force of a ballistic missile. When Percy and Annabeth stood back up, shaking glass and shards of twisted metal from their clothes, they immediately sprang into action.

"Annabeth, go! I'll find Connor. Get the civilians out of here."

"On it!" Annabeth jammed the Yankees cap on to her head and vanished.

Percy ran out of the bus toward the tall tree to the left of the road and put his back against it. He scanned the sky through the canopy of leaves, Riptide in his right hand and a shield strapped to his left forearm. The distant sound of cars zooming back and forth on the highway melded with the speedy thumping of blood rushing through his ears. Just when he found himself starting to a relax, a whip covered in flames began to wrap itself around the tree at high speed. Percy just managed to get his left arm up in time put his shield in between the whip and his body. While happy to be alive, Percy winced as the heat of the flames licked at his face and pushed his arm into an awkward angle against his body. Before he could begin to try to wiggle free, one of the worst monsters of Ancient Greek legend landed in front of him. A Kindly One. The Fury known as Alecto.

Glittery black eyes like embers trapped in charcoal glared hatefully at Percy. Alecto's mouth was pulled back into a snarl with nostrils flaring hard enough to create lift off if the giant bat-like wings on her back failed. Percy would've gagged at the smell of rotting eggs and meat of her breath if he wasn't so terrified of her tightening the whip. After a few moments of staring, she finally spoke.

"Where is it?" Her voice always reminded Percy of the rusted wheels of a train grinding to a halt from full speed on a track.

"I—I don't…know…what you're…talking about," Percy said through gritted teeth, sweat dripping into his mouth from the heat of the flames.

Alecto's head tilted at unnatural speed to the right, almost like a twitch.

"Interesting. I know your words to be lies, but I can detect the truth. Perhaps, someone has hidden it for you?"

"Hidden what?"

"Do not feign ignorance! You know what we seek!" Alecto's shouting was worse than her whisper and Percy cringed at her closeness.

Percy notices that no civilians lingered near the vending machines. It was now just him and a monster from hell. A monster who hadn't noticed that his sword hand was still free. Who didn't notice that her whip had suddenly gone a little slack on the backside of the tree. Time to let loose.

"You know what, Alecto. You're right. I know exactly what you're looking for. In fact, me and my friends are looking for it too. So, I'll make you a deal. How about you let me go, and I won't kill you."

"You dare!" Alecto's clawed hand grabbed Percy by the throat, but he just smiled.

"Okay," Percy brought the tip of his sword up and into the Fury's forearm. "Death it is."

The whip dropped as Alecto clutched a her forearm, letting out a high-pitched scream as Percy used the tree as a spring board and bulldozed her with his shield. Alecto then flapped her wings to create distance. Once she was upright, Percy and Alecto began a delicate but deadly dance as Alecto tried to take Percy's head with her razor-sharp claws with all manner of swipes and grabs. Percy meanwhile was simply trying to survive the sudden vicious onslaught with every sword move he knew in the book. The exchange was pushing his reflexes and timing to their limit. He realized after the first ten seconds of not dying that he had been way too cocky. There was a reason that The Kindly Ones were Hades' chief punishers.

Something eventually had to give however, and right as Percy ducked another claw swipe, Alecto spun too fast for Percy to react and swept his legs out from under him with her wing. She pinned his sword arm to the ground with her foot and both hands gripped Percy's shield as they grappled for dominance in the parking lot of a New Jersey rest stop.

"Where is it? We know you took it," Alecto shrieked.

"You've…got…really bad breath," Percy responded as he struggled to maintain hold of his shield with every thing fiber of his being.

Suddenly, Alecto screamed and clutched at something on her back. The fury reached back and the blonde-haired daughter of Athena shimmered into existence. Annabeth screamed as she was flung at a nearby car, leaving a dent in the side. She struggled to get back up.

"Annabeth!" Percy growled and the ground began to shake, knocking Alecto off balance. Percy pulled his knees to his chest and mule kicked Alecto as hard as he could clear across the parking lot and into the side of their bus from New York. She hit the bus with enough force to fold the frame slightly around her body. She dropped to the ground dazed. Percy got to his feet and began looking around for Annabeth who was no longer near the car. He picked up her hat and as he was stowing it in his quest bag, he heard Connor shouting at him from behind him.

"Over here!" One of Annabeth's arms was around Connor's shoulders and the older held her head.

"Percy! This way! We gotta get out of here. The cops are coming!"

Percy took a moment to look at the destruction the fight had wrought on the parking lot. If the fight with the Furies had caused that much destruction, there was no way he could let a fight between the gods break out. He shouldered his bag and trotted gingerly over to Connor at the edge of the wood line. He took one last look and all three demigods continued on into the forest away from the sound of police sirens and angry Furies.