Disclaimer: Oh no, darthwizard is making another story! Yes, I have, this story is being created for Nano November. It's partly based on an idea from another story I had called Fortune Favors The Bold that never came to fruition. I hope this story gets a warm reception from the Percy Jackson community. Anyways, I hope everyone who reads this follows, favorites, reviews, and enjoys this chapter.

Chapter 1: Olympus Is Falling

Fear And Loathing In Olympus

Rumble! KA-BOOM!

Save for the roaring thunder, all of Olympus was silent. Zeus was sleeping in his bed. Sweat rolled from his forehead and his anguished cries echoed in his great splendid chambers within the halls of Mount Olympus. He rolled under the covers. Morpheus was tormenting him with terrifying visions of what was to come. He saw great yellow stars and flowing red flags. He saw new gods replacing the old, and these new gods were far more malevolent than even Kronos. The world was changing rapidly, but with change came new beliefs, new philosophies, new problems, and the coming of a New World. Zeus saw it all, the rise of the empires in the East, the death of democracy, the downfall of Olympus, and the world burning in a sea of fire. No! NO! What he was seeing was beyond horrifying, it made him shake on the bed, and it made him grow angrier. America was going to fall from within, the people were frustrated, and all its power was vanishing. He felt it, even in his sleep, the lingering doomsday clock every god feared. The King of the gods would be no more. That was when he awoke.

WHOOO! WHOOO!

Percy Jackson awoke from his dream confused and disoriented, and his forehead dripping with sweat. He raised his head from the train window and looked around his surroundings. He saw the same familiar faces from when he left New York City. Percy sighed, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and silently thanked the gods. Even though he was 23, a working man, and a provider for Annabeth. There were still fears of monsters lurking about. When he left Moynihan Train Hall two hours back, he was completely wiped out from visiting his mother. Sally Jackson was doing well, and he enjoyed seeing her happy with Paul Blofis. He made sure to take his half-sister Estelle Blofis down to Central Park to grab ice cream. Despite his love for them, he felt like the estranged half-brother. Half this, half that, half demi-god, half in debt with student loans, and half alive. Before his visit with his mother, Percy spent a day at Camp Half-Blood, not that he really wanted to, but he did. That was four days ago, and while nothing had changed about Camp Half-Blood it was nice seeing Chiron and familiar faces.

WHOOO! WHOOO!

Percy was taken out of these thoughts by loud train whistles. The train shook as it went over a bridge and passed through the Pennsylvanian countryside. He looked around and noticed several businessmen sitting across from him chitchatting very loudly.

"Damn mess can't believe the election is two weeks away," said a posh peppered-haired businessman in a dark suit. "The whole world's going mad. Price of oil dropping and now we might have to worry about a dip."

"A dip isn't that bad," remarked a very young businessman. He had dark hair and a scar that ran down his nose, past his pale snarling lips, all the way to his chin. Dark black soulless eyes stared back at Percy, making him flinch as he heard the man say, "Means more profit. No matter what with how the US Dollar is liquidating, there's for sure going to be inflation."

A large chubby man walked into Percy's aisle. He was wearing a business suit and seemed to be in the company of the other Wall Street financiers. He was red in the face but still roared a mighty laugh while showing a newspaper.

"Polls are in, Hillary Clinton is in the lead. Now you little shits are going to have to fess up that trip to Aruba."

"Chumlee! What have I told you about making dumb investments? You might as well put a dick in your mouth and hum a hail marry," said the scarred businessman with a laugh.

Percy saw the electric sign on the wall read 30th Street Station Arrival 10 Minutes, the time itself felt reassuring. He tried his best to ignore their constant rattling about the upcoming US Election and how it was a good time to invest in gold and oil. He kept looking at the sign watching the countdown roll from 10 minutes to 8 minutes, but this felt like an eternity.

"Names Ronnie, you going back home?" Ronnie smiled at Percy, he didn't look too old except his hair was peppered, and he looked like he was coming down from a long stint at work.

"Uh, yeah."

"Tsk, figures."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means that you're not being pragmatic. Ever been a part of Wall Street?" Asked Ronnie while elbowing the scarred man's side.

"Part of no, but I've fought a major battle across it," Percy said, causing the three businessmen to become serious. "I didn't get any praise for it. I was young, like sixteen when it happened." Percy's sea-green eyes were met with confused stares.

"Occupy Wall Street. Remember that?"

All three men laughed. They had a mostly civil conversation, but nothing he really cared or gave a shit about. Even if he was interested in investing $50,000 with a net 8-10% annual growth it was all a risky gamble. A gamble he couldn't even afford. Percy saw the train shake as it eased onto the platforms of 30th Street Station. He followed the crowd of departed souls. He hopped off the train onto the concrete platform. There were many characters at Philadelphia's main train station.

Men wearing durags were blasting loud rap music from their iPhones. Loud Italians were arguing about prices to disgruntled bakers by the facilities corner store. Catholic nuns were sauntering together, all of them ignoring the cracked-up beggars asking for change. Metro PD in their black uniforms, batons grasped, and all dressed like GI Joe made chase after a hoodlum who tossed a merchant's display stand of Brotherly Love wares. "Come back here!" A Metro PD officer yelled while chasing after the hoodlum.

Percy moved out of the way, before walking towards the exit.

"It's good to be back home," Percy muttered to himself as he got onto an escalator. He instinctively wanted to make sure Riptide was still secure in his slacks. Upon feeling the pen, it made him calm down. Riptide was the sword of Hercules and had been in possession for over a decade. When activated it shined and glowed with intricately made Celestial Bronze forged so long ago it had an aura of mystery to it.

TuTxTuTxTuT

Percy Jackson took an Uber home. He watched the sun dip slowly below the horizon and by the time he got out of the car, it was very dark outside. He saw his ride fishtail away from the curb causing him to jump. Where he lived wasn't too far from 30th Street Station, on the East side of Philadelphia. There were the blazing neon lights of Dave & Busters near the water's edge of the city. The smell of toxic sewage runoffs and day-old crabs coming from the Delaware River. He pouted and went inside his dingy apartment building. Making his way to room 304, Percy sighed as he fiddled with his keys.

Jingle! Jangle! Cling! Clank!

"Damn it!" Percy's outburst brought his next-door neighbor from her lair.

"If it isn't Percy Jackson, you've finally come back home," Ms. Nadia said with a creepy grin on her face. She had gray hair and olive skin, and all-knowing black eyes that beamed in the fluorescent light of the hallway. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"Just a pinprick from a key, no need to worry about me. How were things when I was gone?"

Ms. Nadia smirked and came out of her doorway dressed in a thick black dress almost like a corpse bride. She sauntered over to Percy with a handful of letters and looked behind her before saying, "Here are some letters that were dropped by your door while you were gone. There were two strange men wearing suits who came by last night. I hope you haven't gotten yourself into any trouble?"

"Trouble, I'm not the sort to seek that out. Trouble just happens to follow me around. Did you speak to these men or see what they looked like?"

"No, dear god no. They had guns, and they were very big. I saw them only from my peephole because they kept knocking on your door for several minutes. One of them was a pale, black-haired man, who looked like the Grim Reaper. The other was just a tall, bald, and very large black man with a beard. I didn't call the police because they left and didn't break in," Ms. Nadia explained with much fascination.

Percy stared off into space. His ADHD was kicking in badly, and he wasn't sure what to think of two strange men with guns knocking on his door. Usually, most monsters didn't carry firearms, but that wasn't always the case. Nadia was a decent neighbor who wasn't too nosy, which unnerved him because she rarely ever was this talkative. She never once made any comments about him bringing Annabeth over or the few times he'd blast loud music when he had guests over. She was one of the few people he met in Philadelphia that he trusted.

"Are you alright?"

"I don't know," Percy said with his right hand rubbing his forehead. "This is a little unnerving."

"Of course, it is. The whole city has gone mad. There's always been crime and mischief in this city, but now I'm afraid of walking out at night. Now, just stay out of trouble. Do you know these men?" Nadia gave Percy an accusing look.

"I've been here for only half a year. Besides diving and visiting family, I rarely leave Old Town. Maybe they were campaigning for Gary Johnson," Percy said amusingly and with a toothy grin.

Nadia laughed alongside Percy and playfully punched his arm.

He then excused himself and went inside his apartment. Percy sighed and became unnerved by the total darkness of his home. He was afraid to wander around here, and it reminded him of his time within the realm of Hades. Shaking off his fear, Percy flipped the switch on his home and threw his backpack against the side of his refrigerator.

His apartment was very small. It contained only a living room and kitchen. A very cramped bedroom and an even smaller bathroom with a rusty showerhead he asked to be fixed since he moved in, yet he would have to wait until Black Friday to repair it himself. Boy was that going to cost an arm and a leg on top of student loans, health insurance, higher taxes, and worries about financial ruin. Diving to recover shipping containers, fixing pipes, and even minor welding helped to pay the bills, yet it was only in the Delaware River so with lower risk and shorter dives, came lower pay. Sadly a bachelor's degree in Marine Biology didn't bring him and Annabeth financial security like he thought. Diving paid more, but the jobs that really paid were deep underwater welding and diving expeditions. No matter how many times he brought it up, Annabeth put her foot down every time and even threatened to leave him the last time he brought up deep sea underwater welding. A six-month contract would take care of all their financial worries, and he'd even have money left over to go back to school.

"She forgets I'm the son of Poseidon. Be nice if she didn't act like Soteria (goddess of safety)," Percy said to himself while opening his refrigerator door and getting out a cold can of Heineken. He slammed the refrigerator door shut, turned around, and nearly dropped his can of unopened beer.

He saw the outline of someone watching him in the half-illuminated shadows of his living room. They were sitting down on his leather sofa. He saw purple eyes staring back at him. Their hair was curly but so black in the shadows they looked almost purple. Percy stared at this strange intruder in his home, he was startled, and he instinctively grabbed Riptide.

"Come and sit down," said a familiar voice that Percy had heard a million times before. It was Mr. D and he was now drinking a can of his own beer, which the god Dionysus crushed and threw against the floor with a loud Clink-a-ling. "We have a lot to talk about."