Chapter 18
Disclaimer: For the life of me I don't know why, but they still won't give me the rights to PJO. Motherfuckers.
This chapter was betaed by Anon516, so credit goes to them for any quality-of-life improvements you find in this chapter to separate it from the rest.
The next week went by very strangely. Percy and the hunters made their way to Camp, and it was a very slow journey. Every day they would wake up in their tents, have breakfast, then break camp and walk towards Camp Half-Blood for a few hours, then they would have to stop, remake their camp, train for a little while, eat dinner, sleep, and then repeat the whole yet again. For someone like Percy, who had lived his life very pragmatically for the last 20 years and had the stamina of Gods, the whole thing was slightly maddening. But he didn't say anything. He and Artemis had worked out a kind of truce. They weren't friends by any means, but they could hold a conversation without screaming. He figured that was a positive step.
He was mostly ok with a few of the hunters. It seemed like there was a strange kind of hierarchy within them. Roughly half of the hunters accepted Thalia as their lieutenant and followed her orders. But the other half - the older half - saw her as unworthy of leading them, and instead treated Phoebe as their lieutenant. Apparently, when Artemis had promoted Thalia to be lieutenant, there had been quite a few objections. Of course, they were never voiced directly. Challenging a Goddess on what she was doing with her own hunt was a pretty bad idea.
While the group that followed Phoebe never outwardly rebelled, there was a very clear divide between the two factions. After staying with them for a week, Percy had identified them all. His interrogation training had become a reflex to him after 10 years of learning. His interrogation training had been far more than simply learning the best ways to torture people. He learned how to extract information from people without them even realizing what they were saying. A few casual conversations with a few select hunters had been all he had needed to learn everything he needed to know about them.
Phoebe herself seemed to have a problem with him, though he didn't know why. He knew she hated men because she was insanely sexist, but he seemed to piss her off even more than average. He kind of took pride in that. Of course, the fact that she hated him meant that her faction detested him all the same. From what he gathered, Artemis had spoken to the hunters and advised them not to mess with him too much. After witnessing his performance against an entire army of monsters, she knew that he was pretty powerful. She told them that messing with him wouldn't end well for them. That didn't stop Phoebe and her minions from trying.
Every so often, an arrow would fly at him during training. There was always the same fake apology after. The excuses they came up with were laughable.
"Sorry, we didn't see you there." they would say in those tones that told him they weren't even trying to be sincere.
The idea that they didn't see him, genuinely made him laugh. He was almost a foot taller than most of them, and twice their width. It was impossible not to see him. But apparently, they found a way.
He had made some decent progress on his mission throughout their journey, but not nearly as much as he had hoped. The course on ethical hacking which he had found would be perfect for him. They had a glowing reputation and they were right in New York. As soon as the hunters were safely at camp, which he estimated would be another few days, he could take a few courses and learn what he needed to. If they could just get him started, and establish a foundation of knowledge, then he was confident that he could progress by himself. Not to the level of a pro, but he could learn what he needed to.
Aside from that, he worked on finding the terrorists. He knew that there were a few likely locations where they would want to stay, and as soon as he figured out their frame of mind, he pulled out a few maps of the areas that they had already attacked. An hour after that, he had the search narrowed down to 4 blocks per city. It was all about putting himself in their place. Trying to think like they did. Empathy. It was an invaluable tool. As soon as he was able to think like they did, then he could predict where they would go. So, he had a 4-block radius to search in New York. 4 blocks to search in Chicago, LA, and every other place they had attacked. They would be harder to find in the areas that hadn't been attacked yet, but he would find a way. As soon as the hunters were at camp, he was going to take a few trips. The trips, plus the hacking lessons were going to spell out a very busy 2 weeks for him.
Since he had possible addresses for them all, he just monitored their activity as best as he could and tried to figure out how they were communicating. It was hard work. He still hadn't been able to do it.
"Alright girls, let's break and set up camp!" Artemis' voice rang out.
He resisted the sigh. They had barely even made any progress. But a look at the younger hunters told him that they needed to stop for a while. A lot of them looked pretty tired. They were really holding back the group, though he wasn't going to tell them that. It wasn't their fault.
Percy started helping them set up camp. There wasn't a whole lot he could do, since building tents and assembling benches wasn't exactly in his skill set. He was incredibly good at a great many things, but camping was not one of them. He helped them construct the fire pit, but beyond that, he wasn't good for much. Picking up rocks and arranging them in a circle wasn't exactly complex. He was also pretty good at lighting fires. Or at least, that's what the hunters thought. They didn't know, but he snuck out of his tent every night. Sneaking around was pretty easy when you could shadow travel. He didn't even have to leave his tent. Every night, he took his laptop to a 24-hour cafe and charged it while he worked on his case. The hunters slept for 8 hours per night, and he only slept for 1, so he had a good 7 hours to work per night. As long as he was close enough to the camp that he could sense everything that happened there, there was no danger. One night, he bought a lighter and some lighter fluid. Whenever he told them that he was going to get the fire started, he just covertly squirted some lighter fluid onto the fire pit and set it off. They could never understand how he did it. The whole situation made him laugh every time.
He set up the fire pit and suppressed his chuckles as the hunters in the vicinity wondered how the hell he managed it. It was amusing. He started a quick workout. Of course, a quick workout for him meant an hour of intense exercise. Well, as intense as it could get at the hunters' camp. Once he was done, he started his close combat class. When Artemis had told the hunters that Percy was going to teach a close combat class, Thalia had signed up immediately, Phoebe and her posse looked like they were trying to decide whether they should scoff or be outraged. The younger hunters had hesitantly signed up. He had roughly a dozen hunters for every 45-minute class.
They were actually going quite well. With Thalia, there was little he could do to help her with her spear, but he helped a lot with her knife technique. Chaos had told him that her training included spears, but he wasn't there yet. From what Sara had told him one day when they were lying in bed together, spear fighting was only taught the last 5 years, along with swords and javelins and stuff. It wasn't too important, so they only taught it for a little while at the end. That meant that he was in no position to give Thalia any pointers since she had been using a spear for several decades. She had a lot of practice, and she was a lot better at using them than he was. But he was really good with knives, so he helped her learn good technique. With the younger hunters, he taught the basics. They had barely had any training with close-range so he had to build a foundation for them. It took a lot of time and patience on his part, but they were getting it. Of course, a large amount of that patience went into not punching Phoebe, who would observe every class and scoff at everything he said. She was a real asshole, and he didn't bother hiding his opinion from her.
They had actually almost fought once. She had come at him pretty seriously and had called him a lot of names. While that wasn't really enough to piss him off, he gave as good as he got. Apparently, she couldn't handle a taste of her own medicine, so what he said to her had severely pissed her off. She had actually flung herself at him, trying to stab him in the throat. Naturally, she posed no threat to him, and he just sidestepped and stuck his foot out for her to trip over. She'd tumbled to the ground, looking murderous. One of her posse had tried to shoot him with an arrow, which he just plucked out of the air. When he had gotten the first of Chaos' blessings, his perception of time had slowed considerably. The arrow had flown toward him in slow motion. He had all the time in the world to simply catch it. If he had been in an actual fight, he would have proceeded to throw it back at her, with the same force as it would have if fired from a bow. He was a pretty shitty archer, but he was great at throwing stuff since that had been something Chaos had made sure to teach. Another of Phoebe's group had been about to go for him with her knives when Artemis had stumbled upon the scene. She told them to go cool off, and they did. They were loyal to their mistress. Artemis had asked him what had happened, and he had simply told the truth. That he had absolutely no idea.
Once he had finished his class with the hunters, he sat down on his usual log to carry on with his research into the terrorists. He was trying to find the cell in Madrid when he felt something. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He was being watched. He looked around camp. Everything was as usual. Artemis and Thalia were training a few of the younger huntresses in archery. The older huntresses, Phoebe and her posy, were also training while turning to glare at him every few moments. Everything was normal. He knew that Phoebe and her minions hadn't planned anything against him. If they had, they would be glaring at him with a certain look in their eye. Like they were anticipating something. But they weren't. It was just the usual.
He turned his attention away from the hunters. He watched the borders around camp. Nothing was going on. No monsters there. He cast his senses throughout the entire forest. There were several deer, elk, squirrels, and various bugs, but no cause for alarm. Then he felt something. A breath exhaled against his shoulder. He shot up like a bullet, brought his knife out of its sheath, and swung it into the neck of the person that had been right behind him. The person stopped his arm mid-swing. He was about to go for a thunderous headbutt when he saw who it was.
"That's a hell of a hello." Sara told him with a smirk.
He dropped the knife and wrapped her in a hug. She returned it. For a little while, they just held each other. He had expected to go another year without seeing her at all. Based on the way she was hugging him, she had expected that too. A few seconds later, he pulled away.
"How are you here?"
"I was sent to join you."
"When?"
"A few days after you left. She told me that your stay here had to be extended, so she sent me to keep you company."
He grinned at her.
"Who's 'she'?" he heard Artemis ask.
He spun around and saw the entire hunt watching them.
"We can't talk about that."
Sara nodded next to him.
"Well, then who's that?" Thalia asked, pointing at Sara.
"This is my friend. My good friend. I've known her for the last 10 years."
"I'm Sara. Good to meet you."
Sara reached over to shake Thalia's hand. Thalia looked at the hand a bit hesitantly but shook it. Sara was introduced to the rest of the hunters and shook their hands. Phoebe and her minions actually looked friendly for once. They were probably going to try and convince her to join them.
"Hey, wait a minute. I've got a question. If you were sent here a few days ago, what have you been doing the whole time?"
She turned to him with a grin.
"Well, I figured it would be rude to show up without a gift."
"Sara, trust me, you are the gift."
She answered with a mock bow and an even wider grin. She reached into her bag and pulled out a manilla folder. It had the FBI logo on it.
"I may or may not have broken into FBI headquarters and gotten this for you."
His eyes went wide. He knew it was their folder on the terrorists he was searching for. The file they had meant that he didn't have to hack into their database so that he could progress on the case. He would still learn how, but he could move on in the meantime.
"How the hell?" he left his question there.
She just shrugged modestly.
"The biggest challenge was finding the damn building. After that, I just shadow traveled in, took the folder, copied it, returned the original, and brought the copy for you. Interestingly enough, their security really isn't too great."
"Yeah, they don't expect to have to repel people who can teleport."
"Well, then that's their mistake."
He just rolled his eyes lovingly. It had only been a week since he had seen her, but he was glad to have her in his life again. Sara was watching him in the kind of way only she could. He could never describe what exactly was going through her mind, but she was watching him with a mix of emotions he couldn't even name.
He was staring back at her when he suddenly became aware of all of the hunters standing around watching them. He wanted to catch up with Sara privately. He turned to look at Artemis.
"I'm taking the rest of the night off."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Are you now?"
"Yes, I am. Anything happens while I'm gone, you can contact me and I'll be back in seconds."
"And how exactly will you be back in seconds?"
"I can shadow travel."
"You can?!" Thalia asked, not quietly.
"Yeah. Long story."
"What will we do if something attacks us while we're asleep?" Artemis continued.
"I'll be back by then. We'll keep watch."
Artemis looked seriously reluctant, but he laid out a decent argument. She wanted to keep him there, but he was a free man. He could do as he damn well pleased.
"You're going to miss dinner." she tried.
He snorted back at her.
"We'll be in New York City, I think we can find a place to eat."
She was out of arguments.
"Fine."
He nodded his head. He didn't thank her. There was nothing to thank her for. He wasn't a slave, he could leave whenever he wanted. And Sara was with him, so he wanted to have a regular conversation with her. One where they didn't have to censor themselves. He turned to Sara.
"Give me a sec."
She nodded and he walked to his tent. He walked inside, opened his portable armory, to put the FBI file she had given him on one of the racks in there. Luckily, his tent was enchanted to be larger on the inside, than it appeared on the outside. The armory, which was the size of a large shed when it was expanded to its full form, just about fit inside the tent without going through the top. Once the file was safely stored away, he collapsed the armory back into its backpack form and left the tent. He left the backpack where it was. He wasn't going to need anything from in there. If anything arose, whether it was monsters or monstrous mortals, he and Sara were more than equipped to handle it.
He left his tent and returned to Sara, only to find Thalia quizzing her.
"Ok, I think we should go now. Thalia, I promise you can interrogate Sara later, but right now we have some catching up to do."
Sara turned to him with a mischievous grin.
"Oh, totally. We have a lot of catching up to do."
Thalia's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. Artemis blinked. Sara wasn't exactly subtle. He just ignored them all.
"We'll be back later."
He grabbed Sara's arm and shadow traveled them away. Suddenly, they were in Manhattan. Sara looked around at all of the buildings, taking in the sight. He wasn't totally sure what other planets were like, and he wasn't sure where Sara had been in her very long life, but she looked pretty impressed with New York. Unless she was just doing that for his benefit, knowing that's where he was from. He decided not to ask.
"So, you wanna find a bar where we can sit down and-"
Sara cut him off by launching herself at him and kissing him. He instinctively kissed her back, his hands going to her hips. A few moments went by before she let him pull back.
"I thought you wanted to catch up?" he said breathlessly.
"I do." she told him with a wild grin.
"I thought you meant talking."
"I didn't. Or at least, we can do that later."
"Sara, are you sure-"
"Percy, "she cut him off, "I haven't had sex in 10 years. Unless you have something to tell me, neither have you. You seriously wanna talk right now?"
He thought about it for 0.2 seconds before replying.
"Let's find a motel."
"Attaboy!" she told him, the grin returning to her face.
It took them 4 minutes to find the nearest place they could get a room. It was a shitty little no-name place that charged by the hour. When Percy and Sara ran in, and asked for a room for the night, unable to keep their hands off each other while they waited, the woman behind the desk gave them a real dirty look. It was a look that said 'I know exactly what you're about to do, and I highly disapprove.' but they were so far beyond caring, that they barely even noticed. When they got their key and started making their way to their room, Sara actually turned around and stuck her tongue out at the disapproving woman. Percy just gasped a laugh, and yanked her to their room, stifling his laughter all the way over. Sara was just blatantly grinning, clearly proud of herself.
As soon as they got into the room, he threw her onto the bed and climbed over her. Clothes were shed, giggles were shared, sighs were made, and screams were voiced. It was a damn good way to spend a few hours.
Once they had caught up, they lay in bed together for a spell. The clock in the room told Percy that the hunters would be going to sleep soon, so he had to be back at their camp soon. He guessed that Sara was going to go with him.
"You know, I have to be back at the hunters' camp in a few minutes."
"Really? I thought you didn't have to get back until they went to sleep?"
"They are about to go to sleep."
She gaped at him.
"Seriously?"
"Yep. 8 whole hours every night."
"Holy shit. Why?"
"Remember, that's how much they need. They aren't like us."
She blinked.
"Wow. I actually totally forgot about that. It's been so long since I needed that much sleep, I actually completely forgot that normal people need a lot of sleep."
"Oh yeah. I always forget that you're old." he teased.
Sara raised herself up on an arm and gaped at him, pretending to be appalled.
"Wow! After everything I just let you do to me, this is the thanks I get?"
He snorted and raised himself up to meet her.
"I'm sorry, did you just say 'Let you do to me'? Let? Please! You wanted it just as bad as I did. Maybe even more!"
She swatted his chest playfully.
"Don't be absurd! I'm a lady!"
"Yeah, technically."
She gave up on the ruse and grinned at him, tackling him down to the bed. She was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked, he always forgot that. She started kissing his neck at the exact spot she knew he loved. He groaned.
"Sara, we need to get going."
She stopped and pulled away so that she could look at him.
"We? You want me to go with you?"
"You don't?"
"No, I do, I just didn't think I'd be welcome over there."
"Don't worry, as long as you don't have a penis, you'll be welcomed with open arms. I can attest to the fact that you don't."
She smirked.
"Well, I can attest to the fact that you do, so how come you're welcomed over there?"
"Believe me, I'm far from welcomed. I'm tolerated at best."
She frowned.
"That doesn't sound good."
"It's not. I can't wait to get out of there, but Chaos told me to join them while I'm here, so that's what I'll do. I'm sure she had a reason. But trust me, as soon as I get to leave, I'm gone."
"So they don't like having you there?"
"Nope. Or at least, most of them don't. Thalia, the girl you were speaking to, she's my cousin. We're pretty close. Not anymore I guess, but we were before I left. She's kinda like a sister to me, you know? She's glad I'm there. Their mistress, Artemis, seems fine as long as I don't push it, which I'm more than happy not to. There are a few that hate the fact I'm there though."
"Why would they hate you being there?"
"They're really sexist."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
"Artemis was the one with auburn hair, right?"
"Yeah, that's her."
"She's the Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, the Moon, and chastity, right?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"You've been studying."
"Yeah, I figured it would be best to learn a few things. Are there actual monsters around here?"
"There are indeed. We can go find one if you want?"
"That sounds fun. I wonder what they're like."
"Not great. I spent a long time dealing with them. They won't be any kind of challenge now, and they'll be a cakewalk for you, but they were a real problem back then. They still are for regular demigods, I guess."
She nodded.
"Am I gonna get to see that camp you told me about?"
"Camp Half-Blood. And yes, you are. We're heading over there right now. I figure we'll be there in a few days."
"I thought it was somewhere around here?"
"It is, the hunters are just pretty slow. They sleep 8 whole hours every night, and they keep stopping. They eat breakfast, then they dismantle the whole camp, then they walk for a while, and then they stop again for the night. It's kind of maddening."
"Damn. I have a feeling that's gonna get old pretty quick."
"Don't worry. I'm sure we can keep each other entertained."
She grinned at him.
"I'm sure you're right. You wanna practice our entertainment again?"
"I'd love to, but we have to get going."
"Oh come on! Are you worried about Artemis? I'll protect you from the big bad Goddess, don't worry." she said teasingly.
She joked, but he had no doubt in his mind that she was right. She could beat Artemis in a fight. Sara would win, even if she was blindfolded, with her arms tied behind her back. She'd spent several thousand years with Chaos, he was sure that there were few opponents that would make her hesitate. They were probably primordials and stuff. He couldn't imagine Sara being concerned by an Olympian.
"My savior!" he cried sarcastically.
Sara giggled, and it very quickly turned into a cackle. She sounded vaguely like an evil witch. But she was a stunningly beautiful evil witch, so he had no problem with it.
"Come on, get dressed. We need to leave." he told her as soon as she calmed down.
They got dressed and returned the room key to the woman at the front. She glared at Sara, who just gave her a shit-eating grin in return. Percy tried desperately not to blush. The woman raised an eyebrow at him.
"You're not staying the night then?" she asked unnecessarily.
Sara saw an opportunity and replied before he could.
"Nah, he already railed me good. Now we need to go do some stuff."
Percy's eyes went wide and the woman gaped at Sara's bluntness. Sara just kept grinning. After a few moments, Percy regained the ability to maneuver his limbs and gave the woman her key.
Percy and Sara left the motel, found a dark alley, and shadow traveled back to the hunters' camp, just as Artemis called lights out. Thalia spotted them arrive and walked over to them. She stared at them for a few seconds, before she spoke.
"Did you two just have sex?"
Percy considered his response. Apparently, Sara was above such things.
"Yep." she said tactfully.
Thalia gaped slightly. This time, Percy couldn't quite hold back the blush.
"Alright, "Thalia said slowly, "We'll talk about this later."
Sara raised an eyebrow curiously.
"What's there to talk about. Is this some Earth thing? Do you guys go into details over here?"
Thalia looked mildly stunned, and Percy just mentally face-palmed.
"You... Are you an alien?"
"Oh... Percy, did you not mention all of that?"
"I hadn't, no. But I think you've done an excellent job summing it up for her."
"Oops. My bad."
"Don't worry about it."
"An... ALIEN!?"
"Who's an alien?" Artemis asked as she walked over.
Sara raised her hand. Percy fought a laugh.
"Wait... Seriously?"
Sara nodded. Artemis gaped. There were a few awkward moments, before Artemis spoke again.
"I have to report this to the council."
Percy sighed. He had known that would happen since the moment Sara arrived. He knew she would say something and he knew that Artemis would have to tell the council. He was expecting Hermes to show up 30 seconds after Artemis left. He had briefly considered asking Sara not to mention it, but he immediately dismissed the idea. Sure, she would be able to stop herself from mentioning it, but he didn't want her to. She was who she was and he didn't want her to have to hide it. Besides, even if Zeus tried something, there was no way anything would happen to them. Sara could take Zeus any day of the week. She could probably take all of the Olympians at the same time. Add Percy into the equation, and the Gods that would fight with him against the rest, and victory was guaranteed. With that in mind, he didn't take much of an issue with Artemis reporting back to the Olympians.
"Yeah, I figured you might say that."
Artemis flashed to Olympus. He turned to Sara.
"We're about to meet the Olympians. As soon as she tells them that you're from another planet, Hermes is going to appear and take us there. Better to just go with it. A brief rundown on the Olympians. Zeus is a prick, but he's pretty weak power-wise. Hera is an asshole, but she's not a fighter. Poseidon is my dad, so when he sees I'm on your side, he will be too. Hades is pretty dark, but he's on our side too. Artemis could go either way. Athena is super smart and could probably come up with a great war plan, but she's not much of a combatant. I'm not sure if I've ever even seen her use a weapon. If a fight breaks out, she'll join Zeus and Hera in trying to kill us, but she won't be much of an issue. I always thought Aphrodite was pretty ditzy, but I'm reconsidering that at the moment. I think she'll side with us if it comes to it. I'm pretty sure Apollo would join us in a fight, though he might stay out of it altogether. He's a pretty laid-back guy, and if there's a vote, he'll side with us for sure. Especially when he sees how stunning you are. Ares will definitely try to kill us both, but he's nothing to worry about. I fought him when I was 12. I didn't exactly win fairly, but I survived, so he's of no concern. Dionysus will probably stay out of the fight, but if he does, it'll be against us. He's nothing to worry about though. I'm almost positive that he's the weakest Olympian. He's an asshole too, so don't worry if you need to hurt him pretty bad. Demeter probably won't fight, but she would go against us if she did. She's pretty much a pacifist though, so that's fine. If it comes to it, Hermes will side with us. He's a good guy. Or God, I guess. Hephaestus might stay out of a fight, but he's on our side for sure. He hates his mother ever since she threw him off a mountain, so he would go against her for sure. Plus, I think he likes me, so there's that. Hestia is probably going to try to keep the peace as best as she can. If there's a fight, she'll almost definitely stay out of it. If she joins, which I seriously doubt, she'll be on our side. When Hermes takes us there, close your eyes when he touches your shoulder. If you don't, you'll probably be incinerated."
As soon as he finished his explanation, Hermes appeared before them. He nodded to Percy and then spoke to Sara.
"The Olympian council demands your presence."
"They aren't getting it unless I'm there too." Percy said.
Hermes nodded.
"Fair enough."
Percy nodded back at him. Hermes walked over to them and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Once he saw Sara close her eyes, Percy did the same. There was a flash so bright that he could see it even with his eyes closed, and when he opened his eyes again, they were in front of the council.
Zeus looked seriously pissed.
"Jackson! What have you brought with you?!" he demanded furiously.
"No 'what', Zeus, 'who'."
The king of the gods turned purple.
"Don't try to be clever, demigod!"
"I'm not trying, I'm just naturally smarter than you."
He heard Athena cough off to the side and promptly ignored her. Sara, on the other hand, decided to go with another method of conflict resolution.
"Do you have something to say, Athena?" Sara asked in a quiet, dangerous tone.
"That's Lady Athena to you, alien."
"I'll call you whatever I please. Consider yourself lucky that I'm using your actual name."
"You dare speak to me this way?"
"Yes, I do. If you have a problem with that, I would be more than glad to help you get over it."
"What exactly have I done to you?"
"I don't like what you implied about my friend. The fact that you didn't know that, shows how inept you are as the Goddess of Wisdom."
Athena stood up, furious. Sara took a step forward to meet her, but Percy put his hand on her arm.
"Sara, it's alright."
She spun around to him.
"No, Percy, it's not. She doesn't get to speak to you like that."
Athena spoke up, not liking the fact that she was being ignored.
"I will speak to the man who killed my daughter, however I please!"
Sara, who was looking at Percy, saw the effect that Athena's words had on him. His face went totally blank and pale. His shoulders slumped. His eyes went glassy. His jaw trembled ever so slightly.
Sara was not happy with the Goddess of Wisdom. Seeing Percy's reaction, she spun around and hurled a throwing knife at the Goddess. Athena was pretty quick, so she managed to dodge slightly. Instead of piercing her heart, and knife ended up in her shoulder. She screeched in pain.
Zeus, who was already pissed that he had been interrupted at the very start of the meeting, launched his master bolt at Sara. That was enough for Percy to snap out of his stupor. He pushed Sara out of the way and took most of the force himself. There was a reason for doing that. He could have easily pushed Sara out of the way and then dodged it, but he made a conscious decision not to. His reasoning was pretty underhanded and manipulative, and he felt bad for it, but it was the best solution in the long run.
He knew that watching his son get hit by the master bolt would spur Poseidon into action against Zeus. It would probably do the same for Hades. So Zeus could fight them. While Percy was sure that he could take Zeus in a fight, he didn't want to. That would lead to a lot of extra animosity between him and the king of the gods. If Chaos was right about there being another war in the future, and there was no reason to doubt her, then he would need to be on decent terms with Zeus, at the very least.
The Olympians had been fighting each other for millennia, so he was sure that the brothers would make up a lot faster than he and Zeus would have. Especially when Poseidon and Hades saw that Percy was fine. Or at least, alive. He wasn't sure how well he would be doing, but he was confident that he would survive. Especially with the armor that Chaos had given him. He knew it would help massively.
The bolt hit him directly in the chest and he went flying back. It actually wasn't as bad as he had feared. It hurt pretty bad, of course, but it was manageable. After Chaos' first blessing, his durability had increased greatly, and her second blessing had helped too. The blessings themselves had also increased his tolerance for pain since they had all been excruciating.
By the time he landed, his plan had already succeeded. Poseidon and Hades were fighting against Zeus, who was trying desperately to defend himself. Percy got up and assessed the situation. Sara was in the process of knocking out Athena. She was holding her by her toga, raining down punches. He could see that she was planning to knock out Athena and then move on to Zeus.
He saw Ares charging at Sara like a bull. He almost laughed, but he stopped himself. It wouldn't be appropriate. He was about to fling a throwing knife into his knee when a blast of pink energy sent him flying across the room. Percy followed the trajectory of the beam and saw that it had come from Aphrodite, who winked at him. He sent her a grateful look, which she waved off.
He saw that Hera was joining her husband against Poseidon and Hades, but her presence did nothing to turn the tide of the fight. Percy noticed vines gripping his legs. He turned his waist and saw Demeter getting ready to hurl a blast of energy at him. He raised an eyebrow at her. When she finally sent it toward him, he just ducked and let it fly over his head uselessly. He used the shadows in the room to form a dozen daggers and sent them flying into her, which pinned her to her throne as she screamed in pain. He took his knife out of its sheath and used it to slash the vines on his legs, freeing himself.
To his surprise, he sensed Dionysus getting ready to blast him. He combat rolled to the side and pulled out his handgun. He shot the God of wine twice in the stomach. Mortal weapons didn't work very well on Gods and Goddesses, but Percy knew that their weapons from Chaos would do the trick. She hadn't said anything to him directly, but he knew that the special metal that their gear was made out of would still hurt them. She had implied that they would work on mortals and immortals alike. He knew that the bullets were made of the same metal, so he could still shoot Gods and monsters if he needed to. He didn't exactly need to shoot Dionysus, but he wanted to. God or not, he was an asshole. He shot him in the gut again.
He turned around and locked eyes with Sara. He could see that she was relieved that he was ok. He gave her an assuring nod. He looked around to see that Zeus and Hera had been beaten. He was about to talk to his dad when a voice was heard.
"ENOUGH!"
Interestingly enough, the voice belonged to Hestia. The entire Throne Room was reduced to a standstill. No one had ever heard her speak that way, She had risen from her throne, standing tall and looking furious.
"LOOK AT ALL OF YOU! THE WAY YOU ALL GO AT EACH OTHER, NO ONE WOULD EVER KNOW THAT WE'RE A FAMILY. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!" she screamed.
Zeus took the opportunity to try and weasel his way out of his current predicament.
"Yes, brothers, I agree! Your behavior is unacceptable!"
Poseidon and Hades were about to beat him even further, when Hestia stopped them.
"SHUT UP, LITTLE BROTHER! YOU'RE AT FAULT HERE TOO!"
Zeus squirmed a little bit.
"I'm the king of the Gods!" he tried weakly.
Hestia was having none of it.
"I AM YOUR BIG SISTER! WHEN I TELL YOU TO SHUT UP, YOU WILL DO SO!"
Zeus just whimpered pathetically and stared at the ground. A very quiet moment went by while Hestia composed herself.
"Now. To the important things. Percy, are you ok? You just got hit by the master bolt."
He nodded.
"I'm ok, lady Hestia. My armor took the worst of the damage."
She nodded.
"That's good, "she turned to Sara, "Young lady, Sara, I believe your name is, are you ok?"
Sara nodded.
"I'm fine, Lady Hestia."
Hestia nodded again. She glanced around the room.
"Is everyone ok? Does anyone need to be healed?"
Athena chose that moment to let out a pained moan. Her face looked pretty fucked up. Sara had beaten 7 shades of shit out of her. Her nose looked like it was supposed to be somewhere else. He could see that she was missing teeth. Her eyes were sporting black rings around them. There was blood pouring from her mouth. Her entire face looked dented. Percy could tell that her skull was fractured.
Everyone turned to look at her and gasped at the sight of the wisdom goddess. After staring at her for a few moments, they turned to stare at Sara fearfully. The fact that she had done so much damage to an Olympian was astounding to them.
Percy was slightly surprised too. Not at the fact that she could. He was just surprised that she had been so ferocious. He hadn't quite expected that. Then he realized. He had only ever seen her fight during sparring. He had never seen her go all-out. It had impressive results.
Once all of the Gods were done staring, Hestia spoke up.
"Apollo, heal her."
Sara made a mild noise of displeasure but did nothing to stop the God as he walked over to Athena and teleported away with her. He teleported back a moment later.
"Does anyone else need help?"
Demeter and Dionysus pitifully raised their hands. Ares followed suit. Apollo nodded and walked over to Demeter, and teleported away with her. He teleported back, took Dionysus by the shoulder, and teleported away again. He returned once more and teleported away with Ares. He didn't return.
Everyone left in the Throne Room returned to their places on their thrones, while Percy and Sara joined each other in the middle. They each wrapped an arm around the other's waist. Zeus and Hera looked worse for wear but were probably too proud to ask to be healed. Besides, they weren't as bad as Demeter, Dionysus, or Ares. They certainly weren't as bad as Athena. Zeus was the first to speak, trying to resume the meeting.
"I think what just took place here can serve as evidence that the alien cannot be trusted, and neither can the demigod!"
Poseidon spoke up.
"Are you kidding me!?" he asked murderously.
"They just assaulted half the council, brother!" Zeus replied, making the word 'brother' sound like the worse possible insult.
"Technically, we assaulted less than a third. Sara and I took down 4 members of the council, which was a total of 14 members. I don't know if you know this, oh wise leader of ours, but half of 14 is 7.
He chose not to mention that Aphrodite had been the one who attacked Ares, so they had actually only assaulted 3 Gods between them, not 4. Zeus and Hera had been far too busy with Poseidon and Hades to have noticed what exactly had happened to the stupid God of War, so they simply believed that Percy and Sara had taken care of him, which they would have with astounding ease.
Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing he could have said, since he wanted to be on moderately decent terms with the king of the Olympians for the upcoming war, but Zeus had just hit him with his master bolt, and while it hadn't killed him, it certainly hadn't tickled either.
"Ah, fuck it, "he thought, "Chaos will understand. Besides, when she offers her help to the Olympians, they aren't going to refuse just because I was a bit snarky with Zeus. Ok, a lot snarky, but he deserves it."
Zeus turned a whole new shade of red.
"I move that the demigod and the alien be imprisoned until such a time as we can have the full council vote on their ultimate fates!"
Poseidon and Hades were about to start protesting, but Percy beat them to it. He drew his gun and aimed at Zeus' forehead.
"You will not put Sara in prison for any length of time. If you even attempt it, I will send you to Tartarus. There, you will have all the time you need, to think about how unwise that decision is."
There was a moment of silence before he sensed Hestia next to him.
"Perseus, "she said soothingly, "Put down the gun. We can work this out."
"Yes, aunt Hestia, we can. And we will. Once your brother agrees that my friend and I will not be put in prison, I would be more than happy to put away my gun. But until he agrees to do that, it's going to have to stay where it is."
Zeus looked nervous. He knew that a bullet fired at his head would be enough to send him to Tartarus. He also knew that Tartarus was the worst possible place for a God to recover. He was quite reluctant to spend any time there.
"Fine. I will agree not to imprison you until the vote. I cannot guarantee that you won't be imprisoned as a result of that, however."
"Fair enough. Now, just swear that on the River Styx, and we'll be fine."
"You ask a lot, demigod!"
"I really don't. Do it. Unless, of course, you were planning to go back on your word and blast us as soon as I put my gun down?"
Zeus hesitated. That was exactly what he had been planning to do. But he had failed spectacularly, so he had no option other than to comply.
"Fine, "he ground out, "I swear on the River Styx that I will not have Perseus Jackson or this alien imprisoned or killed until we can have a hearing to determine their fates."
Percy waited until the usual thunder was heard before he lowered the gun.
"Ok. Now what? Even with Apollo's healing magic, it'll take them all a few days to recover. It might take Athena a little longer."
Sara smirked beside him.
"I suppose you will have to return to my daughter's camp. If that's ok with you, my dear?" Zeus asked Artemis.
Artemis nodded from her throne, slightly shocked at what she had just witnessed.
"Then that is settled. Now, where will the alien remain for the duration?"
Before Percy had the chance, Hermes spoke up.
"She can stay in my cabin at Camp Half-Blood. We accept all travelers and visitors."
"No need, "Percy said, "She's staying with me."
"I will not have that around my daughters, demigod." Zeus said
"Again, you meant to say 'her', not 'that', but anyway, I didn't suggest that she stay with the hunters, I said she's staying with me. If that means I can't stay with Artemis and her hunters, then Sara and I will go to a hotel until the trial."
"Percy, you can both stay with me in Atlantis if you need to. You're family, you're always welcome."
Percy nodded at his father gratefully.
Artemis spoke up "No need, uncle. I am more than willing to have Perseus and Sara stay with my hunt for the next few days."
Zeus turned to his daughter sharply.
"Daughter... are you sure? You don't need to if you don't want to."
"I'm sure, father. I doubt that they will be an inconvenience."
Zeus and Artemis watched each other carefully for a few moments. Eventually, Zeus decided to trust his daughter.
"Fine. I shall send Hermes to collect you when the rest of the council are ready to vote. Council dismissed!" he announced as he and Hera vanished in a flashy show of lights.
The rest of the council breathed a sigh of relief that the whole thing was resolved. Hades was the first to leave, nodding at Percy before he shadow traveled back to his realm. Hermes sped away to attend to his business. Hephaestus mumbled something about his forge and disappeared in a column of flames. Hestia gave everyone a tired smile and vanished. Artemis walked over to Percy and Sara.
"I'll see you two at camp."
She vanished in a flash of silver light. Poseidon made his way over to them. He wrapped Percy in a big hug.
"Percy, you took a big risk back there. I'm proud of you for sticking up for what you believe in, but please be more careful in the future." his father implored.
"Yeah, I know. But all's well that ends well, right?"
Poseidon chuckled at his son.
"By the way, dad, this is Sara. She's been a good friend of mine for a long time now."
The God of the seas smiled warmly at Sara and reached out to shake her hand. Sara shook it in return.
"Hi. I'm Poseidon. It's very good to meet you, Sara."
"It's good to meet you too. I like your son." she joked at the end.
He barked a laugh.
"Yes, I'm quite fond of him as well. Anyway, I must be away, but let's set up a meeting, Percy. I would be very eager to hear anything you can tell me about the last few years of your life."
"Yeah, I'd like that, dad. We'll set it up soon." he promised.
Poseidon flashed out of the Throne Room with a nod and one final smile, back to Atlantis. The only deity left in the room was Aphrodite. She rose from her throne, shrunk down to normal height, and walked over to them. Percy was the first to speak.
"Nice work against Ares."
She smirked.
"Believe me, I've wanted to do that for a while. That's actually why I came over here. I wanted to thank you for giving me the excuse."
"You're more than welcome. It was pretty fun."
"Well, nonetheless, "she continued with a smile, "If it comes to a trial, you should tell them it was me. It might make things better for you."
"I don't think there's much of a difference if we attacked 4 Gods, or 3. Either way, we'll be fine."
She considered it for a moment before shrugging.
"If you're sure. Still, feel free to point the finger at me if you need to. Do you two need a lift back to the hunters' camp?"
"No, I think we'll be fine. Thanks though."
She shrugged.
"If you say so. I'll see you around, Percy. Good meeting you, Sara."
And with that, the goddess of love vanished. Percy turned to Sara.
"Well... that was an interesting experience."
She snorted.
"You could call it that. Did you have fun?"
"Yeah, "he told her with a grin, "I've always wanted to shoot Dionysus. Fat fuck."
She grinned back at him.
"As long as you're happy. Let's get out of here?"
"Sure."
The shadow traveled back to the hunters' camp. When they got there, the whole place was completely still. Obviously, all of the hunters were asleep. Percy and Sara didn't stick around. Seeing that the entire camp was empty, they just went to his tent and sat down on his bed.
"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked her.
She rubbed his arm gently and gave him a small smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine. That stupid bitch didn't put up any kind of fight. How about you? You got hit with his sparky stick."
He barked a laugh. For some reason, hearing Sara talk about the master bolt sent him back in time to the days when he was sent to find it. Just the three of them on their quest. The son of Poseidon, the daughter of Athena, and the Satyr. Things had seemed so complicated back then. In hindsight, his life had never been simpler.
"I'll have you know, it's called the Master Bolt, and it shan't be disrespected by the likes of you!"
Sara giggled at him. He loved that sound more than anything.
"Seriously though, it was fine. It barely did anything to me with my armor in the way. That stuff is fantastic."
"Tell me about it. Can't count the times that stuff saved my life."
"You mean you're constantly nearly dying? Wow, Sara, I thought you were good at what you did?" he teased.
Her jaw dropped in a look of shock, but it quickly evolved into a challenging smirk. Before he knew what had happened, she darted straight at him and pinned him to the bed. His arms were held above his head and her eyes were millimeters from his. He could see the intense amusement stirring there.
The fact that she could do that to him, spoke volumes about her skill. When he had been training in Chaos' realm, he had started sparring with instructors, and while they still kicked his ass, it was a decent fight. He always landed a few hits on them. But Sara had immobilized him and he hadn't even registered her doing it until he was pinned to his mattress. She was pretty fucking good.
"If I'm so shit at what I do, then you must be awful!" she teased him back.
"Hey! I'm new!" he pretended to defend himself.
"Yeah, sure." she said, drawing out the word.
They stayed in that position for a few moments. It was oddly comfortable. After a few minutes, Percy broke the silence.
"So... we've got the next 7 hours to ourselves."
"7 hours, huh?"
"Yep. The hunters are gonna sleep for the next 8. We each need an hour of sleep. Eight minus one is seven."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"I'm amazed at your mathematical prowess!" she mocked, rolling her beautiful blue eyes at him.
He nodded knowingly.
"I had a feeling you would be." he said wisely.
"You wanna work on the terrorist case?"
"Fuck the terrorists. We can take a night off. Work on it tomorrow. With you here, it'll go by a lot easier. Especially, since you proved that you have no problems breaking into the FBI."
She laughed.
"I suppose they can wait. So, any idea what you want to do with our night off?" she asked as if she didn't already know.
He just grinned, leaned up, and kissed her. The evening pretty much progressed from there.
A/N: Ok, that's that. Hope it was worth the wait. Just gonna mention again, that this was betaed by Anon516. Let me know your thoughts, either in reviews or PMs. Stay safe, everyone.