Song Recommendation: "She's Quiet" by The Home Team. A band I started listening to relatively recently, but one with a very interesting sound that I really like. And, it helps that I can see this song relating to both Percy and Artemis pretty well. This song, to me, perfectly encapsulates that sickening feeling of falling in love with someone and not being sure if it's the right choice, or if it'll end well. For the two of them, it's less of a question if they're right for eachother and more of this back and forth battle of whether they'll be good for one another. They're rough around the edges, or they view themselves that way, and they think they're unfit for love because of their past. It's something I especially see in Artemis, putting on this charade of confidence while really being quite nervous about everything. And Percy, just by virtue of who he is, feels like it might be disrespectful to see her that way, even if he is warming up to the idea.

"What?" Artemis asked him again, not having heard him over the din of the other guests.

Percy leaned in, bringing his head down towards hers so that she could hear him, "I don't think we're going to have to worry about Nico and Thalia. There are too many people here for anyone to actually care."

Artemis nodded, "It is more crowded than I'd expected."

"No kidding. I thought this would be a smaller ordeal."

"My thoughts exactly," Artemis agreed, glancing around subtly before grabbing Percy's arm and pulling him farther towards the back, "I do not see many that areas that could house monsters."

Percy looked around, trying to gauge their settings a bit better, "Less places for us to check then."

"And more chances for them to all be gathered in one area."

Percy hadn't considered that, "We'll take it slowly then. Till then, let's see if we can find anything out of the ordinary. It isn't like them to openly gather around mortals."

Artemis nodded, already scanning their surroundings. She hadn't sensed anything abnormal, but with all the mortals around, it was a bit harder. Perhaps they could be in a storage area, maybe a basement or something? Or, they could be on a higher floor but that seemed unlikely since it would be harder to get out. Plus, monsters naturally dwelled underground, "See if you can find some sort of basement entrance while we're walking around."

Percy nodded unquestioningly as the two began making their way around. Occasionally, they'd stop to socialize, taking a moment to try and see if the mortals knew anything, but it seemed that most of them were completely oblivious to the monster infestation that had taken root in the building. It seemed that none of them were under the influence of the mist, which was good, but it also meant that the monsters were either being especially careful or that they were being guided by someone which was decidedly not good.

"Seen anything?" Percy asked easily. They'd made their way over to the food and had both gotten themselves small plates to sate their appetite.

"Not particularly," Artemis said easily, "Though I have narrowed our scope down to just a few doors. That, and the elevator."

Percy nodded, "That's good. We can relay that to Nico and Thalia. They should be able to get in there and see."

Artemis nodded as they found a place to sit. Whenever the other two made themselves known, they'd have an easy place to meet up since the tables weren't exactly crowded. Most of the other occupants had scattered around. Some were off dancing, while others had stepped out into the courtyard. Still though, there were a healthy amount of people still in the room.

The goddess would have preferred to be outside, but with so many people around, she found it hard to justify going out. And even then, she'd be trading the sound of people for the sounds of more people. It wasn't exactly going to be peaceful wherever she went.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Percy tapping her forearm. They were sitting across from each other, but she'd had one arm braced on the table as she thought. Percy noted the slight look of confusion as he spoke, "You alright?"

Artemis made a face, "I could do without the noise."

Percy nodded understandingly. He glanced around before standing up and offering her his hand, "Want to sneak around then?"

"Isn't that the opposite of what we're supposed to do?"

Percy grinned, "All I'm saying is that there's a perfectly good elevator right over there and nobodies stopping us."

"And where would we go?"

"Some of the upper floors have balconies."

Artemis thought for a second and nodded, "Then I will follow your lead."

They did stop to talk to a few people on their trek towards the elevator, but there weren't any holdups other than that. Percy had been perfectly right about nobody stopping them. The upper floors were quite deserted with the two not finding a single soul as they slowly made their way towards one of the balconies. Neither of them minded that in the slightest. It was so much easier to be alone than to have to bother with all the other guests. If they hadn't had a job to do, it was highly likely that they wouldn't have stayed longer than ten minutes in the first place.

Still though, Artemis had to admit that their little secluded balcony was quite nice. Sure, they could hear everyone mingling below them, but it was far and away preferable to being downstairs in the midst of it all.

"You still look a little annoyed," Percy chuckled.

"Perhaps a little," Artemis admitted, "Crowds are not my thing."
"No kidding," Percy leaned over against the railing, surveying the area beneath them, "But I'm having fun exploring with you."

The moon goddess smiled at that, "Are you?"

"Any time with you is time well spent, I think."

"You've been very flattering tonight."

"Have I?" Percy asked, turning to look at the goddess, "Really just been saying what I've been thinking."

"Then you could stand to do it a bit more often."

"So I can stroke your ego?"

Artemis laughed, "I think that's quite unnecessary. I have enough between the both of us."

"Right," Percy rolled his eyes with a smile, "Egotistical is definitely not a word I'd use to describe you."

"And how would you?"

"A bit crazy, probably."

The goddess smacked his shoulder, "Crazy makes things a bit more interesting."

"That's one way of putting it," Percy laughed, looking back out towards the sky, "I like cities and all, but I think you're right."

"As I often am," Artemis said easily, causing Percy to grin, "But about what?"

"They're loud, and I can't see the stars and that annoys me."

"Gotten so used to my usual haunts that it's ruined cities for you?"
"Guess so," Percy shrugged, "I miss the peace. I don't mind being here for a while, but cities kinda suck when you think about it."

"How so?"

"Well it's a pain to drive around for one. And there are so many people too. I definitely prefer being able to see people when I want to. Now, we're just surrounded by them constantly."

Artemis nodded as he continued, "And, there aren't enough plants."

"Do you have a favorite plant?" Artemis asked amusedly.

Percy thought for a second, "Probably rock roses. But I also really like redwoods."

"That sounds like you," Artemis nodded, leaning in a little, "We have company."

Percy nodded subtly, "What sort?"

Artemis grinned, "The friendly sort. They're trying not to make too much noise."

"Should we mess with them?" Percy asked.

Artemis grinned, "And how would we do that?"

"Not sure yet," Percy leaned against the banister, "I can really only think of dumping water on them."

Artemis laughed, "We should probably refrain from something like that."

"Alright no messing with them then," Percy fake grumbled, "Unless you've got some grand idea."

"Nothing that wouldn't attract too much attention."

Percy shrugged, "What do you think they're doing?"

Artemis knew exactly what they were doing, but wasn't sure if she should say anything. Thankfully, Thalia saved her from having to explain as she jumped out from the doorway. The demigoddess had gotten impatient, "Were you guys that eager to sneak off?"

"Yeah kinda," Percy shrugged, responding in turn.

"Needed some alone time with your wife?" Thalia retorted.

Artemis and Nico both smiled while Percy blinked a few times, "As a matter of fact, yes. Now if you could kindly stop intruding."

"Right right," Thalia rolled her eyes, "If it was up to just you, the two of you wouldn't ever get anywhere."

Artemis gave her a blank look while Percy looked confused. He didn't say anything about it though, and the goddess was thankful that he didn't push the subject any more, "Did you find anything of use?"

Thalia shrugged, "While you two were busy having your 'alone time', Nico and I spent our time slaving away."

"And?" Percy asked.

"Seems like they're hidden by something," Nico explained, "There were some faint traces of magic through one of the doors on the first floor through one of the corridors, but there were people around so we couldn't investigate much."

"So we came to find you," Thalia finished.

Artemis nodded while Percy spoke, "How do you think we should go about it then?"

"We could use a distraction to get people away from everyone," Thalia explained, "but I'm not exactly sure what we'd do."

Percy thought for a second, "What if we just get everyone to leave?"
"How would we do that?" Nico asked, "We could always just wait."

Artemis shook her head, "The longer we are here, the more time they have to notice something is up."

Percy agreed, "We'll workshop it as we go. Anything else important?"

"We might need a key," Thalia said, "Nico said something about magic and that door looked pretty secure."

"And where would we find a key?" Percy asked.

Artemis spoke up, "Some member of management likely has one. We just need a way to steal it."

Percy nodded before remembering something, "I have a lock picking set from Hermes. Think that'd work?"

"Not sure," Nico said uncertainly, "Magic's always tricky with things like that."

The moon goddess agreed, "Stealing a key shouldn't be that hard. Percy or I could do it and we could all meet up again."

"Sounds good to me," Nico said, "but it might be a good idea to wait just a bit longer so that more people have drinks in them."

"Fair enough," Thalia agreed, "Probably makes them more likely to panic and run away."

"But it also means we might have to deal with mortal police, and there's always the chance of the monsters catching on," Percy countered.

"Let us see how long it takes to get the key, and we will work from there," Artemis chimed in.

The other three saw no issue with this and all agreed. And, naturally, it didn't take them long to get to work with the four splitting off. Nico and Thalia were going to do a bit more reconnaissance while Percy and Artemis scouted out someone they could get a key off of. Unfortunately, that sort of meant throwing themselves back into the crowd. Well, Artemis considered, if she was going to have to deal with people anyway, she might as well get a dance out of it. And she did just that, dragging Percy off towards the floor. It wasn't the same sort they'd done the previous night, but it was fun with both of them goofing around and just having fun while keeping a watchful eye out for anyone who might be of interest. Interestingly, it seemed that Percy was having a hard time looking away though. This pleased her to no end.

Coincidentally, many people seemed to be doing the same thing. Percy noted this to her quietly, and she had to agree. It was hard not to feel their eyes on them.

"You'd think they'd be a bit more subtle about it," Percy whispered to her as he leaned in just a bit.

"Not all of them are for the same reason," Artemis said quietly, "Some seem a bit annoyed by us."

"Any idea why?"

"We might stand out a bit too much."

"You mean us as people or what we're wearing?"

"Likely a bit of both," Artemis smiled.

"They don't know that you're quite literally both a god and princess. You can do damn well whatever you please."

"Like you aren't technically a prince as well," Artemis shot back with a teasing smile.

"But one of us looks the part, and it's not me," Percy countered.

"You look great."

"And you look better."

Artemis smiled, "You are too modest."

"Disagree," Percy whispered as he leaned in even more, "if you saw the away people were looking at me, you'd understand. The ones who aren't annoyed by us at least."

"Looking at you?" Artemis laughed

Percy nodded conspiratorially, "I'm sure you can feel their eyes on you, but they're looking at me like I'm the luckiest man alive."

She bit the inside of her cheek as she fought back the urge to say something while Percy continued, "and they might be right."

No small amount of happiness coursed through her, and Artemis was very, very thankful that he couldn't hear her thoughts as he grinned down at her. By the gods, why did this man have to be both so dense, and so flirty by accident? She recalled her conversation with Sally and had half the mind to just take her advice. Against her (potentially) better judgment, she reigned herself in. It was neither the time nor place for that. After though maybe.

Still though, despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop from messing around just a little as she grabbed his arm and dragged him along, "Why lucky?"

Percy chuckled, falling in step next to her, "Have you seen you? Sorry if I'm overstepping, but you're by far the most attractive person in the room."

"You do yourself a disservice."

"We make a good couple then," Percy said easily, snagging a glass from one of the waiters nearby as they strolled towards the tables, "Now where are the kids?"

"Not sure," Artemis said easily, "But I found our man."

Percy's eyes flashed in excitement, "Perfect. Been dying to make a mess of things."

Artemis laughed, "That makes two of us. Do you think you could distract her?"

"I thought you said it was a man?"

"Figure of speech," Artemis rolled her eyes, "If you'd rather I be the one to distract her so you can grab the keys, that's alright too."

Percy chuckled, "No no, I'd probably mess it up somehow so you got it. Where is she?"

Artemis pointed her out, and Percy felt like he'd seen her somewhere, "What do you need me to do?"

"I saw her coming and going out of the other rooms with a little key card," Artemis explained, "All you need to do is talk to her long enough for me to grab it and we can be on our way."

Percy nodded, "I can do that. Probably."

Artemis shooed him off so that he could do his job. It went. Not particularly well, but it went. At the very least, it was amusing to watch Percy attempt to strike up a conversation with the staff member. She did enjoy watching Percy squirm awkwardly as he tried his best to keep a coherent conversation. It wasn't like he was doing poorly; she seemed interested. Artemis wasn't sure that she liked it, but it was getting the job done. The moon goddess let the two converse a little more, making sure that the girl was thoroughly engrossed in their little conversation before making her move. It took her no time at all to stalk over towards the girl and snag the card.

Thankfully, or annoyingly depending on how you looked at it, the girl was completely oblivious to the Huntress moving behind her and sneaking her wallet out. Artemis gave Percy a quick signal that they were good to go and walked off. Percy, eager to get away, quickly excused himself. The moon goddess couldn't quite tell what excuse he gave, but it seemed to work as the two split ways.

Percy sighed as he made his way back to the goddess, "Remind me to never do that again."

Artemis looked amused as she looked around for Nico and Thalia, "You look a little worse for wear."

"I feel like I'm about one minor inconvenience away from taking another dip in the Styx."

Artemis laughed, "That bad?"

Percy grinned, "Not really, I just like complaining sometimes."

The goddess smiled, instead choosing to lead Percy over towards one of the counters, "Did you happen to see Nico or Thalia?"

Percy shook his head, "Nope but I can signal to Nico quickly if we need to."

"How?"

Percy placed his hand on the counter and pulsed a bit of power through it. Several feet away, Artemis heard something shatter. It sounded rather large, but it seemed to do the trick as Nico and Thalia appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Nobody noticed as many of them were more concerned with the now shattered vase across the room.

"Didn't I tell you to stop doing that?" Nico grumbled towards Percy. The son of the sea just grinned.

"Yeah but it's effective," Percy grinned.

Thalia looked confused, "What did he do?"

"Broke that pot with some of his earthshaker powers or whatever."

"And it worked wonderfully," Percy nodded.

"You didn't have to break anything though. I would have felt it regardless."

"How?" Thalia asked.

"He's a resident of the underworld," Artemis explained, "They have a more tangible connection to the earth, especially given who his father is. He would feel any of Poseidon's power quite easily."

Nico nodded, "Pretty much."

"Well," Percy clapped his hands softly, "Let's get to work then, yeah?"

"In a moment," Artemis said, "We need to make sure we aren't noticed first."

"How should we do that?" Percy asked.

"We could make everyone scared," Thalia proposed.

"Not the worst idea," Nico agreed, "but it does limit our time."

"We won't be long," Artemis said.

"Alright works for me," Percy nodded.

"What should we do?" Nico asked.

"Dunno," Thalia said, "The two of you could cause an earthquake."

"And bring the entire place down on us?" Artemis asked. Thalia shrugged.

"That would also definitely alert the monsters," Nico pointed out.

"Smaller distraction then," Percy nodded. He looked around for a little bit but Thalia grabbed his attention again.

"Hey so," Thalia nudged Percy as they watched all the people stream into the building, "You don't think this place has a panic room, do you?"

Percy grinned and pulled out his trusty pen, "I can make it a panic room."

"Do not do that," Nico groaned, "We've got enough issues as it is."

"You're no fun," Percy pouted.

"Yeah it would totally make our life easier," Thalia agreed with Percy.

"If by easier, you mean we would have to run from the cops again, then yes," Nico turned, pointing out something, "I've got a plan. And can you put the pen away?"

Percy did so reluctantly, "Fine."

"What is this plan?" Artemis asked amusedly.

Nico gestured over towards a fire alarm, causing the three to grin, "Oldest trick in the book."

"I like it," Percy grinned, "Plenty of water for me to use."

"And plenty of panicked mortals," Thalia laughed, "Let's do it."

Artemis agreed and Thalia quickly ran over to one of the more secluded alarms and yanked it. All around them, shrill alarms began to go off as pipes burst to douse the nonexistent fire. There were several shouts and the four used this as their sign to make a break for it. They met no resistance up until Nico opened the door from earlier. There were a few guards, but Thalia simply zapped them with lightning and the others ran forward. Artemis had the key in the slot before the other three even reached the door.

"Alright," Percy grinned, pulling out his sword, "Let's get to it then."

Thalia grinned, summoning her shield and spear, "Ten drachma says I get more than you."

"Make it twenty," Nico grinned, twirling his own stygian iron blade a little.

Percy laughed, "Yeah you're all going to lose money."

"Definitely not to you," Thalia shot back.

"Yeah maybe not me," Percy agreed as he jerked his thumb towards the goddess, "But with her, you're fucked."

"No comment," Artemis smiled before rushing in. The other three followed quickly after. There wasn't much resistance at first, but as they went deeper, they found more and more monsters. There were certainly more than they'd expected, but none of them minded. More fun for them.

Okay hello! Late update today but still managed it on Wednesday. Been studying for finals and all that. Fun chapter to write, had a great time writing it. Next one should be fun too hopefully. Sorry for posting this so late. It's still hectic and all that. But! Reviews. Let me get to that.
To Adrian King1 and : It was a missed opportunity on Shut Up and Dance. Maybe next time though! And I tried to do some more Artemis this time. It was fun, but it might have been a bit rushed. Hard to say. Thanks again! To Hippie Painter: Thanks! I wanted to show another side to her this time too. To IsItReallyTho: Yeah I get you. Drowning in finals work and studying for the MCAT. Glad to hear you enjoyed though even if I think favorite is a bit crazy. Still though, it means the world to me so thank you so so much. To TomorrowCarpe Diem: Not quiet yet, but soon. And thank you! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it despite how short it was. To Darth66: Thanks! Love hearing from you and I haven't talked about Heph yet. I'd love to hear what you have to say, but I was thinking it'd be one of those things for when Percy is a god. Thank you again! I don't intend to change my style too much. Experiment sure, but nothing crazy. To Jay9x: Thanks! Tons of fun to write. To OkBoomer147: I didn't either but that's just what I ended up writing. And I've already gotten the first kiss scripted, we just need to get there! Love to hear it! To Vladiz45: I haven't heard much by them but I'll totally check it out! To Red133: You're all good mate. I appreciate it and take no offense at all. I did it very intentionally, but we're speeding things up again now. Still though, thank you for the advice since I love hearing what people have to say. To kikinder: I'm super excited to introduce Leto whenever I get the chance. Tons of fun there. Thanks again! And I love cars, I could talk for hours unfortunately. And I hope it is. I've got some fun stuff in mind for it. To HellRaiderS: Thanks! Updates here! To Etkowatches: I plan for it to kick off in a bit of a different way pretty soon. I've got a lot of writing I still want to do though, so it's hard to fit all of it in. Thank you again though and I agree on some of those points. To Dudududhehe: Thank you as always mate. To DoomsdayKid: That's awesome to hear. And she is. Also, expect to see her return relatively soon. And I'm going to steal that idea thank you. And it's a pleasure to have you! I want to explore Nico's interactions a bit more next chapter and I have some fun ideas planned for it. Have a good one! To Rollsroys1234: Thanks! I love writing this and it makes me super happy to hear you enjoy! To The Last Centurion 1: Hey thank you! That means a lot coming from one of my peers. I admittedly haven't had the chance to read much recently, but I remember liking it a lot when I did! Updates Wednesdays typically, but thank you again! It really means a lot to me. To Aether27: Love hearing from you as always. That was the goal so love to hear it! Hope you have a wonderful week as well. To carlos manuel reyes: Thanks! And I intend to do a bit more with her as well. Tried my hand a little with it today, but I want to do more still. To Kaya: Thanks! That means a lot to me! I'm proud of what I've written so I love hearing that. To bable631: Aww thank you! And yeah they really are. To Remvis: Haha thanks. I reiterate that I loved A Year In a Day and I've used it as some of the inspiration for this story. I loved writing them just having fun and I distinctly remember your story being one of the few to take that really lighthearted tone and feel and I loved it. Anyway, thank you again about the outfits as well. I enjoyed trying to come up with something for it. To mastercheif1229: Thanks! Next one's here! To Vishesh: Sorry to hear that. Thank you for reviewing though! To halp: Thanks! I try for every Wednesday. Thank you for reviewing! To MasterTrident: I'm actually going to both agree and disagree. I really should have specified that I meant a creative black tie or a hollywood back tie, which I did go back and change. At the time, I couldn't think of a way to make it sound good since it sounded too wordy when I was writing. Hindsight right? Regardless though, I find that this outfit works well in that specific confine rather than standard black tie. The use of jewel tones, velvets, and general color are considered acceptable in regards to dress in my experience. Brown for that matter also isn't considered unacceptable so long as it is dark enough. At the same time, under this idea, lighter brown boots or shoes aren't considered unacceptable. At the same time, you're also right in the sense that some people will take the idea of a creative black tie to mean something subtler than what I have described. Thank you for pointing that out though. I went back and changed it! Thank you again! To AmWRAZ: Ah thank you! Love to hear that you're enjoying. And just a bit, but I try not to make it to overt. Yet. Anyway, thank you again! Love to have you on board.

Whew that's a lot. Sorry for the later update today! Hope you enjoy!