Author's Note: I'm wrapping up this semester and am currently around two weeks ahead in both my classes. So, I've been writing to keep my mind active. Please enjoy.

Chapter Sixteen: Duty Heavier than a Mountain

The walk into Camp Jupiter felt surreal. Instead of a set up like a summer camp, Rome meant business. Jack blinked a few times as he looked around and noticed all the campers arrayed in battle formations: five groups in total. When he saw the campers at stand-ready, Jack thought of his mother for some reason. The son of Primus and Legacy of Phoebus Apollo shook his head at the attack formation. No one moved to help the unconscious Percy and Thalia in Jack's and Arcee's arms respectively. The majority, with Octavian amongst them, only stared at Arcee with a few gripping their weapons tighter; Jack noted. The camp felt stifling in its rigid hierarchy. Jack knew the basics from his mom: probation, assignment to a cohort, Praetor which was abolished due to lack of manpower to field the position according to his mom, Senator, and Consul. Back at Camp Half-Blood, Apollo's kids would already be rushing Thalia and Percy to the infirmary without any questions. Jack felt his blood and Energon rise at the idea of leaving anyone unaided in combat. Rigid like steel. Jack thought. Part of him wanted to punch someone in the face, likely Octavian, for being so…machine-like.

Speaking of Octavian, the augur walked up to the four and looked over Percy and Thalia with distaste. Then, his eyes settled on Jack and on Arcee. The young man's eyes widened in shock. "Great Vulcan!" Then, Octavian fell on his ass in fright and started backing away from Arcee as small smiles spread throughout the legion.

Arcee shook her helm as her processor quickly understood an invocation of the Roman form of Hephaestus. "Frag you…" She growled before she marched around Octavian into the soldiers. "Medic, Primus damn you! Stop standing like statues and staring!"

A young man glared at Octavian from the soldiers and stepped out calmly, his blue eyes promising retribution should the priest overstep again. "Someone please…" The apparent real leader of the camp didn't even stop speaking before a medic each from four of the five cohorts took Thalia and Percy to be watched over.

With the wounded tended, the young man turned to Jack and Arcee. Under the black-haired teen's tattered sleeves, Jason saw the lyre of Apollo on one arm and an oddly stylized red quasi-face on the other exposed arm. The son of Jupiter also took note of a similar but silver badge on the machine who also bore the mark of Vesta. Jason shivered. Octavian wants to insult a champion of The Flame of Rome?! "Who are you?"

Jack looked at Arcee. He wanted to know if there would be any more issues with demigods mistaking her for an automaton. The son of Primus sighed. "I need to address the Senate." Mentally, Jack tried to project the aura of a Prime as he spoke calmly to the man Jack knew to be one half of the Consul. "The four of us come here not as demigods but as ambassadors from The Greeks and my father Primus."

Jason schooled his emotions. Ambassadors, under Roman law, were never to be harmed or treated with hostility. Such things brought down the wrath of Jove. However, Jason heard the proclamation from The Goddess of the Seas which gave his father's new ruling concerning foreign delegations. The change at the flip of a denarius struck Jason as beyond odd. For one thing, the gods resisted legal changes as much as they could in New Rome and Camp Jupiter. For Jupiter to declare all demigods outside of Camp Jupiter killed on sight just as a new god sends his son, who is a legacy of Rome himself, to inform Romans of a threat likely to the world itself if Greeks were involved, too.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Jason nodded, "As a Consul with Rayna Ramírez-Arellano the other, I will request a special session of The Senate once the Graeci are well." The man looked back toward where the medics carried them off and felt a bit of worry for the young girl, having fuzzy memories of playing hide and seek with a girl who looked like her when he was a toddler. Jason then shook his head and smiled at the strangers. "Would you like a tour of New Rome while we wait for them to wake?"

Percy groaned and looked around in what looked to be an infirmary but definitely not the infirmary back at Camp Half-Blood. With a shake of his head, the memories of the "entrance exam" came back to Percy. Then, the son of The Sea's mind jerked. "Thalia!"

Thalia shivered as she rose to a sitting position on her bed. "I had the weirdest dream, Percy. I thought I saw my brother in a group of soldiers that greeted Jack and Arcee."

Percy got up and walked over to her with a concerned expression before he sat down and looked at her. The son of The Sea focused on Thalia and felt his mind ease off the unseen accelerator as he did. "What do you mean?" the black-haired young man asked. "I can't remember you mentioning you had a brother."

Thalia shook her head and wiped a tear away before Percy could see. "I thought he died when I was young. That's why I ran away." The daughter of Zeus explained. "I only stayed in that house with her to protect him." She whispered. "Then, my egg donor dropped him off at what I realize now was The Wolf House and tried to convince me he died." Thalia looked at Percy in the eyes. "I ran away hoping to find and save him."

Percy could feel the tears coming behind Thalia's eyes and gently held her. "My old stepdad and your mom sound like they should get together and go bowling." Percy shook his head and felt his fists tighten at the memories of Smelly Gabe. "He would drink or smoke away most of Mom's money. The little money Mom would give me, he would use for gambling and threaten to beat me up if I told Mom." Percy smiled. "At the end of my first Summer at Camp, he just disappeared along with Medusa's head."

Thalia looked at Percy in shock, "You didn't?!"

Percy shook his head, "No, I didn't; Mom did."

Thalia smiled which took poor Percy for a loop. "Is the obsession with blue food connected to that?"

Percy shrugged, "It started out as rebellion against Gabe, but honestly, I think blue food tastes better."

Thalia laughed and shook her head at Percy. "You're something else, Kelp Head." For some reason, her brain made a sharp turn and focused on the color: blue. For a moment, Thalia thought about Zeus and how blue usually referred to him. Many did not know, but she spent her time as a tree in something she thought of as a light sleep. There were a few times where she was jarred awake. She could still hear a twelve-year-old Percy screaming for his mom some nights and feel the sting and the draining effect of Pit Scorpion's venom. She shivered as a flash of phantom agony from that event ran through her.

Next thing Thalia knew, she could see the face of her Kelp Head holding her with a terrified expression on his face. Wait. My Kelp Head?! Thalia shook her head. I'll deal with that later. "I'm fine, Percy."

Percy's face tried to settle into anger; but worry prevailed in Percy's expression as he continued to remain on the floor with Thalia gently cradled in his arms. "No, you're not." At that moment, the fear in Percy's eyes intensified if that were even possible. "You're panicking. Just listen to me, Thales. It'll be just like when we were congratulated by the gods." Percy deliberately omitted Olympus. "We'll be fine." Percy continued to hold her even as he felt Thalia's blood pressure gradually come down from the dangerously strong and rapid flow which he felt earlier. The same dangerous pressure gave him a thirty second warning to prepare for Thalia's "episode". After a few more minutes, Thalia seemed to be so relaxed as to be nearing sleep while she lay in his arms, mystifying Percy. Many people are scared of my chaotic nature. She embraces it. He thought. Does this mean-?

Before Percy could process the question further, A knock on the door alerted Percy to where the two of them were, a fact he forgot in the excitement. "Who is it?"

"It's Jack and Arcee," the young Prime answered. "May I come in?"

Percy looked at Thalia questioningly. The daughter of Zeus gradually rose to her feet under her own strength and, for a moment, looked disappointed to be roused from her place of comfort on his lap. However, the disappointment evaporated quickly with Thalia on her feet. With one last check, she looked at Percy who nodded. "Come in."

The door opened uncharacteristically slowly. "The Consuls have agreed to an arrangement for us to speak in The Senate during session in about an hour."
Thalia nodded, but when she tried to get a read on Jack to see if he had any hints on what to expect, Thalia saw entirely too much activity for a normal Human mind, even an ADHD mind like her's and Percy's had nothing going on when compared to Jack's. For a split second, Thalia thought she saw someone like Arcee but male and with what looked to be a pair of ram's horns on his helm.

"I told you they weren't interfacing, Maximo!" Jack growled as he glared at the ground. "Now, will you please shut up about how Loki stole your look and should be sued for copyright infringement?! Can you even take a god to court?"

Thalia gave Percy a look, but the son of Posidaeia shrugged and looked at Arcee with a bit of worry. She didn't seem bothered by the idea of her boyfriend casually talking to gods in his head. All the metal woman did was look at Jack and seem to give him a momentary look into her optics. Then, Arcee motioned for Percy and Thalia to go ahead of her and Jack into the forum to meet with The Senate.

As Percy walked out of the room, a bolt of lightning came down, but before it could connect, partly on instinct and partly due Percy's obsession with a particular show which she would never admit she enjoyed too, Thalia drew the lightning in and redirected it into the sky the moment before she made contact with the ground. Even as she hit the ground, Thalia could still feel the power of her father in her and groaned each time it surged with a corresponding violent spasm. Percy knelt and focused. An erring thought crossed his mind, isn't this great? I have Zeus begging to kill me in both forms. He could feel the power of his divine sister buried deep within Artemis' modern state, but Percy did not dare to bring attention from The Goddess of the Moon as it began to rise above the trees with lanterns and torches coming to life around the camp. With focus and more effort than Percy thought he could muster in times past, the demigod willed it to rain softly on the grounds of Camp Jupiter. With the moisture in the air raised, Percy turned his attention to healing Thalia.

"You die on me, Pinecone Face, and I'll come down to Elysium just to kick your ass and drag you back! You hear me?!"

In the senate hall, the senators gathered. Many grumbled and complained about the late hour, but they knew Jason would not call a session at this time of night if it wasn't absolutely necessary for the good of Rome. The senators' grumbling silenced as all eyes in the settled on a mechanical woman and a young man whose eyes glowed hauntingly blue in the torchlight of the room.

"I am Jackson Darby, son of Primus," Jack gestured with a hand to the two-wheeler next to him. She is Arcee, daughter of Solus Prime. We bring grave news, not only for Rome but the world…"

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