Chapter 17
Disclaimer: I regret to inform you, that I still don't own PJO. I know you all thought I would by now, but I'll keep trying...
Percy left his training session with Chaos feeling good. Tired, but good. Despite her telling him that their training sessions would now be 20 hours long, the test had taken even longer than that. 25 hours of nothing but action. She had wanted to test every single aspect of his skills in various scenarios, so she had taken the time to do it right. By the time they were done, he was exhausted, but he knew that he had done very well. He had impressed her, and he was going to move up after he returned from his mission.
He was really enjoying his new shadow powers. It had only been 2 days since he'd gotten them, but there were so many applications. Aside from waves of shadows that he could conjure to use as an offensive move, there were many more subtle ways to use the powers. He had discovered that he had the potential to control the shadows in great detail. It was quite difficult and required a lot of concentration, but he was learning. He could use the shadows to form a type of grappling hook or make them into lockpicks. He could theoretically make them into bullets to be shot out of a gun, or maybe into a bow and arrows. But only theoretically. He still wasn't at the level where he could do that. But he would train until he could.
When he returned to his bunk, he showered and collapsed into bed. He slept for a decent while and woke up long after he was supposed to. He was leaving for a mission, so he knew that Chaos will have told his instructors that he was excused from training. He got up and stretched. Even though he had greatly enhanced speed, strength, agility, durability, and healing, he was still sore from everything Chaos had put him through in his test last night. He knew he would be ok soon enough, but for the moment he was a bit stiff.
He took the elevator up to Chaos' office. She was sitting behind her desk like she always was.
"So, when do I leave?"
She looked up and smiled.
"Two hours from the same place like last time."
He nodded.
"That should be good. Anything you want me to do in the meantime?"
"Have I told you where our armory is?"
"Nope. I actually didn't know we had one."
"Well, we do. There was no point sending you there for your last mission since all you would need is your sniper, but since you're going to an extended amount of time now, you should gear up."
"Fair enough. Where is it?"
"If you can't find it yourself, then maybe I have the wrong person for the job."
He rolled his eyes.
"Alright then. I assume you've told them I'm on my way?"
"I have indeed."
"And they know what I'll need?"
"They do."
"Ok. I guess I'll see you in a few months."
"You will. Oh, and before I forget. Come over here for a second."
He walked over to her desk and she handed him an envelope. He opened it and saw various cards. He recognized one as a credit card. It felt weird to have one. he'd never had a credit card of his own when he had been on earth, and he hadn't seen one at all since he had arrived in Chaos' realm 20 years ago. He checked it over. It was under his own name, so he wouldn't have to go around with a fake one. The card was registered to the Bank of America.
There was also an ID in his name that said he was 21, with a picture of him that he wasn't sure how she got. He also had an American passport and a driver's license.
"Thanks."
"No problem. Have a good time."
"I think I will."
She didn't wish him luck. He liked that. He didn't need any such thing. He took the elevator down to the streets. He had no clue where to find the armory, but he knew how to find it. Actually, there were 2 different ways. The first was to wander around helplessly until he happened to stumble upon it. He didn't like that option very much. The second way was to use his enhanced senses to find the building with the biggest stench of gun oil and machine parts. He preferred to do it that way.
He closed his eyes and stretched out his senses. He could smell the massive amount of guns around a mile away. He started walking in that direction. He got there 10 minutes later and walked inside. It was a nice building, as they all were in Chaos' realm. The black Chaotic Obsidian floors. Everything else was either made from marble or quartz. It was very sleek and modern. He realized that there were no light fixtures. It made sense. No one without the third blessing would be sent on a mission, usually, so there was no need for lights. He supposed that they would still be unnecessary since anyone with the first blessing could still navigate without their eyes.
There was an open space that the building opened into, and there was a big counter dead ahead. There was a young-looking blonde woman behind it, looking straight at him. She did not look friendly and he wasn't surprised.
"Jackson?"
"Yeah."
"Follow."
He followed.
She led him past the counter and into the main space. Following the gun oil had been the smart move. There were so many different kinds of guns there, for every possible need. He knew that he would be taking a fair few. There were also several knives, swords, shields, spears, and even axes, but not nearly as many. Still lots, just not quite as many as the thousands of firearms that were stored there. He knew he would be taking some of those too.
The bored blonde geared him up. By the time he left, he was a walking armory. She introduced him to a fabulous concept that he had never expected. He knew that he would be taking lots of weapons and he hadn't been totally sure about how he was going to bring them all, but he had his answer. He was given a backpack, which had some very special enchantments on it. He would place it on the ground, open it, and it would expand to the size of a large shed. It was known as the portable armory. In it, he would keep several kinds of weapons. Probably around 50 in total. There were many guns of various types. millions of rounds of ammunition, two swords, two spears, 2 shields, two axes, 2 knives, several throwing knives, a bow, hundreds of arrows, and dozens of grenades, flashbangs, and other throwables. He could see why they called it the portable armory.
There were no differences between the two swords or spears an anything. He checked for anything to distinguish one from the other, but they were totally identical, made from the same material, in the same design. He figured that they were just spares.
Of course, all of the weapons in the portable armory were backups, and for premeditated situations. He had another knife that he would keep on his person at all times for easy access. He would keep a handgun, as well as 4 spare magazines on his person at all times for the same reason. There were several throwing knives strapped to his arms. And, of course, he had Riptide in his pocket no matter what. In essence, he was ready for virtually any situation, in a split second, and he had options to choose from if he had time to plan an attack.
Then, the bored blonde had led him to the armor section, where a suit had been set aside for him. It was interesting, to say the least. It was less of a suit of armor, and more like robes. But he could sense that there was more going on there. The bored blonde felt the need to explain.
"It's not actually fabric. Well, it is, but it's not just fabric. Each and every set has been enchanted by Lady Chaos, personally. It's just as flexible as regular fabric, but it's just as strong as metal. There's 0 penetration in most parts throughout the suit, but it still hurts like a bitch when you get shot or stabbed. You probably won't be able to handle it."
She made sure to sneer at the end, just in case he was beginning to think that she liked him or something, Gods forbid. He didn't care. She showed him the areas that were the most protected. According to her, the reason that some areas were vulnerable, was to retain flexibility. She said that Chaos couldn't enchant the whole thing to be super strong, without it becoming rigid. There was the most protection around the chest, back, and legs. There were weak points at all of the joints, so elbows and knees were unprotected, but aside from those areas, arms and legs were also covered.
The suit itself looked pretty damn good. It was basically just robes with a hood. There were heavy-looking combat boots and leather gloves. There was a hood to keep the rain out of his face if need be, and it would keep his face hidden for the most part. It was all black. Every single thread. He liked it.
He took the suit, which had been specifically measured for his size, put it in his portable armory, and left the building. He had to leave in around 45 minutes. He left the armory and walked to the main training building. He took the elevator down to the shooting area and picked up his special sniper rifle. He put it in its case and left the building once again. He arrived at the airport-looking building a few minutes early. He put down the portable armory, opened it, stepped in, and placed his sniper on one of the racks. He stepped out and the portable armory collapsed back into a backpack.
He took a seat and waited for the dropship. A moment later, he sensed her. Sara walked into the building and sat down next to him. He stared at her for a moment. She stared back at him. Then she leaned in and kissed him gently. It was the first time she had done so in a decade. When she pulled away, she put a hand on his cheek and looked deep into his eyes.
"I'll miss you."
The way she said it, he knew that it was an understatement.
"I'll miss you too."
It was an understatement from him too.
She nodded, got up, and left the building. As heartbreaking as it was to watch her leave, he was glad she had shown up. He was going to go 6 months without seeing her and he wasn't entirely sure how he was going to manage. As hard as it was to see her in his classes, he was grateful for it. He knew it would be harder to go without seeing her. He was about to find out firsthand.
The dropship came and he climbed aboard. There was the same short trip to the main ship, which he boarded. Once he was there, he was met by a big guy with brown hair. He was around 6'3 and heavily muscled, as was every man in Chaos' army. Percy was a decent bit bigger than him, but still.
"Jackson?"
"Yeah."
"Follow."
Percy sighed but followed. The big guy led him to a room he hadn't seen before. It looked like a briefing room. They sat down opposite each other with a table between them. The table was another hologram like the one he had seen last time he'd been on a mission.
They went over the details. It took a very long time, but there was no stone left unturned. Percy was given every single scrap of information that they had and he was glad for it. The more he knew, the better equipped he would be. He listened attentively and asked questions when he needed to. The big guy was fine. He wasn't as much of a dick as a lot of the others in the army, but he was still far from pleasant.
After around 2 hours, they were done and Percy was free to roam the ship. It was moderately sized and he knew he was going to have to settle in for a decent wait. He wasn't sure how long it would be, but something told him that he was going to have to wait for a while. He might have gotten some sleep somewhere on the ship, but he wasn't even slightly tired. He'd slept for a whole 4 hours last night, which was a lot more than he needed on average ever since he'd gotten Chaos' second blessing. He figured 4 hours of sleep would be enough to run him for 4 days. That seemed to be the trend he had noticed.
He found a gym and worked out for a couple of hours. He wanted to burn some energy. He pushed himself even further than he normally did. He was kind of amazed to see how far he had come in the 20 years since he had signed up with Chaos.
On his first day with them, he had been tested to get a feel of his limits. At the time, the most he could bench-press was 1500 pounds. Since then, it had nearly tripled. His maximum speed had been 30 miles per hour. Now, it was 50. Back then, he had managed to run at his maximum speed for 45 minutes before he collapsed. Now, he was able to sprint at his maximum speed for a little over an hour. His hardest punch had measured in at 145 horsepower. It had quadrupled. He was glad that he showed progress. 20 years in Chaos' army, 10 of those with personal training from Chaos herself, he would damn well hope to have improved.
Once he was done with his workout, he showered and re-dressed. He was already bored. There wasn't much to do. While Percy had long since overcome his dyslexia, his ADHD was still affecting him more than ever. He was able to keep it from affecting him physically so that he wouldn't fidget. It had been extremely important when he had been learning to snipe. Any movement whatsoever would result in a miss. He had learned to remain perfectly still, and he could do so for hours on end. But there was little he could do about the effect on his mind. He still got bored incredibly easily. He could block that stuff out when it was important, but it wasn't important on the ship.
He managed to take a nap. He had burned enough energy that he was able to make himself sleep. It was only for 2 hours, but he physically couldn't sleep longer than that after getting 4 hours last night. The second blessing had drawbacks. In the end, he kept himself busy by simply roaming the ship. He didn't find too much, since it wasn't very large.
Mercifully, the ship reached its destination. He went from the main ship to the dropship. The dropship left him like it had the last time. Barely within the atmosphere, the doors opened and he was to jump out, into the ocean. He picked up the backpack and jumped out of the dropship. Less than a minute later, he crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, roughly halfway between the US and Portugal. He used his powers to shoot himself to New Jersey like a torpedo.
He realized that it was summer. When he neared the beach, fully clothed, holding a backpack, he came across a stream of people enjoying their day. He wasn't sure if the mist would cover for him. It was there to keep mortals from seeing the divine, but he doubted a man walking out of the sea fully dressed, with his backpack, counted as 'divine'. He decided not to risk it. He swam around until he reached a point that was almost unoccupied. He ran out and made his way into the city.
As a born and raised New Yorker, Percy knew how to get there from New Jersey. It was 60 miles, and he knew that he could run that distance in a little over an hour. He would need to make sure he stayed out of sight of the mortals since he would be running at speeds no human should be able to reach. He found a secluded area and set off. He knew that the mist would step in if anyone saw him. It might be a different case if they saw him running at those speeds for an extended period of time, but he was confident that it could handle it if they only caught a fleeting glimpse of him.
He made his way into the city. Instantly, a flood of memories came back to him. There was so much he had lived in that city. Maybe too much. But there was one thing that was taking priority over him. Hunger. He was hungry. He'd just run over 60 miles, of course, he was hungry! He realized with a start that he hadn't actually eaten food since the morning his life fell apart, over 20 years ago. The atmosphere in Chaos' realm kept everyone perfectly sustained all of the time.
He walked through the city for a while before he came across a burger place that he remembered loving. He was kind of surprised to find that it still existed. He had been moderately sure that it would be gone. He walked in and got in line to order. The effect he had on the place as soon as he walked in, was palpable. People actually gaped at him. He wasn't surprised really. He was 6'7 and nearly 300 pounds of pure muscle. He may well have put a few people in the shade, blocking out the sun with his mass. He ignored them all. A few people actually offered to let him go ahead of them. They seemed scared. Like he was a member of a gang, or a hitman, or something. He didn't feel like it, but he smiled politely and waved them off. He wanted to take them up on their offer, but he didn't want to be mean. He stayed where he was.
After a few minutes, he reached the front of the queue. The woman behind the counter, an 18-year-old, who couldn't have been taller than 5'8 was staring up at him. She gulped when he approached. Again, he didn't want to, but again, he smiled politely. He knew that mortals considered him good-looking, so he hoped that the combination of that fact and the pleasant smile, would be enough to put the young girl at ease. It worked ok. She relaxed somewhat.
"Hi. Can I take your order?" she asked in a polite tone.
"Yeah, thanks. I'd like 2 cheeseburgers please, with large fries, and a large coke."
The young girl nodded and charged him. He paid by card and sat down to wait for his order. He was very eager to try the burgers. He wondered if it would be as good as he remembered. He saw that his order was ready, picked it up, brought it back to his table, and took a bite of his burger. It was awful. He nearly spat it out.
"What the fuck!? Why?"
Then he realized why. His sense of taste had been enhanced, along with all of the rest. He could taste each, individual ingredient. And because this was just some fat-fried, greasy, fast-food burger, it was made out of crap. He could taste the fat. It was absolutely horrible. He tasted one of the fries. It was good. Exactly like he remembered. He tasted his coke. He nearly choked on it.
"Well, "he thought glumly, "I guess it's just salads from now on."
He just hoped he wouldn't be able to taste the goddamn fertilizer. He knew it would be strange to throw away an entire meal, so he forced himself to eat the burger that he had started. He ate all of his fries, with great pleasure. He left his tray in its designated spot and took his burger and coke. He left the burger place and found a random homeless guy.
"Excuse me. Do you want a burger and coke?"
The homeless guy looked suspicious but nodded. Percy gave them to him and walked away. He was glad to be done with it. He walked around for a while until he found a salad place. he didn't know if it was good or not. He had never voluntarily eaten in a salad place before. He walked in and everyone had the same reaction as the people in the burger place. He had a feeling that he was going to start getting pissed if that kept happening. Didn't anyone ever tell them that it was rude to stare?
He ordered a caesar salad and waited. After a while, they gave it to him, and he took a hesitant bite. Thankfully, it was good. He ate like a savage, paid, and left.
He just walked around the city for a little while. He hadn't been there in a long time. The whole place looked different, but not too different. It was still New York. New Yorkers were still New Yorkers. After a while, he decided to find a hotel. He knew he wasn't going to find an apartment, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find one at all. He knew that he was going to be going all over the world. What would be the point in getting a place? He could just find a 5-star hotel and stay in their penthouse for however long he was in the country.
He passed the Four Seasons hotel and couldn't resist. He had always heard of the legendary Ty Warner suite. Apparently, it was one of the most deluxe rooms in the world. He had only ever heard of its amazing details. And now he had a credit card with unlimited money.
"Fuck it."
He walked in and paid for 2 weeks in the room. He might end up staying there longer, or he might end up leaving before then, but he didn't care. He took the elevator up to the room. It was astoundingly beautiful. It was 4,300 square feet. There was a fucking piano. The bathroom had an infinity tub. He hadn't even known that was a thing. He was up on the 52nd floor, and there was a 360-degree view of Manhattan. It was amazing.
But he knew that he couldn't stay there for too long. He needed a few things. He left the backpack/portable armory in the room and left. He had a bunch of weapons on him, in case anything came up. He walked around the city, looking for an electronics store. Chaos had said that Zeus wouldn't be able to sense him if he was on a plane, he was willing to bet that monsters wouldn't be able to sense him using a phone or a laptop. But he knew that he could deal with it if they could. Monsters hadn't been much of an issue for him before he had joined Chaos, so they would be butter now.
He found a Best Buy and walked in. 30 minutes later, he walked out with a new phone, a laptop, and a portable wifi router. He dropped them off at the room and left again. This time, he went looking for clothes. The suit that Chaos had given him for his mission was amazing, but it didn't exactly help him blend in. He needed something to wear that wouldn't draw attention to him. He found a store and immediately encountered his first problem. He was 6'7 and built like a mountain. The store didn't have many options for him and the things that were available weren't the most beautiful. He bought what he could and brought everything with him back to the hotel.
He dropped everything off in the room and decided to leave again. Before he left, he unpacked one of the bags of clothes and took out a pair of pants, a big T-Shirt, and a hoodie. He opened stepped into his portable armory and took out the suit Chaos had given him and took off all of his clothes. He put on the suit and immediately felt good. It was very comfortable, and he knew that it was extremely solid, despite its softness. Once it was on, he put the mortal clothes over it. He wanted to have the suit on in case of emergencies, but he knew it was better to wear civilian clothes over it. He stood out enough with his height and build, he didn't need to go around New York dressed in robes. Once he was ready, he left the hotel. He wanted to walk around for a while. He figured that he could get started with his mission later. He wanted to take some time for himself first. He hadn't really done that at all in the last decade of his life. He deserved a little downtime.
The first thing that struck him when he left the hotel, was the heat. With 2 layers of clothes, it was awful. He stopped at a convenience store and picked up a bottle of water. With his water, he walked into a back alley and made sure no one could see him. Once he was sure that he was alone, he poured the entire bottle down his shirt, directly onto his body. He used his powers to hold the water to his body. Once his entire body, except his head, was covered in a layer of water, he used his control over it to cool it down. It was nearly frozen, at just a few degrees above 0. It immediately did wonders. He felt himself cool down right away. He decided to keep it there while he walked around. His control over water was so great that holding a layer of water to his body as he walked, was negligible. He barely even had to think about it.
He walked all over the city for hours. He got further and further away from the main area and winded up in less built-up parts of the state. Outside Manhattan, there were quite a few of them. He was near a forest when he caught a rather interesting scent. The scent of monsters. A lot of them. They were all organized into some kind of group. There were over 1,000 of them.
"Holy shit!" he thought.
He'd never seen so many monsters in the same place, except for battles during the wars, or Tartarus. He stretched his senses out further. He found another group. Not monsters. He could sense the bows and hunting knives. He could smell some ozone in the air. He could also feel the godly presence. The hunters. There were roughly 2 dozen of them. 2 dozen hunters and Artemis against over 1,000 monsters. It was going to be a bloodbath. A bloodbath that his cousin was going to get caught in the middle of.
He started sprinting toward the army of monsters, shedding the mortal clothes as he ran, leaving him only in the suit that Chaos had given him. They were still pretty far away, but he was very fast. It didn't take him very long. By the time he had reached the battlefield, the hunters and the monsters were fighting. It wasn't going very well for the hunters. He could tell that they hadn't suffered a loss yet, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before they did.
The main group was firing arrows as fast as they could while trying to maintain some kind of cover. He could see Artemis was on the front lines with her twin hunting knives. She was doing her best to keep the monsters from reaching her hunters. Thalia was by her side. She had her spear and Aegis, as she assisted her mistress in keeping the monster hoard at bay. She was calling forth lightning strikes every few seconds, to help them out.
He considered the best approach. He had come a very long way from the fool who would rush into battles without a proper plan. Doing that against an army of monsters that large was going to be a bad idea. Work smart, not hard. He sensed a massive stream not too far away from the back of the monster army. He grinned. He called forth the entire stream, made it into an enormous wave, and sent it crashing toward the army.
The colossal wave hit them from behind and greatly disorientated most of the forces. He stomped his foot against the ground to create a massive earthquake right in the middle of their army, which did the rest of the work to make them stumble and fall. After that, he uncapped Riptide and held it in his right hand. He took his knife from its sheath strapped to his waist and held it in his left.
He took off, sprinting into the massive army from the side. He still had control over the water he had used to form the wave, so while he hacked and slashed at the monsters in front of him, he used the water to fuck with the monsters around the back. Every minute or so, he would create another earthquake, just to make sure that the monsters didn't get a solid footing on the battlefield.
He fought like a demon, carving a path through the army. After a few minutes, he estimated that 1 third of them were gone. The monsters that had been going for the hunters had given up on them, instead turning around to assist their brethren against the demon with the sword and knife.
The hunters were extremely confused. Out of all of the likely outcomes from their fight with the monster army, this had not been one that they had expected. The monsters that had been pushing against them, seemed to have given up. They turned around and refocused on someone else entirely. The hunters had no idea who it even was, though the use of the wave had given Thalia hope, and Artemis a clue. Because the monsters were ignoring them, Thalia and Artemis pulled out their bows and joined their sisters in firing at the monsters from a distance, seeing as they didn't need to hold them off anymore.
Thalia still sent out massive lightning strikes into the thickest of the horde, and all of the hunters concentrated fire around the area where the man was fighting. They didn't know who he was, and they automatically didn't like him very much due to his gender, but he seemed to be on their side, so they were willing to watch his back as he fought. Especially seeing as he had probably just saved their lives. Thalia and Artemis were very proud people, and they had the right to be based on their skill, but they weren't too proud to admit what had been about to happen. Without the distraction that the man provided, they would have been overrun soon.
The fight was going well. Percy hadn't fought against so many opponents in a very long time, having focused far more on one-on-one combat with Chaos. She had made sure to give him some training with combat against groups of enemies in their private sessions, but it hadn't been a main focus of hers. Regardless, he was doing well. His incredible speed, strength, and agility were doing wonders. His phenomenal skill was only helping matters. He constantly used formed razor-sharp, needle-thin blades of water or shadows which he would send flying into the massive horde, aiming for heads. Each time he did it, several monsters died instantly. Every now and then, he would send a massive wave of shadows crashing into the battlefield, just to shake things up. Whenever he was about to get surrounded, he would simply shadow travel outside the circle they had formed around him, and start attacking them from the new angle. He was running circles around them. It was actually quite fun. Every now and then, some monster would land a lucky shot, but it was almost always against the armored portion of his body. One arrow had managed to nick his shoulder, but it was barely anything. It would heal by the time the battle was over.
It wasn't very long before the monster army was a collection of golden dust. He wasn't even panting by the time they were all gone. He knew that he hadn't done it all himself, having received a good amount of support from the hunters, but he was still quite pleased.
The hunters walked over to him. He wasn't looking at them, but he could tell that they were hesitant. He could sense that they weren't drawing their bows, but they had an arrow knocked. He knew that they would be ready to shoot at him if they suspected that he would pose a threat. Of course, he could pose a threat, but he wouldn't. Even if he did, arrows would do nothing to him. He could just conjure a wall of shadows to block them out, and then simply kill them. After the training he had received from Chaos and her army, he was positive that he could take each and every one of them. Artemis was another can of worms. It would certainly be an interesting battle, but he wasn't sure who would win. If he had to bet, he would bet on her.
But he meant them no harm. He had just fought an army of monsters to keep them safe, after all. He wasn't entirely sure what to do. Chaos had told him that he was allowed to interact with the Olympians if he had to, just that he couldn't mention her, her army, or the upcoming war. He decided not to shadow travel away. He had missed his cousin. He had missed his friends. He slowly turned toward them and came face-to-face with Artemis.
"Who are you?" she asked him.
"Fair question, I suppose."
"You know who I am."
He dropped the hood from his face. He saw Artemis' and Thalia's eyes go wide. A few of the hunters mimicked their reaction. The rest looked at him blankly. It was Thalia who spoke.
"P-Percy?" she asked hesitantly
"Yeah. Hi Thals."
He mentally cringed. 20 years and all he could say was "Hey Thals".
Before he could say something proper to her, she flung herself at him. At first, he thought it had been an attack, but he realized it was a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and buried her face into his chest. Before Chaos, that hug would have sent them both to the ground. Now, he didn't move an inch. He just wrapped his arms around her back and rested his head on her shoulder. He closed his eyes and released a contented sigh. He had truly missed her.
They stayed like that for a while. Thalia was clinging to him like he was going to evaporate suddenly. He felt bad for doing that to her, but he knew that it was necessary. He felt even worse about having to leave again before long. Who knew how long it would be until he returned after that?
After a few long moments of holding each other, Artemis cleared her throat politely. Thalia looked up from his chest. Her eyes were slightly red. She unwrapped herself from him and dropped to the ground. He was a lot taller than her. He remembered her being tall, and she was, but he was just a lot taller than he had been back then. She was around 5'11, so he was a whopping 8 inches taller than her. He was a hell of a lot wider than her too. Two Thalias could easily stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and he would still be broader than them.
She took a few steps back to her group. She just stared at him. Like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. As if he was an apparition, designed to fool her. Seeing that her lieutenant was in no shape to question the side before her, Artemis took charge.
"Where have you been, Perseus?"
"I've been... around."
"Around where?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
He sighed.
"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information."
Artemis' eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"Excuse me?!"
"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information."
Artemis blinked. From what she had heard of Perseus, he shouldn't have even known the meaning of the word 'divulge'.
"Are you seriously unwilling to tell me?"
"Not 'unwilling'. Unable."
An eyebrow rose.
"And who is responsible for that?"
"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information."
Artemis' eyes narrowed. She took a long moment to consider her options. It wasn't very long before she reached a conclusion.
"You need to come to Olympus with me. Now."
Percy sighed. He had seen that coming. It wasn't the worse thing in the world. He got to tell his dad that he was alive, so that was something. Going to Olympus was just an inconvenience.
"Fair enough."
Thalia tore her eyes away from Percy long enough to glance at her mistress.
"Is it ok if I come too, my lady?"
Artemis considered it before nodding. She picked up her bow, summoned a massive silver arrow, and fired it straight up into the air. When it reached a high enough altitude, it exploded like a firework. They waited a moment, and then Artemis grabbed Percy and Thalia by the shoulder and the two demigods closed their eyes. A moment later, they were on Olympus, in the middle of the Throne Room.
The Throne Room looked exactly as Percy remembered it. It was made from beautiful white marble, and everything was enormous. There were 14 massive thrones arranged in a semi-circle. 13 of them were filled. 14, once Artemis took her place.
"Father. I found him."
Artemis gestured toward him, and suddenly the focus in the room shifted to him. He felt somewhat awkward standing in the Throne Room being stared at by 14 deities, but he dealt with it. Before he knew what was happening, he was enveloped in a massive hug. He didn't need his enhanced senses to pick up on the intense aroma of the ocean.
There was a very long hug before the sea God pulled away, almost as if he was making sure he was real, just as Thalia had done. But Zeus was far less kind than Artemis apparently.
"Poseidon." he growled warningly.
Poseidon shot a glare at his younger brother over his shoulder.
"Zeus." he growled back.
Percy decided to keep some semblance of peace and put a hand on his father's shoulder.
"Dad, "he said softly, "It's ok. We can talk after."
Poseidon looked reluctant but walked back to his throne. There was a very long moment where Zeus simply stared at him. It was as if he was expecting something, but for the life of him, Percy couldn't figure out what he wanted. Eventually, the king of the Gods spoke.
"Are you not going to bow, demigod?" he asked menacingly.
Clearly, the immortal had been expecting Percy to gasp and fall to his kneed, begging for forgiveness. The immortal was wrong.
"No."
Zeus stared at him. Percy saw him glance over at Poseidon a few times, clearly remembering the threat that had already been made. It seemed he was trying to decide whether the insult to his honor was worth aggravating his brother. Apparently, he decided that it wasn't.
"Where have you been, demigod?"
"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information."
Zeus' eyes went wide. The insult to his honor mere moments ago, coupled with further insolence from the young demigod, was more than he was willing to put up with, as king of Olympus. He stood up and his master bolt was summoned to his hand before he found his brother's trident leveled at his chest.
"You will not harm my son!" Poseidon snarled at his brother.
Zeus stared at the trident and weighed up his options again. After a moment of contemplation, he sat back down, and his master bolt disappeared from the Throne Room. He didn't look very happy though. Poseidon also lowered his trident.
"What do you mean, boy?" Zeus asked, his attention returning to the younger demigod.
"I mean what I said. If you need me to dumb it down, here goes; I can't tell you."
Zeus started turning a very interesting shade of purple. Perhaps that hadn't been the smartest thing Percy had ever said, but it sure felt good. Zeus had pretty much been an asshole his entire life, so it felt good to get his licks in. Zeus took a very deep breath and tried to calm down. He knew his brother would declare war on him if he harmed his son.
"Why can't you tell us?" he forced out.
"I can't tell you that either."
Zeus looked like an aneurysm was about to burst in his head. Percy made sure to keep his face passive, but he was grinning sinisterly on the inside.
"Fine. What have you been doing then?"
Percy just shook his head.
"So... you mean to tell me that you've returned, yet you cannot tell us where you have been, or what you have been doing?"
"Nearly."
"How so?"
"I haven't returned."
Thalia shot around to face him. Poseidon looked like he had been stabbed. It was Thalia who spoke.
"What?" she said quietly.
"I'm sorry, Thals."
"Clarify your words, demigod." Zeus spoke up.
"I'm here temporarily. I was sent because of a problem with the mortal world. A terrorist organization that has cells all over the world. I was sent to kill them all. Once I've completed my task, I'll return to where I've been this whole time."
"And you can't tell us where that is?"
"That's right."
Zeus just sighed. Poseidon had other issues though.
"My son, what do you mean, 'kill them all'? You kill mortals?" he asked, worried.
"The ones that deserve it, sure."
He saw the Gods exchange glances. They looked concerned. So did Thalia. Percy sighed and decided to give them a little bit more to go on.
"Look, I've learned that there are people that simply don't deserve to live. People that have done such horrible things, that they shouldn't draw breath. People that have committed atrocities that not even you could imagine. I have no problem doing what I do. The world is a better place without them."
He made sure to limit the scope of his speech to Earth. It was for the best that they didn't learn that he had been off the planet. That might give them a clue as to where he had been.
Looking around the room, he could see that some of the Gods were struggling to reconcile the person before them with the one they had known. Percy took that as a compliment. He liked to think that he had come a long way from the naive child he had once been.
"What's to stop us from imprisoning you right now?" Zeus asked.
"Now, THAT was unexpected." he thought.
"Excuse me?" he asked, amused.
His relaxed tone contrasted deeply with the immediate uproar that came from a few of the other Gods, as well as Thalia, who had stepped in front of her cousin protectively. Zeus silenced them all by raising his hand, though the ones that had been protesting kept glaring at him.
"The fact of the matter is, "Zeus said, trying to remain calm, "This demigod disappeared 20 years ago. We have no idea what he's been doing in that time. Nor do we know where he's been doing it, or with whom. For all we know, he's been conspiring with one of our enemies! The very last action he took, as far as we know, was to attack one of his fellow demigods! His own brother no less!"
"Brother, that is simply ludicrous! Perseus has fought for us loyally in 2 separate wars!"
Interestingly enough, it wasn't Poseidon that had spoken. It was Hades. Poseidon was too busy glaring a hole into Zeus' head.
"That was then. This is now. We have to protect ourselves from a potential spy in our midst, sent to gather intelligence and report back!"
"Congratulations, Zeus, "Percy thought drily, "You have successfully described what a spy does."
"Let's put it to a vote!" Zeus roared.
"What exactly are we voting on, brother? What crime does the boy stand accused of?" Hades asked.
"While we can't prosecute on suspicion of treason, we can certainly prosecute for assault! He was witnessed attacking his own brother, with the clear intent to kill!"
"Perhaps the accused wished to speak to his actions?" surprisingly, it was Aphrodite who spoke. She received a few odd looks but ignored them. Instead, she was staring straight at him. Not lustfully. Curiously. And there was something in her eyes. It was something that he couldn't put his finger on. But there was definitely more to that woman than met the eye.
Suddenly, all eyes were on Percy. He had to defend his actions against his brother. He could do so easily, but the truth was complicated. There was technically nothing stopping him from accusing his brother of what he had done. But he considered what Chaos had told him. She'd said that his brother was doing good work at Camp Half-Blood. Good work, which would be important during the upcoming war. He knew that he couldn't expose his brother. Not yet, at least.
"I can't tell you why I did what I did. But there is a reason. I'll tell you one day when the time is right, but I can't right now. For the moment, I hope that you will all trust me when I say, it was justified. More than."
The Gods looked around at each other. They seemed to accept that they couldn't make him tell them. They were all trying to decide if they would give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Let's put it to a vote!" Zeus repeated.
There seemed to be no arguments. The room went deathly quiet.
"All in favor of imprisonment."
Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Athena, Dionysus, and Ares raised their hands.
"All in favor of acquital."
Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus raised their hands. Artemis abstained from voting, watching Percy curiously. Zeus counted the votes and his lips thinned into a pencil.
"The accused is acquitted." he ground out.
Percy smirked lightly. Even if Zeus had tried anything, he wouldn't have been in any danger. He was reasonably confident that he could take the king of the Gods in a fight. Zeus had far too much political power and far too little real power. Aside from Typhon, the king of the Gods probably hadn't been in a real fight in a long time. He may have once been capable, but those days were long gone. Not to mention the fact that his father would defend him. Maybe his uncle too. If Ares and Athena joined the fight, Percy could take them by himself. He wasn't even worried. The rest that had voted weren't threats in the slightest. Regardless of the verdict, Percy would have been fine.
"Is there anything else that must be discussed?" Zeus forced himself to say.
It was clear that he was very bitter after losing the vote. Artemis raised her hand.
"Yes, Father, I have something to speak of."
"Do go on, daughter."
It was clear that Zeus wasn't very angry with Artemis. She had abstained from voting, after all.
"The circumstances under which we met Perseus are of significance. My hunters and I were attacked. There was an army of 1,000 monsters. They were organized. Far more organized than usual."
That unsettled the council. They all exchanged glances with each other. An army of 1,000 monsters was no laughing matter.
"Was there a clear leader?" Athena asked.
Artemis just shook her head.
"How were you able to prevail, daughter? Surely you don't have the forces to deal with such a large amount of monsters at once."
Artemis' only response was to look at Percy pointedly. Everyone followed her gaze and watched him in shock. Poseidon was the first to recover. He cracked a grin.
"Typical, brother. My son saves 2 of your daughters at once, and you still try to have him arrested!"
Zeus went red but held his tongue.
"We will discuss this event at the next solstice meeting. It would be wise to speak to all of the minor Gods to hear if they've noticed anything similar."
Athena spoke.
"Father, the summer solstice was only a month ago. If we are to wait for the next one, it's 5 months away."
"I am aware of that, daughter, but I think it would be best to wait. This might be an isolated event. If we notice more events such as this one in the 5 months until the next solstice, then we will address it."
Artemis looked alarmed at her father's words.
"But, Father, I must protest. If we were to suffer such an attack again before the next solstice, I worry that we might not prevail."
It was obvious to anyone watching that it had taken a lot for Artemis to admit that. But Percy could respect that she was willing to put the welfare of her hunters beyond her pride. Zeus spent a long moment considering what his daughter had told him. He couldn't deny that she had a point. After a while, his eyes honed in on Percy, who was still standing in the middle of the room.
"Daughter, you said that Perseus was the reason you survived the attack?"
"Indeed, Father."
Zeus looked at Thalia.
"You agree, Daughter?"
Thalia just nodded.
Zeus lapsed into thought. After a few moments, he spoke with a degree of finality.
"Then it is settled. Perseus, you shall accompany my daughters and the hunt in their travels until the winter solstice."
Outrage shook the entire room. Thalia was just shocked. Artemis had actually screamed the word 'what'. Poseidon's eyes started glowing with powerful rage. Percy shook the entire Throne Room without meaning to.
"What did you just say?" he asked Zeus, in a deadly voice.
"I believe you heard my order, demigod."
"You can shove your order up your ass, I'm not doing it."
Zeus shot up.
"You DARE speak to your king this way!?"
"You aren't my king. I'll speak to you however I damn well wish."
The master bolt appeared in the room. So did Poseidon's trident, and Hades stood from his throne, prepared to defend his nephew if the need arose. Ares stood up too, eager to get in on the action.
"Ares, sit." came Aphrodite's powerful command.
Ares sat. Athena looked like she was debating whether or not to join the fray, but a look from Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus advised her not to. Zeus considered his options and decided not to risk aggravating the situation.
"My decision is final. Perseus will join the hunters."
Percy was about to start screaming in protest when he heard a voice in his head. A voice that he recognized instantly. It was Chaos.
"Do it." she spoke.
He blinked.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"What about my main mission?"
"I have faith that you'll find time for that too."
"In just 6 months?"
"You'll need a little more now that you're Artemis' guardian. I estimate 1 year. Maybe more."
He took a moment to absorb that. A whole year. Possibly more. He took a deep breath.
"Fine."
"Ok. I'll do it." he said out loud.
Artemis looked shocked. Poseidon looked downright flabbergasted. Zeus looked pleased. He probably thought that he had intimidated the young demigod into submission.
"Then it is decided. Council adjourned!" Zeus announced before he disappeared in a flash of lightning.
Most of the rest of the Gods took their leave. Hades gave Percy a quick nod before he left. After a few moments, it was just Percy, Thalia, Poseidon, Artemis, and Aphrodite. Percy wasn't totally sure why she was there, but he wasn't bothered by it. Artemis and Thalia exchanged glances before Artemis spoke.
"Perseus, Thalia, and I will return to the hunt. We'll set up camp in the same place we were before. Can you find your way back there?"
He nodded. He didn't tell her that he could track them anywhere in the country because he had their scent. He and Thalia hugged again before Artemis teleported them both back to their camp. Poseidon walked over to him and gave him another hug.
"My son, where have you been for so long? I've been worried sick."
Percy felt guilty. He hated that he had done that to his dad, but it had been necessary.
"I'm sorry dad, but I really can't tell you. But I've been safe. And I've been training. I guess I can tell you that."
"I can see that you've been training! A thousand monsters is a lot, Percy!"
"It wasn't just me. The hunters helped quite a bit."
"I know, but something tells me that you would have been fine without them."
He had a point. Even if the hunters hadn't been there, he would still have taken them all. Maybe he would have taken a few more injuries, but nothing too bad.
"I guess so. You wanna catch up properly sometime? With my new duties, I'll probably be here longer. We'll have plenty of time to talk."
"That would be wonderful, my son. Iris-message me when you know your schedule. I still can't believe that you agreed to go with them. I doubt they'll take kindly to your presence."
"Thanks for the concern, dad, but I've handled a lot worse."
"Somehow, I don't doubt that. I'll see you soon, my son."
They hugged one more time, and then Poseidon flashed away. It was just him and Aphrodite. She was hanging back. He had no clue why she was still there, or why she was looking at him so strangely. They stared at each other for a long moment, before she walked over to him. As she walked, she shrunk down to mortal height.
He could easily see why she was known as the Goddess of beauty. She was pretty tall, nearly 6'0, and quite slender, but in an agile way, not a sickly way. She was blonde, with a light dusting of freckles along the bridge of her nose. It was cute. She had a body most women would kill for. He had to fight the urge to stare at anything but her eyes. She smirked slightly. He knew that she knew what he was thinking.
"Perseus." she said as a greeting.
"Aphrodite." he replied, matching her tone.
A moment went by where they just watched each other. She spoke again.
"I just wanted to say; I'm sorry."
He didn't have to ask what she meant. He knew. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
"Thanks." he choked out.
The look in her eyes was startling. She looked so caring. He could tell that it was genuine. She leaned in and gave him a light hug. Not a hard, constricting one like he had experienced several times that day. This was a soft, gentle affair. It was exactly what the situation called for. He hugged back awkwardly. Not that the hug was uncomfortable, just because he was a lot taller than her. She seemed to realize the problem because she grew herself until they were nearly the same height. He exhaled a laugh.
The hug went on for a long time. Maybe a little bit longer than it should have. Eventually, she pulled away. When she did, stared straight into his eyes with a sad look. Not quite pity. More like sympathy. After a few moments, she walked away. She didn't flash out of the room like everyone else. She walked out of the doors. He found that to be slightly odd, but that was probably the least strange thing to happen to him that day.
He walked out of the Throne room and casually strolled through Olympus. The last half-hour had been pretty eventful and he needed some time to think. So, he was Artemis' guardian for the next 5 months. That was going to be an interesting kind of hell.
After a while, he reached the elevator. He rode down to the bottom and left the Empire State building. He strolled through the city, heading toward his hotel. He had to get his shit from his room. From the Ty Warner suite. Which he had rented for 2 weeks. Which he wasn't going to get to spend a single night in. By the time he reached the suite, he was shaking lightly. He couldn't believe his luck.
He put his laptop, the portable router, and all of the clothes he had bought, into the portable armory, which he then compressed back into its backpack form and slung over his shoulder. He checked out of the room and started walking back to the hunter's camp. He could have shadow traveled there but decided against it. He wanted to enjoy the walk.
A few hours later, he reached the hunters' camp. They had already arranged their tents, constructed a fire pit, and set up benches and tables. He had only been gone for a few hours, so he hadn't been expecting them to have set up their camp so quickly. He approached the camp with a sense of dread. The desire to simply leave and go about his mission, was very strong. But he resisted. He knew that Chaos would have her reasons for telling him to stay with them.
He wasn't entirely sure what to do once he got there, so he just decided to find Artemis and ask her. He walked through the camp and received several uneasy stares. None of them knew what to make of the giant stranger in their camp. It was obvious that Artemis had already told them what had happened during the meeting. It was also obvious that none of them were happy. There were several glares, but they weren't too hostile. He had just saved their lives, after all. But apparently, that wasn't enough for them.
He ignored them all. If they were going to be hostile toward him for no reason, he didn't need to interact with them. Much like in Chaos' army. The same rules applied. It didn't take him very long to find Artemis. The hunters were fairly powerful, but not nearly powerful enough to disguise the presence of an Olympian Goddess. If you knew how to look for her, she glowed like a beacon. He approached her and found that she was waiting for him. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she looked mildly pissed.
"Inside."
With that, she walked into the tent behind her. He guessed that it was her personal one. With a sigh, he followed and was immediately proven right. There was a queen-sized bed in the middle of the tent, with the heads of various creatures mounted to the 'walls'. It looked very rustic and personal. A blind man could recognize this as Artemis' tent. She sat down at a table and indicated for him to sit opposite her. He did. The chair was pretty small since it was probably only meant for people half his size. He felt like a gorilla.
"Do we need to go over basic ground rules?"
He quirked an eyebrow.
"We might. I have no idea what you consider basic."
"You will not flirt with my hunters. You will not attack my hunters. You will not get in my hunters' way."
He barked a laugh.
"No flirting with the hunters? Is that why you think I'm here? Cruising for dates?" he asked sarcastically.
Due to his enhanced senses, he could actually hear Artemis grinding her teeth.
"Fine. But the rest of the rules are still valid."
"The third one is fine. The second doesn't make much sense either though. Why would I attack your hunters? That's the exact opposite of what I'm here for."
She sighed frustratedly.
"Why do you have to be so difficult?"
"Because I have to put my mission on hold until I'm done here. I've been sent to guard a group of man-haters that don't want me here. I just checked out of one of the most luxurious hotel rooms in the world, so that I can be here, and yet you're still treating me like I'm some criminal."
"If this is such a miserable experience for you, then why did you agree?" she asked, clearly pissed.
"I was told to."
"By whom?"
"I'm not at liberty to divulge that information."
Artemis just groaned. Percy, on the other hand, was having a great time. A few moments went by as Artemis tried desperately not to lose her temper. Percy could see that she was making the effort, which he appreciated. He decided to try to be a little bit nicer. Eventually, Artemis was ready to continue their conversation.
"Here's a list of your chores." she said, sliding a piece of paper to him.
He was about to tell her to shove it, when he decided to give it a read. For all he knew, she had come up with a fair distribution of labor. That might just be how they operated in the hunt. He glanced down at the list.
Sharpen knives
Sharpen arrows
Make arrows
Make practice dummies
Make targets
Feed wolves
Do all laundry
Prepare all meals
He looked up and Artemis and raised an eyebrow. She was smirking victoriously. He nodded slightly, pretending to mull it over. He already knew exactly what his response would be. After a few moments, he slid the paper back to her.
"No."
She blinked at him. As if no one had told her 'no' in a very long time. That may well have been the case.
"No?" she asked incredulously.
"No, "he repeated, "I'm not here to be your slave or your servant. I'm here to be your guardian. I'm not some spineless boy for you to pawn off all your hard work. If you ask me to do something reasonable, I would be more than happy to pull my weight, but this is just ludicrous."
Artemis thought for a long moment.
"I think you will do everything on that list. If you don't, then I will tell my father that you refuse to cooperate and your position will be revoked. Something tells me you wouldn't mind that, but you were told to accept it, so the person that told you to do that must want you here, meaning you can't leave."
She thought she had him. It was adorable.
"So, what? You're going to go running to daddy? You're going to admit that the fearsome lady Artemis couldn't get one, single demigod to do what she asked? I mean, go ahead. Let's see what that does to your reputation as the feared huntress."
He was grinning by the end, even though he didn't want to. He felt absolutely no joy. In fact, he was pretty pissed. He saved her life, and the lives of her hunters, and she repaid him by making him do chores? Or, at least, trying to make him do chores.
She was glaring at him. Clearly, she was pissed that he had managed to think his way out of her perceived trap.
"Fine." she ground out.
"Ok, look. I want to help pull my weight around here, so we can make a deal. How about I feed the wolves for you?"
Artemis shook her head.
"That was only there so that I could seem benevolent by taking it away. I actually like feeding the wolves. They're part of my domain, so I have a certain connection with them."
An eyebrow shot up.
"Wow. That was pretty manipulative. Nicely done! Or, at least, it would have been."
She glared slightly but accepted the compliment.
"What about sharpening arrows?"
He snorted.
"Please. As if I don't know how many arrows you guys have."
"Fine." she relented
"How about laundry?"
She quirked an eyebrow.
"Why would you want to do laundry?"
"My water powers would make it easy. It's not like I would hand-wash them all." he told her with a shrug
"I'm not sure my hunters would take kindly to their delicates being washed by a man."
He rolled his eyes.
"Then they can wash those themselves. I'll handle everything else."
Artemis considered it. Eventually, she nodded her head and they shook hands.
"Any chance I can get you to cook as well?"
"Only if you want all of your hunters to get food poisoning. I've never cooked a single thing in my life, and something gives me the impression that I wouldn't be very good at it."
"Fair enough."
"How about training?"
"You want us to train you?"
"I was thinking it would be the other way around. Your hunters seem like they could use a lesson in hand-to-hand."
"And what makes you think that? You haven't even seen them fight hand-to-hand."
"Exactly. When I arrived at the battle, it was just you and Thalia holding off all of the monsters, while the rest of the hunters hung back and fired arrows. Ideally, you would split your forces in half - one half holds back the monsters and the other half fires. But that's not what you were doing, but I think you knew that it was the best plan. Unless, of course, you knew that you and Thalia were the only ones that could hold your ground against the monsters hand-to-hand."
She blinked at him. On their own, the observations were fairly basic, but the fact that he had picked up on them and deduced the meaning behind them was very interesting to her. From what she had heard of the young demigod, he shouldn't have been able to do that. What was even more amazing, was that he was right.
"Ok, you're right. I've been far more focused on archery than I should have been. I keep meaning to train them to use their knives better, but I never have the time."
He shrugged.
"Well, I'm here now for the next 5 months. I can teach a few courses. Maybe just an hour or two per day."
"I'm not sure how many of my hunters would be eager to be taught by a man. A few of the younger ones might be glad for the help, but the older ones may be set in their ways too much."
"Then we can make it a volunteer thing. Anyone that wants to improve can join in. Anyone that doesn't, needn't participate."
She raised an eyebrow at the word 'needn't'.
"Ok, that sounds more than fair. But I'm not sure about your estimation of an hour or two per day."
"3 or 4?"
"What? No! Way less than that! Even an hour straight might be a lot. Maybe keep it to just 45 minutes and we'll see where it goes from there."
He blinked. Then he remembered, that had been his routine before he had joined Chaos. Most classes were no longer than 45 minutes. If you had one that was an hour-long, you would leave feeling exhausted. He could barely even remember what that was like since he had started his routine of 21-hour training sessions every day. Then, the last 10 years had been 21 hours of regular training and then an extra 15 on top of that. He forgot that 'normal' people didn't have the same stamina as him.
"Ok, 45 minutes sounds fair."
He nodded.
"There's one more thing that I wanted to talk to you about."
She made a 'go one' gesture.
"Just because I'm here with you, doesn't mean that I'm totally stopping my mission. It's important and there might be a few occasions where I have to leave for a spell."
"I'm not sure if I can allow that. Loathe as I am to admit it, you're the only reason we survived the battle earlier today. I something like that happens again, and you're not here to defend us, then we'll be wiped out. You aren't going anywhere until the solstice."
"Yes, I am. I'll do my best not to, but I'll leave if it's important. If presented between saving innocent lives, and standing around here doing nothing, I'm going to go save lives, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
She glared at him but he glared right back. The lives of her 2 dozen hunters didn't take priority over potentially thousands of mortals. He was more than ready to stand his ground on that. Plus, he hated the attitude that she had towards him. As if she owned him.
"Well, I suppose that if you would have to leave us at any point, then you'll soon have 2 weeks to do so."
"And why is that?"
"Because we're on our way to Camp Half-Blood right now."
Percy went cold. Camp Half-Blood was the last place in the world he wanted to go. Surrounded by memories from a happier time in his life. Not to mention the fact that Jack was there.
"If your hunters go to Camp Half-Blood then I don't need to be there at all."
"Probably not. But you'll definitely show up with us."
He'd been hoping to avoid the place altogether, but he would settle for a quick appearance before disappearing. He could stay in New York for a couple of weeks and focus on getting his mission done. If he spent the time traveling to Camp researching the terrorists and uncovering their locations, then he could spend the 2 weeks going around the country, wiping them out.
"Fine. Is there anything else we need to discuss?"
"No. You're dismissed."
He grit his teeth. She had no right to dismiss him, but he didn't say anything about it. It was almost as if they had figured out some kind of truce in there, he didn't want to tear it to the ground because of a word. No matter how demeaning the word was.
He got up and left her tent. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself. He figured that he might as well get started on tracking the terrorists. He found a relatively empty corner of the hunters' camp and opened his portable armory. He stepped inside, took out the laptop and portable router he had bought, and collapsed the armory back into a backpack.
He sat down on a log with the laptop. He connected his laptop to the portable router he had bought, which was connected to the wifi from the Four Seasons. It had been the easiest thing in the world, to sneak into the staff area, find the router, and connect the other sim card for the router. He brought up a few articles about the various attacks from around the globe.
The more he read, the more interested he became. He was glad that Chaos had given him the mission. It was far from boring. As of that moment, there had been 7 attacks around the world that Chaos' people linked back to that particular organization. The attacks took place in New York, Chicago, LA, Texas, London, Paris, and Tokyo. There was seemingly nothing to connect any of them with each other. It seemed like they were totally unrelated. But Chaos said otherwise. So there must have been more to the story.
After some digging, Percy realized that the same explosives had been used in each of the bombings. Unfortunately, he had no way to be sure. That information hadn't been released to the public. But virtually everything else had. And after examining every piece of evidence from each attack, he had found absolutely nothing to connect them. But there must have been something. So the link would have to be the one piece of information that he had no access to. To find out definitively, he would need to hack into the FBI's network. He had absolutely no clue how to do that. Chaos' curriculum didn't cover hacking, though it probably should have. Maybe it was taught later on. Either way, he was going to have to learn.
He found a few groups in New York that taught ethical hacking for beginners. He wasn't sure if hacking into the FBI's database to connect 7 terrorist attacks, counted as 'ethical' but he didn't really care. He could learn the basic principles from them when the hunters were staying at Camp, and he might just have to progress from there on his own.
He had to move on with the assumption that the bombs were made the same way, and the FBI was aware of it. If so, then surely they had a clue that the attacks were connected. There was no way that they didn't. They may not have been on his level, but they weren't exactly stupid. They would be able to connect it. So why had Chaos sent him in when the FBI was already looking into it. Was he meant to beat them to the punch? Or were they going to fail?
Sometimes he wished that Chaos could be a little damn clearer with ehr instructions. She could be seriously confusing at times. Regardless, the fact that the FBI was also looking into the case was a big help to him. He could piggyback on their investigation if he needed to. Mostly, he would just let them do all of the necessary groundwork with their massive resources and then reap the rewards. He had an advantage over the FBI though. Despite there having been 7 attacks committed, he had already been told that there were terrorists of the same organization, in various other parts of the world. Parts that hadn't been attacked. Yet.
Suddenly, his laptop died. he blinked. He had been using it for several hours, and he hadn't charged it, because how could he charge it. He was in the middle of a fucking forest. He sighed. He wasn't totally sure how he was going to charge it while he was still with the hunters. Maybe he could shadow travel into town one day and charge it somewhere. He had the actual charger, he just had nothing to plug it into.
"I wonder if Thalia could do it?" he wondered.
Looking up from the blank screen, he saw that Thalia was sitting on the log next to him. She was staring straight at him. He wasn't entirely sure how he had failed to notice her presence. He chalked it up to him having been focused on his work.
"You ok, Thals?"
She shook her head at him.
"Percy... I'm so confused right now. You attack your brother, then you vanish for 20 years, then you show up again and you're just so... different. I don't know what to make of you. The way you spoke to my dad, I mean he deserved it, but since when had you been so confident? You just spent like 4 hours staring into your laptop, and I know you weren't playing a game on there! I peeked over your shoulder and saw what you were looking at. You were reading about a bunch of terrorist attacks! You said in the meeting, that you were here to stop them. You said you were here to kill them. I just... Percy, what the fuck happened to you?"
She sounded really emotional. She was actually near tears by the end. He supposed it was appropriate. Her cousin had transformed into an entirely different person and she didn't even know why. He wished he could tell her. But he knew that he couldn't.
"Thalia, I'm so sorry. But I just can't tell you."
She buried her head in her hands. She looked tired. Truly tired.
"Well, then, what can you tell me?"
He thought for a moment.
"I can tell you that I've been really far away. I met someone. Someone that gave my life a direction to follow. Something to do. I've pretty much spent the last 20 years training. I can tell you that I'm ok with what I'm doing. I don't think I would say that I'm enjoying it, but I haven't really enjoyed anything since they died. But I'm definitely glad that I'm doing what I'm doing, with the people I'm doing it."
Thalia watched him for a long moment.
"Ok. I guess I can deal with that for now. But one day, you'll tell me, right?"
"One day Thals, one day." he promised her.
"Alright."
She reached over and hugged him. It was very assuring. A few moments later, she pulled away and stood up.
"I've gotta go. It's nearly dinnertime. You should come with me, you'll probably be eating with us. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've tried Lady Artemis' venison." she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
It worked well enough. He chuckled and got up. Together, they walked to the benched he had seen earlier, where all of the hunters were gathered. It all seemed very 'picnic-y'. There were several tables and they were all gathered close together. He could easily imagine all of the hunters sitting around, with Artemis in the center, all of them laughing and having a good time as they ate.
As Percy and Thalia reached the hunters, laughing like idiots, they were silenced by the looks they received from the hunters. They were glaring at them. Rather, they were glaring at him. He wasn't entirely sure why. They had seemed fine with him earlier. They hadn't exactly jumped for joy at the sight of him, but they were a hell of a lot less friendly now. He wondered what the hell he had done in the short time since he had arrived at their camp. How exactly had he offended them?
Thalia sat down in what he guessed was her usual seat. He was about to sit down next to her, when he was interrupted.
"Where do you think you're about to sit, boy?" he heard a venomous voice ask.
He raised an eyebrow at that.
"Next to my friend. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna do that."
He sat down properly, right next to Thalia. The huntress who had spoken up looked even angrier now. He recognized her. Phoebe, a daughter of Ares.
"Visitors sit over there."
She jabbed her thumb toward a lone bench that had been placed as far away from the main group as possible. He was about to respond, when Thalia did so for him.
"Phoebe... I have not seen my cousin in over 20 years. He will sit right where he is."
Thalia sounded pretty menacing. Not quite as scary as Percy could get when he wanted to, but it was still pretty good. Phoebe wasn't deterred.
"Rules exist for a reason, lieutenant."
"The rules can be broken on occasion."
That time, it was Artemis who spoke up. Percy was mildly shocked to see her defending his right to sit wherever he damn well pleased.
"My Lady, you can't possibly-"
"Yes, I can, Phoebe." Artemis cut her off with a tone of finality.
Conversation over. Phoebe dug her heels in for a moment, but ultimately, relented. She, and a small group of hunters around her, looked down at their plates. Percy and Thalia started talking casually, catching up with each other. Chaos told him that he couldn't reveal any details of her existence, but he figured that if he omitted certain details from the stories, he could tell Thalia about a few of the more exciting moments from the last 20 years.
He told her about the psycho girl who had taken a shot at him. He told her about getting jumped by the 9 recruits in his bunk. He didn't tell her about his first mission. That would let her know that he had been to a whole other planet, and that wouldn't lead to anything good. The fact of the matter was that it was nice to talk to his cousin about his life. He hadn't had many people that he could talk to easily. He was glad to have one more.
What he didn't realize until halfway through his stories, was that Artemis was listening too. He hadn't even noticed until she had asked a question to clarify something he had said. From that point, he omitted details generously. He didn't want to take any chances with her.
He didn't say a word about Sara. He was totally comfortable talking about how he almost died several times, but talking about Sara felt wrong. Like it was too personal. He felt protective of her. Like telling people about her would somehow hurt her.
After a while, dinner was over. Artemis called lights out and then showed him to his tent. It was modestly sized, located toward the edge of camp. He didn't mind being far away. He actually preferred it. Aside from Thalia, and maybe Artemis, there was no one in the entire camp whose company he actually enjoyed.
He said goodbye to Artemis and walked into his tent. It was spacious on the inside with a decent bed in the middle of it. It was barebones but ok. A far cry from the Ty Warner suite, but it was perfectly livable. He collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep instantly.
A/N: Ok, here it is. It's been a little while since the last one. But here it is. Next chapter, Percy meets everyone else from his past life. I'm going to stress one thing though. Percy joining the hunt isn't permanent. He's not going to fall in love with Artemis. Not yet. That will come later. He's on Earth, he'll complete his mission, and he'll go back to finish his training with Chaos. A while after that, he'll return to the hunt and the whole Pertemis thing will kick-off. IF that's the direction the story goes. Anyways, stay safe, everyone.