Chapter 28

London was fairly interesting. There wasn't too much he could do, and even less that he actually wanted to do, but he got by. Percy and Artemis spoke every few hours, so that she could let him know that she and the hunters were still ok, and hadn't been attacked in his absence.

Taking care of the people responsible hadn't done much for Percy. The innocent people that had died in the attacks were still dead. Nothing was going to change that. Not anytime soon. At least he could take some small comfort in the knowledge that the people responsible had answered for their crimes. And they certainly wouldn't be comminting any more, in the future.

He made himself visit the wreckage of the bomb. He could almost taste the death in the air. Almost hear the screams. Fathers, looking desperately for their sons. Then finding them. Small children screaming for their parents. Never finding them.

While he was there, Percy spoke to a few city officials, and asked them a few questions. He posed as a philanthropist, who wanted to do what he could to help people in the aftermath of the attack. He was given a few different avenues to pursue. He went down them all.

He spent some of his time volunteering at the children's centers. There wasn't too much he could do there, unfortunately. Comforting small kids who had lost their parents, wasn't exactly his forte. But he was able to help some of the other volunteers keep their spirits up. He also wrote a substantial check. Chaos had told him that his bank ballance was unlimited. There were a few minor issues with an American bank being used to transfer that much cash to London on such short notice, but a few phone calls from Percy solved all of their problems.

Within a few days, he'd spent a grand total of 30 million dollars, spread amongst various relief foundations. It was a start.

And they called him a hero for it.

They didn't see him wince when they said it.

The police had actually interviewed him in relation to the massacre he had commited. But he wasn't even a suspect. One look at him, and they assumed he wasn't the culprit. They asked if he had been in the area at the time, or if maybe he had noticed someone of interest on the plane. Obviously, he said no. Maybe if he'd had a little more time to line up a few details, he could have sent them on a wild goose chase. But he just had to deny it, and hope Interpol told them to leave it alone.

Percy was getting slightly nervous about one thing though. Interpol had his name in their computer, entering Dubai the very same afternoon that there was a similar slaughter there. Once was incident, twice was coincidence, thrice was a pattern. They had him entering a country within a few hours of a mass murder, twice. Next time, he'd need to be more careful.

But how? He only had the one identity. Maybe he could have another made? Percy was a realist, and while he'd been away from Earth for 20 years, he knew some things never changed. And in most major cities, there would be several people quite adept at making false identities for anyone with enough cash. All they would need, would be a good image, and a backstory. It would take time to make it convincing and a lot of money for well-placed bribes, and of course the fee, but Percy had both in abundance, so he wasn't worried.

Finally, 2 weeks after arriving in the heart of the UK, Percy deemed it safe to leave the country. He stopped by his hotel, gathered his things, and caught a cab to the airport. On his way, he looked for flights. The hunters were in Texas, and the next flight out was to Phoenix, Arizona. He bought a last-minute ticket. It was as close as he could get, since he wanted to leave as soon as possible. Maybe he could catch another flight once he landed in Phoenix?

His plane left the airport on time, and he was right there on it. It was a painfully long flight, and he couldn't even sleep through it, like an ordinary person. He had slept for around 3 hours, which was more than he had continuously slept in over a decade, and no more.

The journey was long and uneventful. Throughout the flight, Percy made sure to keep his presence masked. Zeus probably wouldn't dare blow him out of the sky, but why risk finding out? Percy used the time to read a little, and get some work done. There was no way he was going to risk another London incident. From then on, the moment he found a cell, he would decimate them. No waiting around for the right moment. He would make time.

But there wasn't much activity to go off. Percy was very good at that kind of thing, but he wasn't a magician. He couldn't make something appear out of nothing. But he made damn sure that as soon as they made the tiniest mistake, he would be on them.

After a 12 hour flight to the states, he barely found anything. They were pretty dormant. That being said, he placed a few digital sensors wherever he felt was most likely to be hit with an attack. The moment they started making moves, he would know.

His plane touched down, and he fought down the sense of relief. He wasn't done yet. He found another flight at the airport, and was back up in the air within an hour. He spent another hour on another plane before his odyssey finally came to an end.

Thalia greeted him with a hug. Artemis, with a warm smile, which was echoed by the younger hunters, whom Percy had taught hand-to-hand combat. Phoebe and her little group, which had grown significantly smaller ever since he essentially sacrificed himself to get them away safely, ignored his very existence, as they usually did by then.

Percy almost smiled back at them, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt like he needed to go do something, or he would explode. He felt so full of energy, after sleeping for so long, and having nothing to spend his energy reserves on. But the fact that he couldn't use his legs, limited his options in that regard.

He settled for a quick workout. His option in that regard were also limited, but there was nothing stopping him from qorking his upper body. Once he got his legs back, his stamina was going to be awful, but he would just have to work a little harder to bring it back up.

A quick workout, for someone used to Chaos' brutality, was around 3 hours long. And he was actually pretty tired by the end of it, soaked head to toe in sweat. He looked down at his legs, wistfully, and silently willed them to move. They didn't.

—-

(One year later)

Once again, Percy was sweating. And he was sweating profusely. He had regained the use of his legs around 3 weeks ago, and he was over the fucking moon. He never sat anymore. His ass felt constantly sore, after an entire year in that chair. Now that he was free to move as he pleased, he took every advantage. No matter what, he started every single day with a 10 Mile run, wherever they were at the time. And he cherished every step for the gift that it was.

Now that he was standing upright, he found it vaguely unsettling, how high up he was. He'd gotten used to seeing the world from his chair, but now he was constantly looking down at people, and they were staring up at him, like the noon sun. Thalia was overjoyed for him, of course, but she couldn't resist grumbling about how she hated that he was so much taller than her again. And every time she did, he replied by ruffling her hair with "catcher's mit - esque" hand, as Thalia liked to put it.

Now that his legs were fixed, Percy was all the more relentless in his pursuit of the terrorists, and he and the hunters had also resumed their hunt of the monster camps throughout the country. But "country" wasn't the full story. In a camp in Florida, they'd found a few reports of monster camps in Greece itself. And a few more in Rome. Or rather, Italy. Rome was too built-up. Percy hadn't actually seen any such camps though. Percy, his friends, Artemis, and her hunters, had agreed that it would be for the best to rid the States of any camps, before going overseas.

Which brought them to their current problem.

The monster camps decided to quit fighting back. Instead, they just ran away. And it was infuriating. There weren't too many of the camps left. But they kept in close contact with each other. So every time Percy and everyone else invaded a camp, all the monsters would turn around, and run away. And then they'd send word to the other camps, and they, in turn, would also evacuate to one of the camps that had already been cleared.

They'd all had enough of it. There was nothing more irritating than an enemy that ran away every time they came face-to-face.

In response, Percy had asked Artemis to call a meeting of the Olympians, to discuss their options. Surprisingly, Zeus took the whole thing pretty seriously, and made a pretty decent suggestion. The best warriors of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, would be added to their little squad, so they had more numbers. With that particular issue resolved, they could split up, and attack several camps simultaniously. Hopefully, with the larger numbers, and the element of surprise, they would be able to keep the monsters from getting away, and maybe even stop them from alerting the other camps.

Percy agreed with Zeus' idea, but with 2 caveats. The first, was that he would have final say on anyone who joined, no matter what. The second, was that under no circumstances, was Jack to come with him. Zeus tried to question him on the second one, but Percy refused to elaborate on the point, and simply demanded that it was so. The King of the Gods had no choice but to agree.

Poseidon was quite confused by it, and almost seemed a little bit hurt, but Percy couldn't say a word about it. He knew that if he told him what Jack had done, their father wouldn't hesitate to punish his younger son. Maybe he'd even be ok with Percy killing him. But he couldn't tell him, and until he could, he just had to tell his father to have faith, and respect his wishes.

Zeus ordered all of the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to go to Camp Jupiter, and then had the greek and roman demigods meet at the Field of Mars. Once they were all there, nearly 1500 demigods, Percy explained the situation to them all. Then he announced that 100 of them would join the team. Whoever was picked, would receive one minor wish from the Olympians, once the whole thing was over. Anything within reason, and within the Gods' power, would be granted. That meant Godhood was off the table, because that would be a bit crazy, but not much else was out of bounds. At the end of his speech, Percy announced that anyone who died on the mission, would be automatically granted a place in Elysium. Hades had permitted it during the meeting, after Percy had asked.

The demigods started clamoring, as soon as Percy finished talking. They all wanted to join up.

There were several tests that each demigod had to go through if they wanted a position. Percy and Artemis had devised them personally. First, there was regular combat. That one was pretty straight forward. Then there were a few stealth tests. Percy imagined that the bulk of the demigods would be laying in wait, and once the monsters began their inevitable retreat, they would ambush them. But that was reliant on them being able to stay hidden. What good was the element of surprise, if it wasn't a surprise at all?

There was also several team skirmishes. There wouldn't be too many one-on-one fights in the scenarios Percy was envisioning, it would be more of a battle, so they would need to fight well with their fellow demigods by their side.

The children of Athena/Minerva, and Ares/Mars were given additional tests. Ones of leadership, and tactical planning. Ares/Mars kids had the potential to be pretty good tacticians. Ares was the God of war, and there was a lot more to war than fighting, afterall.

Children of Hermes/Mercury were tested as spies and scouts.

The demigods that had some kind of power were given special consideration. A few Hephaestus/Vulcan kids that could control fire like Leo, were immediately recruited. As were the children of Demeter/Ceres who could control vines and vegetation. Their value was clear. Unfortunately, that meant that Jack automatically made the cut. That sucked. But there were also 3 more children of Zeus/Jupiter that were given places, and one son of Hades, who had quite an affinity for manipulating shadows, but very little skill in raising the dead. He was a sour kid on the surface, but pleasant enough once you got to know him. His name was Ebony, because of course it was. He seemed aware of the ridiculousness of his name, and was suitably embarrassed by it, so that was a point in his favor, at least. He was one of the older demigods at Camp Half-Blood, at 19 years old. He was an instructor, apparently, teaching the younger campers how to shoot a bow, and ride horses. Very much his father's son, Ebony was extremely pale, very tall, and painfully thin. Naturally, he dressed head to toe in black.

Once they had their 100, Percy was pretty pleased. They had a pretty good mix. A lot of Ares/Mars kids, but that was to be expected. A surprising amount of Hermes, and Demeter kids too. There were even 10 Aphrodite/Venus kids, to everyone's shock. 6 sons, 4 daughters. But they had proven their worth, just like everyone else, so they were granted their places.

The whole process took close to a month, before they had their picks. And that month hadn't gone without incident. Over the course of time, it had become common knowledge that the legendary son of Poseidon, didn't actually have his powers anymore. So, there was one instance, close to the start of the testing period, where one of the Sons of Zeus had very publicly questioned whether Percy had any right to judge the rest of them, since he was "dead weight", as he put it.

Percy was ready to ignore the kid, until he challenged him to a duel. Then, the choice was out of his hands. If he backed down, all the rest of the demigods would think he was a coward. And besides, Percy wasn't about to let crap like that, go unpunished.

10 minutes after the Son of Zeus had issued his challenge, they met in a small clearing, ready to duel. The son of Zeus had jet black hair, like Thalia, and a bulky frame. Not quite as big as the Ares kids tended to be, but still pretty imposing. Or at least, imposing to people that weren't Percy, who was bigger still. Henry, was his name, which made Percy assume that his mother was British. The kid even had some of the accent. Typical Californian, but with a hint of London just beneath the surface. Henry was around 17 years old, and had been at Camp Half-Blood since he was 5, though not as a year-round camper.

With arrogance befitting his father, Henry charged at Percy as soon as the fight started. Apparently, he wanted to prove his merit based on skill, rather than power, which was honorable enough, but honor had no place in combat. Within 10 seconds of fighting, the younger boy was on the backfoot, and desperately calling down lightning on the Son of Poseidon. Percy was quick enough to dodge away from the blasts, and spent a few seconds dancing around, before closing the distance and ending the duel with a powerful elbow between Henry's eyes. The whole thing was made worse, for Henry at least, considering the fact that Percy hadn't even used a weapon. Dodging away from the Son of Zeus' slashes and stabs had been easy, and he'd counterattacked with his bare hands. Percy had been slightly worried that if he had a weapon, he might actually hurt the kid.

After that, no one dared question Percy's position as their leader.

Speaking of squads, there were 2 of them. Jack led one, while Percy led the other. They both got a good mix of scouts, tacticians, archers, and warriors, but all of Percy's friends from the Prophecy of 7 came with him, as well as Artemis and her hunters. So Jack got more regular campers in return, which was a trade Percy would gladly make any day of the week.

Each squad got a good mix of all the different types they had. They each had a fair amount of scouts, spies, tacticians, and warriors. Then, they had to divide up the number of their troops that had actual powers. Percy offered to take Ebony with him, almost like a protege. While he didn't have the actual powers, Percy had a pretty good understanding of how shadow powers worked, and would be more than willing to help the young son of Hades reach his full potential. Ebony accepted. Jack had snapped up Henry, which Percy could acknowledge as a smart move. The son of Zeus had little love for Percy after their duel, and it went without saying that Jack loathed his brother, so they would make a good match. And aside from that, Henry was fairly powerful, so it only made sense that Jack would want him on his team.

Aside from Ebony and Henry, there were a handful of Demeter/Ceres, and Zeus Jupiter kids that needed to be divided. The Demeter kids were split evenly, and Percy took one of the Jupiter boys, which left Jack to take the remaining daughter of Zeus. That meant Jack's side had 2, and Percy had 3, since Jason and Thalia would be with him too. While he tried desperately to hold it back, Percy couldn't help but feel a bit superior. His friends from the Prophecy of 7 were all with him, and he had 2 extra children of the Big 3. But Jack got more numbers, in an attempt to make up for it. He had around 80, and Percy's group was comprised of 20 fresh demigods, and all of the Hunters of Artemis. It was a trade, gladly made. Percy would rather take fewer, more powerful demigods, than a bunch of un-tested rookies.

There was a slight issue with that though. Jack and Henry's distaste of Percy rubbed off on their squad, and since they couldn't take it up with Percy directly, they starting messing with his troups. Percy tried sending Ebony to talk to Henry, and hoped the two could come to a mutual agreement, but Ebony only came back an hour later, despising Henry and Jack. After that, it was basically war. But only as long as training lasted. Once they were out in the field, the two groups would be across the country from one another.

Percy made one last attempt at salvaging peace between the two groups of demigods. He met with Jack personally.

"Nervous?" The older son of Poseidon asked the younger, not bothering to keep the patronization out of his voice.

"Why should I be? I'm a God, afterall."

"You sure are. But don't forget. I've been fighting wars my entire life. Meanwhile, what the hell have you done? Been on a quest, or two? Maybe fought in a battle, once?"

Jack didn't say anything. He just clenched his fist.

"I bet the time you tried to kill me, when I was in a wheelchair, was the toughest fight you've ever been in. I mean, you weren't even able to kill a disabled guy! How do you think you'll do against a bunch of fully-capable monsters?"

"Oh, I'll be ok. But thanks for reminding me about that fight. Your bitch Goddess nearly took my head off. I'm going to need to get back at her for that, one day," he said with a sneer.

"I know this request is going to go against your natural programming, Jack, but please try not to be a fucking idiot. She's one of the most powerful players on our side. I'd trade a million of you, for one of her. If you screw with her now, of all times, it's going to bite you in the ass in a major way, down the line."

"Don't worry about me, big brother. I'm a very patient person."

"So am I Jack. You can count on that. Trust me."

And with that unspoken threat hanging in the air, Percy walked away.

Upon reflection, maybe that had been more of an opportunity to antagonize the little shit, rather than try to sue for peace, but whatever. It didn't matter. Soon enough, the two groups of demigods would be on opposite sides of the country.

And finally, the day had come. Training was over. After 2 months of endless drills and simulations on the field of Mars, they were deploying. Jack and his group would be attacking a monster camp in Arkansas, and simultaneously, Percy and his group would take down a camp in Louisiana. They'd have to coordinate their attacks to begin at the same time, so neither group could warn the other. Both of them took a similar approach, in planning the attacks. They put the bulk of their forces in the neighbouring forrests, surrounding each camp in a wide circle. Surrounding the entire camp, meant stretching their numbers pretty thin, but it was worth it if it meant taking them all down.

The planing went pretty smoothly. Ebony, Nico, Artemis, Jason, Piper, and Reyna would sneak through the camp, much like they had with the very first camp they had attacked. But instead of joining them, Percy would be at the top of a nearby mountain, with his sniper, and he'd help conceal them. The son of Jupiter on Percy's side, would stay with him. Apparently, the boy, a 17 year old named David, was very good at air manipulation, though he had trouble summoning lightning. Fortunately, that meant that he would be able to manipulate the air around Percy's sniper, and the bullets fired from it, to kill the sound. Effectively, David was their human silencer. Or rather, demigod silencer.

The demigods and one Goddess, snuck into camp, using the shadows to conceal them. Just like all of the other monster camps they had found, there were a few properly-built structures, and one of them was clearly a command building. Naturally, that was the one they would clear first.

Percy glanced over at David, and saw that his eyes were closed, and his hand was stretched out, palm open. He was prepared for whenever Percy fired. Scoping in again, he took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. He waited for the space between heartbeats, and fired 3 quick shots. 3 Dracaenae exploded into dust instantly. Not a sound was heard. The group made their way into the buildings, and killed a few lone monsters. Percy helped them with any bigger groups. Absolute silence was vital, so Jason spent most of his time doing the same thing David was doing, but more locally. He let the others do most of the kiling.

They weren't quite as fine-tuned as usual though. Nico, Jason, Piper, and Reyna were able to work together seamlessly, but Artemis and Ebony were slightly awkward. Percy could tell, even from over a mile away. Ebony wasn't quite used to sneaking around like that, and though Artemis was an excellent huntress, she wasn't used to doing it indoors. The open forrest was her natural environment. But she was good enough with her bow, and hunting knives, that she made up for any unease.

Once the command building was cleared, Piper, Reyna, and Ebony were left to hold it. Piper and Reyna would be doing the bulk of the fighting, and if things got overwhelming, then Ebony would shadow-travel them away. Artemis, Nico, and Jason moved on to the armory. Again, Percy helped them out with some well-placed shots. Once the armory was cleared, the main fighting would begin.

Nico stepped out of the shadows next to Percy and David, wordlessly laid a hand on each of their shoulders, and took them down to the roof of the command building, which was 2 floors high. With nothing but a nod, Nico disappeared again. They didn't need to say anything. They had gone over the plan in great detail earlier. Once Percy and David were in place, Nico would leave them, to bring Artemis to the forrest outside the camp walls. There, she would lead the demigods and huntresses lying in wait, and box the monsters in. With nowhere to run, they would be forced to fight. And if they were forced to fight, they would die. Each and every one of them.

Percy and David were placed on the roof for a reason, too. Without his powers, it wouldn't be the best idea for Percy to put himself in the middle of the sea of monsters bellow, (*wink wink) so he would spend most of the battle up on the roof, with his assault rifle. Overall, he would be more effective there.

The rifle was designed by Chaos' engineering team, so it was a lot more powerful than anything equivalent that could be found on Earth. One pull of his triggger, would loose a shot powerful enough to go straight through 4 normal monsters. He had a few hundred rounds of spare ammunition, and a dozen grenades and flashbangs.

David was with him to watch his back. If any monsters came close, he could take care of them, and if any of them tried to climb the walls to get to them, he would send them flying with massive gusts of wind.

As per usual, Jason wouldn't accept not being where the fighting was thickest, so he, and Nico would be right in the middle of things. Percy made a mental note to keep an eye on them, just in case any of the monsters got too close.

Percy left it up to Jason to kick things off, which he did, in spectacular fashion. Jason seemed to be getting more powerful by the day. He lifted his hands to the sky, and concentrated for a few moments. Then a lightning bolt so massive, it could have been mistaken for a blast from the Master Bolt, landed in the middle of a huge cluster of monsters, disintegrating them all. Then he and and Nico flung themselves down into the camp, and started hacking and slashing. Percy flung two grenades into a few groups of monsters, far away from his two cousins, and then started firing. Even though he was practically spraying into the crowd, not one of his shots missed, and each was carefully placed. Chaos' training had prepared him for situations like that, so switching between targets in milliseconds, was second nature to him after 20 years.

Just as predicted, the main force of monsters started running, as soon as the fighting started. And just as predicted, they ran head-first into the Hunters' arrows. Any that got close enough, got cut down by the bulk of Percy's squad, with their spears and swords. It didn't take long for the monsters to realize that they would probably fare better against Jason and Nico within their walls, than the 40 demigods outside. Their mistake. As soon as they turned back, the fighting force outside started to close in on them. The Hunters switched positions, leaving the trees, and perching themselves on the walls of the camp.

The battle, such as it was, didn't last much longer after that. The hunters were on their best game, firing a never-ending barrage of arrows into the horde of monsters, while the main demigod fighting force was forcing the army of monsters further back into the camp, and Jason and Nico pushing them right back out. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, indeed. Percy and David were helping, but they mainly concerned themselves with the bigger monsters. The Laistrygonian Giants, and the Hellhounds, primarily. It was going fairly well for them, right up until one particular Laistrygonian noticed that his friends seemed to be getting mowed down by two demigods on top of the command building, and promptly hurled his club straight at them.

That was where David's inexperience showed. He froze, staring at the club as it grew nearer and nearer. Percy, on the other hand, was a veteran of countless battles, and tackled the Son of Jupiter off the building. Percy was really hoping that the kid would come to his senses and use the air to slow their fall, before they slammed into the ground. The fall wouldn't kill either of them, but it wouldn't be very fun.

And he did. David was inexperienced, but he caught on quick. After free-falling a single story, they started slowing down, until their feet touched the grass, as gentle as can be. He nodded his thanks at an ashen-faced David, and they carried on about their business. Percy had a bone to pick with that Giant.

Dropping the gun, and brandishing Riptide, Percy dashed straight at the fucker. When he was around 10 feet away, he channeled all his strength into his legs, launched himself into the air, and buried Riptide into the Giant's head, right between the eyes. Then he went on a slight rampage. He dropped the sword. He felt the sudden urge to use his hands. So he did. Monster after monster fell before him. Most of them, only needed a single, brutal hit. Percy's supernatural strength was a little bit too much for them. That may not have been the smartest tactic in the world, but it was pretty effective. He took some hits himself, but only minor ones. Barely anything hurt him through Chaos' armor.

The battle was over, 10 minutes later. Percy was panting slightly. He had exerted himself a fair bit, and his stamina still wasn't what it used to be. Not after a whole year of sitting. Jason and Nico both looked pretty tired. They were soaked in sweat. But they were smiling. They were grinning ear-to-ear. That had been the first time they'd managed to properly clear an entire camp, in a long time. It had been a flawless performance. Percy was pretty proud of his group. He had personally taken charge of their training, so the fact that they had done so well, was pretty pleasing to him. And a quick inspection of the battlefield told him they hadn't suffered a single casualty. Between Percy and the Hunters picking off the monsters at range, and Nico, Jason, and the main fighting force on the ground, they all covered each other's backs well enough that they walked away with a few cuts and bruises between them.

Percy absently wondered how things had gone over on Jack's end. How well had they done? He knew that his own squad hadn't lost a single member in the battle. Could his brother say the same?

Percy and his friends regrouped, and exchanged their usual greetings. He bro-hugged Jason and Frank as soon as they saw each other. He fistbumped Nico and Leo. Piper, Calypso and Hazel hugged him. Reyna just offered him a professional nod, but there was a warm smile tugging at her lips as she did it.

"Drinks?" Piper suggested.

None of them could argue. They had damn good reason to celebrate.

"Where?" Frank asked.

Jason replied for his wife, "We're in Louisiana, I'm sure we won't have to look too hard to find a place."

"Yep. I say we walk south until we find something that looks promising." Calypso offered.

They all agreed.

"Give me a second, and I'll join you," Percy said before walking away.

He left in search of Artemis, and found her more or less, immediately. She was with her Hunters, checking them for injuries, the way she always did after a battle. She noticed him coming, and raised her head in silence. She was wearing a small smile. He couldn't help but return it.

"We're going to go celebrate," he told her, gesturing to his group off in the distance.

"Oh. Sure. Have fun," she replied, her smile turning into something a little more confused.

He could see why she sounded uncertain. Walking over to her, and telling her he was leaving, kind of made him feel like a kid, asking his mom for permission to go play at a friend's house.

"Just so you know where I am," he tried to explain, "So you don't get worried."

She just nodded awkwardly.

He was about to walk away, when he had a thought.

"Hey, Artemis?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you… do you want to join us?"

She blinked.

"Join you?" she echoed.

"Yeah. We're just gonna go find a place to have drinks. Maybe dance a little. Just left off some steam, you know?"

She smiled, "That sounds like fun."

"So, do you wanna come?"

She pursed her lips, "This sounds like something between you guys, I wouldn't want to intrude."

He shrugged, "I'm sure no one would mind," he offered.

Artemis shook her head, "No, you go have fun. Thanks for the offer, though. That was nice of you."

"Maybe next time," he suggested, and walked away.

He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he heard her say "Maybe" to herself as he was leaving.

Percy and his friends found a bar 20 minutes later. It was a decent enough place, with some good music playing. They went inside, and got a table. Percy bought the first round, even though he didn't really need to. They were children of Gods, so money wasn't much of an issue for any of them. Especially since Piper was the daughter of a movie star, and Hazel could summon priceless gems on a whim. But he got the ball rolling.

They were interested in getting hammered, so to kick things off, he brought everyone 5 shots. As demigods, their natural tolerance to alcohol was pretty high, but 5 shots was still enough to get them going a bit.

Once the shots were down, Frank turned to him.

"So, what was the hold-up before we left?"

Percy shrugged, "I just went to tell Artemis that I was going."

Oh, how he would regret those words in the hours to come.

The whole group instantly burst into giggles, which bemused Percy at first.

"What; like asking mommy for permission to go out?" Hazel teased, mid-giggle.

He felt himself blush, "Listen, Levesque!" He shouted in faux accusation.

"Guys, guys! Come on, ease up on him," Piper defended to the rest of the group, "If we tease him too bad, Artemis isn't going to let us hang out with him anymore!"

The group erupted into further laughter, and Percy just hung his head.

"I will have you people know, I actually invited her to join us tonight, so that's the main reason I went over."

Which wasn't strictly true. That had only occurred to him later. But they didn't need to know that.

"That's interesting," Calypso commented, with a certain tone in her voice.

"What, exactly, are you implying?"

She shrugged innocently, "Nothing at all. Just that you like her."

"Sure, I like her. She's a decent enough person. And we actually have a lot in common," he tried to defend.

Jason gave out a long, low, snorting sound, "Oh, please!" he shouted incredulously.

"What?" Percy cried, drawing out the word.

"Name five things you have in common! Fuck it, I'm feeling generous; name three!"

"Ummmmm…"

That was when Leo decided to chime in with his two cents, "Aside from you both being virgins, that is,"

Percy's eyes went wide, and the rest of the table burst into laughter yet again.

"You devious little shit!" Percy shouted back, trying to pretend to be angry, but he could feel the smile tugging at his face, "Just because Calypso peggs you, doesn't mean you have to take it out on the rest of us!"

Everyone had already been laughing, but that set them off harder. Meanwhile, Leo's jaw dropped to the floor, and Calypso laughed so hard, her face turned bright gold.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Percy got up and bought a drink from the bar. By the time he got back, Leo had pretty much returned back to normal, and Calypso's complexion was nearly back to its natural tone.

"Don't think you're getting off that easily, Jackson, you still have 3 similarities to name between you and Artemis," Jason reminded him as soon as he got back.

Percy disguised his pause by taking a deep drink.

"First, we're both good fighters-" he started, but Jason cut him off.

"Nope. Doesn't count. We're looking for personality."

He cursed the blonde in his head.

"We both stand up against what we perceive as injustice," Percy tried, careful with his wording.

Jason thought for a moment, and then nodded, "We'll accept that. Name 2 more."

Percy racked his brain, trying to come up with the flimsiest similarity. It was harder than he had thought. They were really different people.

"Oh, leave him alone. Haven't you ever heard of opposites attracting?" Reyna chimed in, teasingly.

"Yes, exact- wait what?" he floundered, having started to reply before his mind had actually processed what she had just said.

"You didn't know?" Piper asked, sounding astounded at him.

"Know what?" he demanded back.

"You two have the hots for each other!" she exclaimed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and she was exacerbated at him for making her say the words out loud.

He couldn't even fathom how to respond to that. After a few seconds of giving the group his best impression of a fish, he settled on the honest approach.

"I mean, sure I find her attractive. She's a literal Greek Goddess, of course she's good-looking. I find Aphrodite attractive too, but you don't see me dating her! No offence, Pipes."

"None taken. I think it would actually be pretty weird if you were dating my mom…" she pondered.

"The point is," Hazel said, bringing them back to the main topic, "It's more than that. You like being around her. More than just as a friend. That's why you invited her out with us tonight. You want to spend time with her, outside the camp."

"That's ridiculous."

"She feels the same way, you know."

"No, sorry, that's ridiculous! Of course, she doesn't feel that way about me. She's a virgin Goddess!"

"That doesn't mean she can't find men attractive. Percy, I say this as a happily married woman, and more importantly, someone who cares about you; you are crazy hot."

"You're biased," he tried, fighting back a blush.

"I'm really not. First time I ever saw you, I thought you were a Roman God in disguise. And you've aged pretty damn well, since then. You're ridiculously tall, and you've got the body of a God... Artemis may be a Virgin Goddess, but trust me, she's hot for you."

"That is such profound bullshit."

"It seriously isn't. Just think about it, ok?"

In an effort to appease her, Percy just sighed and nodded.

Many drinks came and went, and most of the night went by in a flurry of laughs, and giggles. Even Nico was laughing himself silly by the time they really got going. Percy felt himself relaxing more and more by the minute. He truly loved the people at that table.

Around an hour into their evening, Hazel got up and dragged Frank to the dance floor. Leo saw this and chivalrously offered Calypso his hand. She rolled her eyes with a fond smile and accepted. Piper turned to Jason expectantly, but he was too hammered to dance, Percy could tell. And besides, he loved the guy, but he had to admit that even when completely sober, Jason wasn't the best dancer in the world. Noting the mild disappointment on Piper's face, Percy stood up and held out a hand to her. She turned to look at him and her jaw dropped comically.

"Really? You? Perseus Jackson? Asking me to dance?" she gasped, faking bemusement.

Percy had never liked dancing much. Even during the best days of Percy and Annabeth's relationship, they never once danced. Annabeth felt it was undignified, and Percy hadn't been about to argue. So, whatever party they went to, they would never dance with everyone else. It had caused the rest of the group to make a few jokes about how they were actually such profoundly amazing dancers, that if anyone were to actually witness them dancing together, that person's mind would be unable to comprehend the magnificent beauty, and they'd slip into a coma. It had been pretty funny, so they'd allowed it. The simple fact that Piper remembered stuff like that, instantly made him love her even more.

"One-time offer, Beauty Queen, and it expires in about 5 seconds."

Her eyes lit up, she took his hand, and they made their way to the dance floor.

Percy was a man who was good at a great many things. He was a pretty gifted fighter and a fairly powerful demigod. He was a good spy and an excellent liar. A stellar interrogator, and possessed of an astounding intellect.

He was not a good dancer.

He was absolutely, undoubtedly, unreservedly, not a good dancer.

It took him around 5 minutes to make that fact abundantly clear to the rest of the bar, and 10 minutes after that to give up and start laughing at himself, intentionally playing it up for the sake of amusement. 2 minutes after that, the rest of the dance floor started copying him, and a trend began to form. Percy couldn't help but blush. But it was a pretty great time, and his friends seemed to be enjoying their evening just as much as him. Eventually, the entire dance floor was just a sea of ridiculous lunatics, all of them copying the original madman, himself.

A little while later, Percy decided that his fellow dancers had had enough, and they all sat down to carry on drinking and talking.

But, of course, it didn't last too long before some asshat interrupted them. In fairness, Percy shared some of the blame, but still. He was getting up to buy everyone another round and bumped into some short, fat guy carrying a pint of beer. The bump was enough to spill the guy's drink a bit, and he didn't like that.

"Oh, sorry bud," Percy managed to say, through the alcohol slurring his words.

The guy wasn't in a forgiving mood, it seemed. The guy decked him. Percy didn't actually see the blow coming. He was wasted. Thankfully, the guy wasn't too strong, so Percy just took it, and then smacked him on the side of the head, and knocked him out. He caught him as he fell, and sat him down at one of the empty booths nearby.

Apparently, everyone at his table found that hilarious. Percy sat back down, any thoughts of getting drinks, totally forgotten, and tried to process what had just happened. He furrowed his eyebrows and did his absolute best, to think.

"Did… Did that guy actually just pick a fight with me?" he asked his friends incredulously.

Jason was wheezing.

After that minor hiccup, they were able to enjoy the rest of their night. At around 3 am, they called it a night. Nico swore he was well enough to shadow travel them back to the camp that Percy's squad had set up. None of them really believed him, but they let him try anyway. When they appeared out of a shadow, 5 feet away from where they had been earlier, they all burst into giggles, while Nico tried desperately to understand why the camp looked a lot like the alley behind the bar they had just stumbled out of.

Between laughs, Percy managed to tell him that they'd moved around 5 feet, but Nico just dismissed the notion.

"No no, we must have overshot. I think we might be in Mississippi, somewhere," Nico reasoned.

Frank managed to take some deep breaths, and told him "Nico… we can hear the same song playing from the bar,"

Which cued a fresh round of laughter.

"That's a coincidence," the wasted son of Hades argued.

Percy managed to find the clarity to pull out his phone and call Artemis. She answered on the 5th ring.

"Percy? You ok?"

"ARTYYYY," he announced happily.

Everyone cheered in the background.

"Percy?" she sounded non-plussed, "Where are you?"

"You know, that's a really good question, Arty," he pulled the phone away from him slightly, and addressed his friends, "Guys? Where are we?"

"Mississippi!" Nico exclaimed

Jason managed to stop laughing long enough to reply, "Shut the fuck up, Nico! Percy, tell her we're around 20 minutes south of her."

Percy nodded, and was about to tell her that, when Nico snatched the phone out of his hands.

"Artemis, listen. The others are going to lead you wrong! You need to trust me! We're in Miss, ok? I swear! Why won't anyone listen to me?!" but the last part was addressed at everyone else, rather than Artemis.

Percy slapped him around the head, and took the phone back.

"Artemis, don't listen to him, he's a bit drunk. We're around 2 minutes to the south."

Jason started waving his arms, and yelled "20! Not 2, 20!"

"Right, right! 20 minutes, that's what I said."

"You idiots…" Artemis said from right behind them.

Percy turned around to look at her, furrowed his brow, and looked at the phone in confusion. Then he looked at her again. Then back at the phone. Finally, he gave up and looked at her.

"How did you do that?" he asked, perplexed.

She raised an eyebrow, "You've been jabbering on for the last 10 minutes, and none of you are concealing your presence particularly well. Locating you was the easiest thing in the world."

Percy narrowed his eyes and tilted his head back, "It totally has not been 10 minutes," he said stubbornly.

The Goddess rolled her eyes and told them to join hands. They did, and in an eyeblink, they were in back at their camp.

"Artemis, where did you pick us up from?" Nico asked, already looking smug in anticipation of her telling him he was right all along, and they had been in Mississippi.

"You were around 20 minutes south of here," she said slowly, like his question was a trap.

"What?" he asked, suddenly distraught.

Percy lost it at that. Even the stoic Reyna was doubled over, red in the face, breathing hard.

Artemis looked like a substitute preschool teacher, who had just lost control of her class of 5-year-olds.

"Alright," she said authoritatively, "All of you need to go to bed. Now."

Th all shuffled away to their tentsye, and crashed into their beds. Percy was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

A/N: Alright, this one's been a long time coming. Originally, the majority of the next chapter and this one you've just read, were joined together. Obviously, that is no longer the case. It was around 16 thousand words, so I thought it would be best to split it in half. The downside, is that you guys had to wait longer for this chapter than necessary. The upside, is that there'll be a new chapter fairly soon, so… silver linings. Hope you all enjoyed, and I'll catch ya in the next one. Stay safe.