My Take on the Guardian Story

by Me010

A (in my opinion) fresh take on the "guardian of the hunt" story. Give it a read if you feel like it. Hopefully it interests you

30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

There was no doubt the dead guy was Frank. Hazel had had the foresight to pick up his comb before she left for New York. As soon as she arrived, Estelle brought them to the station with her, where she handed the comb over to their forensic technician, who compared samples from the hair in the comb, to the hair on the victim's corpse. Estelle called in a favor with the technician, and it had to be done as soon as physically possible. But they all knew what it would reveal. Not only had Frank, of all people, been seen in the bar just outside the alley where the victim had been found, but he was also currently missing. It would have to be a ridiculous coincidence for it to be anyone else.

Then there was the guy Frank had met with. Not a demigod, but an imposing figure, no doubt. Frank had still been bigger, but not by much. Very tall, very strong. And quite shifty, Percy had decided upon watching the surveillance video.

Once it was made very clear to the lab guy, that he was to take no breaks until their sample was analyzed, Percy, Hazel, and Estelle, went back to the apartment. They got in, and Hazel immediately asked to see the video. Even if she hadn't asked, he would have had her watch it anyway. She may recognize the guy Frank had met with.

Percy, who had seen that video roughly a dozen times up until that point, thought he might be physically ill, if he watched it again. And he didn't need to, anyway. Every frame of the video was ingrained in his memory. So, while Hazel and Estelle watched it through, Percy got up and made some tea. Estelle didn't have any though, which made that pretty inconvenient. So, he snuck out the window, which was a further inconvenience, since she lived on the 4th floor, but for someonelike him, a 4-story climb was pathetically easy.

He walked out of the alley he had landed in, and made it to the street. Once he was there, he cast his senses out, in search of tea. There were a few places in the area, and he ruled out most of them as bars and pubs and cafes. A few seconds later, he found a store that actually sold the stuff. His mother had always said that peppermint, ginger, lemon, chamomile, and green were the best teas for stress. She had all kinds of wisdom like that. So, he walked to the store, and hoped they had at least one of the 5.

They had them all, as it turned out. He paused. His mother had never thought to rank them for him, in terms of their effectiveness in managing stress. So, he bought them all, walked back to Estelle's apartment, made the same 4-story climb, which was only incrementally more difficult that it had been on the way down, and prepared 5 cups of tea. He had no idea which one Hazel would prefer, so he would offer her a choice.

He made two trips, one with 3 cups, which wasn't great. He held one cup by the handle in each hand, and then one balanced between his forearms, thereby scalding the flesh. But he didn't say anything about it. He just set all the mugs on the table in front of Hazel, and asked her to choose.

"I don't care," she almost whispered.

He could understand where she was coming from. He thought for a second before selecting Chamomile for her. He thought she might enjoy it the most. He gently pushed it forwards slightly to denote that it was hers. Then he asked Estelle to pick.

"Where the hell did all this come from? I don't have any tea here," Estelle said, a bit quietly.

"You do now. I just went to the store."

"For tea?"

"Yes, of course," he said, as if it were obvious.

"Right then," she said under her breath, as she selected her mug at random, and sipped it's contents.

Percy took the ginger tea, and sat back in his seat.

"Do you have any idea who that guy was, that Frank met?" he asked Hazel as he took a sip.

And it was then that he realized, that he despised ginger tea. He fought to keep his face from souring, and gently put his cup back on the table, as far away from him as his long arms would allow.

Hazel shook her head silently.

Percy went quiet, and tried not to look torn up about it. They were essentially at square 1. Or maybe 2. They at least knew who was dead. That was something. But all they knew about the killer, or even their most likely suspect, was that he was a mortal guy, who Hazel had never met before. That narrowed their suspects down to around 4 billion. Oh joy.

"What did Frank say he was going to do, when he left?"

"He didn't really say much. Just that he had to go to New York to take care of some stuff. That's all, really."

"You didn't get any feel of what it was?" Estelle asked carefully.

Hazel shook her head again.

Then, Estelle's phone rang. She answered, and listened for a while before hanging up without a word.

"It's Frank. The DNA was a perfect match."

Hazel seemed to shrink in size, before his very eyes. Percy hung his head, and tried telling himself that they'd been expecting it. This wasn't new information. It wasn't surprising. But he couldn't helpp but feel slightly let down. In spite of his best efforts, he had gotten his hopes up that the whole thing was a mistake. But it wasn't.

He steeled himself. He had to think rationally. Had to focus on getting the guy who had killed his friend. Hazel's husband.

The only way Percy could see of identifying the guy, would be to get his DNA from the bar. But a place like that, would have to be cleaned every night, after everyone went home, and once more before everyone came in, just to make sure. They weren't going to get his DNA from a glass he drank from, or fingerprints from the table, or the chair, or anything else.

But…

They had his face. And that might be enough. He might have to borrow the NSA's facial recognition software for a while, but he would give it right back to them once he was done with it.

"I think I know how to get an ID on this guy," he said slowly.

Hazel and Estelle both looked at him.

"How?" Hazel asked coldly. Not because she was mad at him, he knew, but because she wanted to get the guy who had killed her husband as fast as she possibly could.

"I can't say. Not in front of Estelle."

"What? Why?" Estelle demanded.

"Because you're a cop, and if you ever find out what we're about to do, you'll either arrest us for treason, or you won't, which will make you an accomplice."

"Treason!?" she demanded.

"Treason," he confirmed.

"We?" Hazel questioned.

Percy nodded, "You and me. Ordinarily, I'd take care of this by myself, without involving you, but since I don't have my powers, I'm going to need you. No other way about it. Do you mind?"

She shook her head, very deliberately.

No, she didn't mind.

"Great. Then we need to leave now. The faster we get this done, the better."

"You're just leaving?" Estelle asked.

"Yes."

"To commit treason!?" she demanded.

"Yes."

And that was all that was said. He gave Estelle a quick hug, and a kiss on the forehead, took the USB with the video, and they left. They made their way back to the car Percy had rented back in Virginia, to drive back to New York. It had been left outside the cemetery. Percy cursed silently, and went to a nearby payphone. He still had a few of the quarters that he had taken from Estelle's apartment. He dropped a few of them into the appropriate slot, and dialed.

"Hertz, Virginia, how may I help you?" an annoyingly chirpy voice sounded.

"This is Percy Jackson, I rented a car from you guys early this morning?"

"Yes sir, you're scheduled to drop it off with us tomorrow morning."

"Change of plans, my stay has been extended a little, so I'm gonna have to keep the car for another few days."

"If that's necessary sir, then you may, but you should be informed, that you'll be charged extra," she warned, suddenly sounding oh-so concerned for his well-being. As if she gave a shit.

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Ok then, sir. When shall we say you'll drop it off with us?"

"I can't say for sure. Maybe another week?"

"Alright-y sir, that sounds good. Have a wonderful evening!" she told him, adding more chirp to her voice, just in case it hadn't been enough before.

He managed to stop from cringing, and hung up.

Then, he and Hazel got in the car, and set off. Once they were on the road, Percy took out the phone Artemis had given him, that could only be used to contact her.

She answered in 3 rings.

"Percy? Where are you?"

"I'm still in New York. There's something I need to take care of here," he told her, as he put the phone on speaker so Hazel could hear.

"What?" she asked curiously.

Percy glanced at Hazel, who kept her eyes firmly fixed on the road, but nodded slowly.

"Frank is dead," he said quietly.

Artemis didn't say a word, for a while.

"Shit," she breathed.

Percy didn't say anything.

"What happened?"

"We're not sure yet. His body was found in an alley last night."

"Any idea who did it?"

"We'll have a name in a few hours. Not yet though. I need to stay here, and see this through."

"Of course… Shall I tell everyone?"

"No," Percy said quickly, "Keep this between us for now."

"Why?"

"Becuase, if we announce that he's dead, it's going to get seriously busy. He was Praetor, remember. Camp Jupiter is going to be up in arms. Hazel and I need to work through this quietly. Once we know who we're dealing with, we'll tell people."

She sighed, "Fine. He was Hazel's husband, and your friend, so I suppose you guys get final say in this. But people are going to notice that he's gone, eventually."

Percy thought for a second.

"No, they won't. Because you're going to tell Jason, Piper, Reyna, Leo, Calypso, Nico, and Thalia to get their asses to Maryland as soon as they possibly can. Hazel's already here with me. If everyone else is gone, they won't single out Frank. They'll just assume that we all had something to take care of. Tell them not to say a word to anyone, but just to get to Maryland as soon as they can."

"You said you want Thalia as well?"

"Yeah, I need her to come."

"Percy… I trust you, but is this going to be safe? She's my liutenant, after all."

"She'll be fine, I promise. Just tell her."

"Alright, fine. Do you want me to come as well?"

"No, you need to stay at the camp. There are around 40 demigods there, and you need to take charge of them."

"Fair enough. I'll tell them now."

"Actually, tell them in around 3 hours, ok?"

"If you say so. Good luck, Percy. I'm so sorry for your loss. Tell Hazel I said that, too."

And she hung up.

Percy put the phone away, and was about to start talking to Hazel, but she spoke first.

"Why did you ask Artemis to wait 3 hours before telling them?"

"When Artemis tells them that Frank's gone, and I asked them to get to Maryland as fast as they could, they're not going to waste any time. Nico's just going to shadow travel them all there, immediately. It's going to take us a little over 3 hours to make the journey. Maybe a tad less, if we break the speeding limit a few times, which we will."

Hazel thought for a few seconds before nodding, "Ok. Why are we going to Maryland, anyway?"

He sighed, "Because that's where NSA HQ is. We're going to break in, and use their facial recognition software to identify out man."

That managed to break through the fog of grief. Hazel's head sharply swiveled to face him.

"I'm sorry… We're going to do what?"

"It's the fastest way I can think of, to find this guy," was all he said. And it was all he needed to say. He knew, largely from personal experience, that there was little Hazel wouldn't do to get the guy that had killed her husband.

"Fine. Do we have a plan?"

"Not really. But in around 3 hours, we're going to have two children of Zeus and Jupiter, as well as a son of Hades who can manipulate shadows, with us, not to mention the fact that you can manipulate the mist, and Piper can charmspeak. We'll be fine."

She nodded, and he saw her set her jaw in determination.

They drove in silence for about an hour, and Percy couldn't help but cast his mind back. He was still reeling, really. He needed something to distract himself. He needed something to do, somewhere to go, someone to talk to. But at that moment, there was nothing he could do, but drive. If he had his powers, he could get there faster. But he didn't.

He remembered when he first met Frank, outside the gates of Camp Jupiter, running from Medusa's sisters, the gorgons. By then, he didn't really remember anyone, aside from fragments of Annabeth. He saw Frank and Hazel, and they helped him without a second thought. Good people. Good people, who had then gone on to spend 20 years saving lives all around the world, just because they had the power to. And all this, after being heavily involved in a prophecy, and risking their lives to save the world. They weren't just good people. They were some of the best, and bravest people Percy had ever had the pleasure of knowing.

And how had they been rewarded? Frank was lying dead in an alley, without a face. And Hazel was sitting in the car with him, dead inside. She had just lost her whole world, over the course of a couple hours. They didn't deserve this.

"He's in Elysium, Hazel," he said quietly, hoping to ease her pain slightly.

But it hadn't done anything for him, when people had told him that after Annabeth had died. It didn't help Hazel either. She just cried.

So he switched tactics.

"We're gonna get him, Hazel. We're going to get the son of a bitch that did this, and we're gonna make him pay. He's going to wish he had never been born. And when all is said and done, you're going to kill him with your bare hands. I promise. You can have the rest of us hold him down, while you do whatever you want."

She didn't say anything for around a minute. But he could tell that his words had had some effect. She looked less depressed, and far more angry. Angry and determined.

"Did that make you feel better? When you killed the guy that killed Annabeth?"

He fell silent. Did she know? When he didn't reply for a few seconds, she mistook his silence for reluctance, and carried on talking.

"I know you found him. You had 20 years to do it, there's no way you didn't. We all kind of figured you had found whoever had done it, and put them down. That's why we haven't really asked you about it."

"I know who did it… but he's still alive," she turned her head to him, and furrowed her eyebrows.

"What?"

"It's a long story…" and he started thinking. Then he reached his decision, "And I'll tell you all about it."

He took a deep breath, and started talking.

"2 weeks after they were killed, I found out it was Jack."

Her eyes widened.

"Jack?" she echoed, "Why?"

"Annabeth and I were talking about moving to New Rome. He got it in his head that she was forcing me to go, and I didn't want to. But that was just his excuse. He didn't want me to leave him behind, really. So, he figured if Annabeth died, then I'd stay at Camp Half-Blood with him. That's why we were fighting when I disappeared. I had just put it together."

She went quiet, while she thought about that.

"And that's why you attacked him when you came back to Camp Half-Blood," she said quietly.

He nodded.

"Gods, we just thought he must have said something insensitive, and you snapped. So, why haven't you just killed him yet?"

"That's… that's a longer story. I can't talk about where I went, but let's just say I was working for someone. And that someone told me I can't do anything about it for now. I was promised that I'd get to kill him at some point, but he has a role to play for now."

"What role?"

"Aparently, there's another war coming. I'm not sure when, or against whom, but it's going to happen. And Jack is pretty good at training the kids at Camp Half-Blood, so we need him, if we want to be prepared."

She sat back, and dropped her head into her hands.

"Shit," she said quietly after some time.

"Shit," he agreed.

"We have to tell people!"

"We can't. Not yet. Those are my orders."

"You told me," she reasoned.

"Because you're going through a lot right now, Hazel. But I can't tell the others, and you can't either for now."

She went quiet for a little while longer, and he just drove on silently.

He was thinking about how to break into NSA headquarters, and where to even go, once they were inside. There had to be a control room, or something like that, right? Once they had found their way there, they could get on a computer, run the video through the software, and hopefully come back with a name, and then get the hell out. But that was the ideal scenario, and those often didn't pan out.

Not for the first time, he wished he still had his powers. They would make it a lot easier to even the odds for Frank and Hazel. Simply not having them, was one thing, but not having something that could directly lead to helping his friends, was another matter entirely.

Not for the first time, he cursed the Giants in his head. He cursed the monsters, and he cursed Zeus, and the Olympians, he cursed the Titans, he cursed Jack, and everyone else under the damn sun. He wasn't even sure what for. Not specifically. But he knew damn well what he was cursing the Giants and the monsters for. They had taken his legs and his powers away from him. He had gotten the use of his legs back, but he still didn't have his powers, and he wasn't sure he could think of a single time where they would have come in more useful.

But wait. What was it Sara had said? His powers were a part of his physiology, every bit as much as his eyes, and his arms and his legs. There was no way they could just be gone like that. They had to be there. She had told him that his mind had formed some kind of… barrier. A subconscious reaction to what the Titans had done to him. There had to be a way to get them back, right?

He spent some time thinking about what Sara had told him. He did some independent thinking on the subject, as well. He tried to take Sara's initial ideas, and take them to their conclusions. He figured that if his mind had formed those barriers as a reaction to the trauma, then maybe he could break the barriers by putting himself in some kind of situation where he would die without them. Obviously, that wouldn't be fun, and it would obviously be incredibly risky, but it might just work. He pulled up a mental image of a map of the US, and worked out where he was, and where the nearest place was that he could rent a boat.

He turned to Hazel, "We're going to take a detour, OK?"

"Why?"

"I'll explain when we get there."

And then they lapsed back into silence. Percy's plan was starting to take form, but he was getting nervous about it. He figured it make a degree of sense, theoretically. But in his 40-odd years of experience, he had found that the Greek world very rarely made sense. So there was a good chance that his plan was going to go horrifically wrong. And if it did, there sure as hell weren't going to be any second chances.

It took around an hour, but eventually, they were in a little town right on the beach. Percy drove around for a while, until he found a fitness store. He bought 200 pounds worth of free weights, a chain, and a few gym bags. He loaded the weights and chain into the bags, and pretended to struggle, as he carried them out of the store before dumping them on the backseat. Hazel didn't ask him what they were for, but she did raise an eyebrow. He didn't elaborate in any way. Just drove to the beach.

It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for, once they arrived. He was standing in a little shack, near the water, and there were a bunch of boards with pictures of various watersports next to prices. Percy talked to the guy about renting a jetski for an hour and he was happy enough to agree, though he did look vaguely mystified by the fact that Percy was wearing street clothes, rather than swimwear. But money was money, so he shut up about it.

The guy pointed out which jetski they could take, as soon as the transaction was complete and asked if they needed help setting it up. Percy smiled at the question, and declined. Boats of any kind were second nature to him, and jet skis were fairly straightforward anyway. He went back to the car, where Hazel was waiting for him, and he asked her to come with him. Hauling the weights over his shoulder, he led her to the jetski and she got in.

Percy weighed around 300 pounds, and Hazel was closer to 100. That made for a little under 400, and with 200 in the bags, that brought them to 600, which was the upper limit of what a jetski could handle. But it managed. With Percy in the driver seat, Hazel clinging to his back, and the bags resting between him and the console, he drove them way out into the ocean. Once they were out of view of the beach, which he had to confirm by asking Hazel to check, he stopped them as best as he could. He turned to Hazel.

"You ok?"

She nodded.

"Have you ever driven one of these before?"

She shook her head.

He showed her the basic controls, and she seemed to get it.

"Why are you showing me all this?"

"Because you might need to get yourself back, if this doesn't work."

"What… Percy, you can't!" she exclaimed, as she realized what he was planning to do.

"Yes, I can. And I should have done it a long time ago."

He set about getting the weights out of the bag. It was a bit tricky, since he didn't have much room, and the jetski kept rocking back and forth on the waves. Once he had them all at hand, he took the chain out of the bag and tied them all together. The chain was a weightlifter's belt. They were used for tying weights to a person, while they did bodyweight exercises. Percy had used them on a few occasions in Chaos' realm, but not too often. They weren't really his style. But he was comfortable enough with them.

He tied all 200 pounds to his waist, Hazel trying desperately to talk him out of it the whole time. But he didn't listen to her. He needed to do this. And it was going to work. Or he was going to die, like a real moron. He could just see the gravestone.

Here lies Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon.

Died by drowning

At least they'd get a laugh out of it.

He took a deep breath, and jumped into the water.

Instantly, he felt the weights drag him down to the depths. The water was freezing. A lot colder than he had expected. The shock drove the air straight out of his lungs. He couldn't breath. Not like he used to. He clutched at his throat in panic. He felt the pressure building in his head, right behind his eyes. He felt like they were about to pop right out of his skull. Then the pressure got even worse. It was worse than any headache, migraine, hangover, and concussion he had ever had, put together.

He kind of heard himself absently think, "Oh. So, this is what death feels like."

Finally, he inhlaled. He felt water flood his lungs, and it hurt worse than anything he had ever felt. He was dying. He thought about Sara. She was probably on a mission, somewhere in the galaxy. He had no idea where. She was probably enjoying herself, he figured. She was a pretty upbeat person. He imagined that she would do her best to make the best of her circumstances. Or at least, he hoped so. It was slightly comforting, to imagine that she was ok out there, safe and sound and happy.

He thought about Jason and Piper. They still had no idea anything was even wrong. As far as they knew, Percy was in New York, taking care of things they didn't know about. Had they noticed Frank was gone yet? Or Hazel? Maybe. Maybe not. They were pretty busy. He tried to imagine what they were doing back in the camp in the forrest. Maybe they were training some of the demigods they had recruited. It almost brought a smile to his face, to imagine the married couple together. Were they married? He wasn't entirely sure. He knew they had gotten engaged just before Percy and Annabeth. Surely they had gotten married while he'd been gone, right? They must have.

Then his mind drifted to Leo and Calypso. He hoped they were happy. From what he had seen of them together, they were, but he really really hoped it would last. He had been pretty skeptical about Leo at first, but he'd grown to love the elf-like man. And, like Odysseus, he would always see Calypso as his "What if?". What if he had stayed with her on the island? He knew for sure, he wouldn't be the man he had turned out to be. Would that have been a bad thing? Probably not. He was sure he'd be a damn sight happier than he turned out to be. He definitely wouldn't be drowning at the moment.

He thought about Nico, and how far he had come. When they'd met, he'd been a kid, excited about anything and everything he learned. A kid who loved his sister more than anyone else, in the whole world. A kid, Percy had let down, monumentaly. But he had turned out ok. Better than ok. He was doing important work with his life. Helping people. And he was happy with Will, from what Percy could tell. He was going to be ok.

Then he thought about Thalia. Probably his closest and oldest friend in the world. He knew for a fact that she loved life in the hunt. She loved Artemis, and her sisters, with a few exceptions here and there, of course. But overall, she was doing well. That was good.

Then, rather unexpectedly, his mind drifted over to Artemis. Artemis was a curious one. He hadn't quite gotten a complete impression of her, even after more than a year in her company. He liked that about her though. It kept him guessing. Kept things from getting predictable. He supposed it made enough sense, as well. She was several thousand years old. Of course he didn't know everything there was to know about her. There was a good chance he never would. He was ok with that. Like Thalia, he knew she was happy too. She had everything she wanted in life. Monsters to hunt, and her girls to hunt them with. Her life was as simple as she wanted it to be. He kind of envied her that.

"A simple life. What's that gotta be like?" he wondered to himself as the crushing pain only got worse.

Maybe calling her life simple, was, ironically, over-simplifying things. She was, after all, a pretty big part of the world Percy had grown up in. Very little to do with that whole scene, was simple. He proved that himself. Her life had been fairly straightforward, and then he came along and joined her hunt. Since then, he had dragged her to monster camps, gotten her in fights with Giants, made her put up with him when he was paralysed, and gotten into fights with her girls. It all seemed so much more complicated, suddenly.

He thought about Hazel, up on the jetski, probably crying or screaming. Hoping he would come splashing back up to the surface, alive and well. She had been through a lot in the last few hours. And now this too. His fault entirely. He was the one who was doing this to her now. What the hell had he been thinking?

He thought about them all. His friends. The people he loved. How were they going to take this? They were all happy enough, so that was something. They would get over it, eventually. And they wouldn't have a need for vengeance, like with Frank's death. For all intents and purposes, the only person they would be able to blame for him dying, was him. Once they dealt with the guy who had killed Frank, that would be it for them. They could focus on getting better. And in the long run, they'd be ok, wouldn't they? They were a tough bunch.

His mind drifted, finally, to Annabeth and his mother. His mom, who had always been there for him. Who had never gotten mad, when he'd been expelled from yet another school. She never blamed him, or yelled at him. She had even married that slime, Gabe, to keep him safe. It wasn't her fault that it turned out Gabe abused him about as bad as any monster could. But he hadn't beat her. Not like he had beat him. Percy was sure of that. He had found out at the end of his first quest that Gabe had hit her, but as far as he knew, it had been a one-time thing. In a way, he was almost glad she was already gone. He didn't want to try to imagine how hard she would take it, if she knew what he was doing there and then. He didn't want to imagine how she would react.

And Annabeth. What was there to say about Annabeth? His first love, really. Rachel and Calypso had been crushes, sure, but what he had felt for Annabeth was nothing like that. He could always remember the image he'd had of their life together. The life that had seemed so perfect. Living in New Rome, going to University, getting jobs, getting married. Maybe having kids one day. He wondered if she had chosen rebirth. She was a pretty ambitious woman. And if she truly set her mind to it, then it was a virtual certainty that she would make it to the Isles of the Blessed. Or maybe she was in Elysium waiting for him.

Would he even get into Elysium? The things he had done, weren't 100% good, just like anyone else, but his ratio of good to bad was probably less favourable than most other people's. Maybe he should just take The Fields, instead. Play it safe. It occurred to him then and there, than he had never actually avenged them, as he had sworn that he would. But maybe that was ok. He had told Hazel everything. She knew what Jack had done, and she knew that he couldn't do anything about it until after the war. Once it was all over, she would take care of him, in Percy's place. That gave him a sense of relief, at least.

What was she going to do in the meantime though? She had just lost the love of her life, in a pretty awful way. That was something people didn't recover from easily. She was going to need a lot of help. And if she didn't get it, there was a good chance she was going to end up like him. And that was something he really didn't want. More than anything, he wanted her to get better. He could help her with that. But not if he was dead.

What the hell was he thinking? Why was he acting like he was dead already? He wasn't! He wasn't about to take this lying down. Any second now, his brain was going to un-fuck itself and he was going to breath like he should. It was inevitable. Like the sun rising in the East and setting in the West, it was certain that he was going to live.

Eventually, he felt a change. It wasn't even something he could put into words. But something was definitely different. Trusting his instincts, Percy inhaled again, as deep as he could. But that time, it was right. It was like breathing normally. Better than normal. It was the best breath he had ever taken in his life. And instantly, everything was different. All of a sudden, he could see for miles. He had barely even noticed how dark it had been before, but now…

And it was more than his water powers. His Umbrakinesis, control over shadows, was back too. All of the darkness down there felt tangible to him, in a way he hadn't experienced in so long. It was like a loving caress on his cheek. He hadn't realised how much he had missed having his powers.

He spent around a minute on the ocean floor, getting his breath back. Then, he untied the weights, and left them there. He shot back up to the surface like a missile, using his newly reestablished control over the water to boost him to almost supersonic speeds.

Percy went flying out of the water like a rocket,making Hazel gasp in shock. He landed on the water, and hardened it so that it was a solid surface that he could walk on. He let himself soak through to the bone. Being wet had always given him a rush of strength and adrenaline, until he lost his powers, when it just made him cold. That feeling of power rushing through his veins while he was in his literal element, was amazing.

Hazel jumped off the jetski, ran over to him across the hardened water surface, and flung her arms around his neck, as he brought himself back down to Earth. His friend was crying into his shoulder because of him. But he had done what he'd had to.

They spent some time on the water together, holding each other. After a little while Hazel asked him what the hell he had just done, so he explained his thought process to her. Hearing himself say it all out loud, made him feel pretty dumb. There was a good chance he could have been totally wrong. But he hadn't been, and he figured that was the important part.

Eventually, they disentangled, and Percy drove them back to shore. He thanked the rentals guy, who was looking pretty befuddled at Percy's soaking wet clothes, but didn't say a word about it. Percy just used his powers to dry himself off once he was out of sight, and they got back in the car, drove back to the freeway, and carried on towards Maryland like nothing had happened.

"Why don't we just shadow travel there?" Hazel asked, confused that they were back in the car.

"I've never been to Maryland before. Can't shadow travel to a place I've never been to. Way too risky."

"Then how are the other's going to get here? Do you know for sure that Nico's been there?"

"Nico spent years exploring the world to see what he missed out on while he and his sister were stuck in the Lotus Hotel. I'm sure he's been to most places in the world at some point or another. If he hasn't been there exactly, he's been nearby."

She nodded, and went quiet. He understood why. His near-death had given her a surge of adrenaline, and it had distracted her from Frank's death. But now that was wearing off, and she had to confront it again. He wanted to keep her talking. For the time being, at least. It would be pretty dangerous for her to retreat into herself at a time like that. Considering what they were about to do, and everything that would come after that, she may well get someone killed if she wasn't focused.

"You know, when Annabeth and my mom died, I couldn't bring myself to do anything for around 2 weeks," he started, unsure where he was planning on taking it.

"I remember. None of us could get you to even acknowledge our existence."

"Yeah… Well, that's not what I want for you. I didn't deal with that well at all. I want things to be easier for you, Hazel. So, feel free to ask me any questions you want. Try to learn from my mistakes."

She didn't say anything for a few miles, and when she finally did, it had nothing to do with what he had just said.

"That detour is going to throw off our timing, you know."

He nodded, "Yeah, I thought of that. As soon as we hit more open sections of road, I'm going to break a few speed limits. Don't worry, I'm a pretty good driver."

She just nodded, and then went quiet again.

Nearly 20 miles passed in silence before she opened her mouth again.

"How did it get better for you?" she asked him, so quietly he thought he might have imagined it.

"I guess it hasn't," he replied, matching her tone, "That's the problem with distractions and avoidance. They keep you from actually dealing with the feelings like you should. Eventually, you just fool yourself into thinking you're ok, and you've healed. Then, before you know it, 20 years have gone by, and you're no healthier than you were the day you lost them."

It was tough to say. But he needed to get through it. He needed Hazel to be better than him.

They drove in silence for the rest of the way. By the time they had reached Maryland, Percy was starting to become aware that it had been a while since he'd slept. It must have been around 5 am, which made it around 26 hours since he'd slept. He wasn't too tired though. It was the adrenaline, he knew. It was keeping him sharp. Ideally, it would carry him through the rest of the day, until he could get another hour or two of sleep.

Percy parked his rental in a nearby lot, and cast his senses throughout the city in an effort to find his friends, who would have arrived around 10 minutes before them.

He found them pretty much instantly. They were in a monster nest, near the outskirts of the city, taking out their frustration on a bunch of Dracaenae. He could tell from their ferocity, that Artemis had only just told them. They were distraught, and more importantly, they were seeking retribution. Percy was more than happy to help them with that.

He and Hazel made their way over to them, guided by Percy's heightened senses. By the time they reconnected with them, most of the monsters were gone, but everyone hung back to let Hazel finish off what was left. She needed to vent more than any of them. While Hazel took care of business, Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Reyna, Nico, and Thalia came over to him, questions in their eyes. They wanted to know if it was true, even though they knew in their bones that it was.

"Frank was found dead in an alley in Manhattan last night. His face was beaten too badly to be recognised by anyone, and he had no fingerprints on record. There weren't any teeth left in his mouth, so he couldn't be ID'd be dental records either. But Hazel brought his comb from camp, and they compared the DNA. It was a perfect match. And aside from that, we have him on camera, in the bar right next to the alley where he was found. There's no doubt."

"What do we know?" Jason asked instantly.

Percy looked at his brother in all but blood. He wasn't a wreck. Not like Hazel and, to a degree, Reyna, who had been closer to him than anyone else. Jason looked hardened. And the look in the son of Jupiter's eyes, would have terrified Percy had he been Frank's killer. Jason was going to find the son of a bitch, and he was going to tear him limb from limb. That was a certainty. Percy appreciated that from him.

"Very little. Frank was on the footage from the bar, just before he died, and he was there with an unknown man. I can say for sure that the guy isn't a demigod, but in terms of making any ID, we're nowhere."

"Description?" Piper asked.

Percy thought about it, and cast his mind back to the video. He had seen it enough times to memorize every last detail.

"White male, maybe 5'10 or 5'11. Maybe 180 pounds. Not all muscle, not all fat. He was somewhere in the middle. He looked a bit nervous."

"How are you sure he's not a demigod?" Calypso asked.

"I would have recognised him. After we chose our squads on the field of Mars, I know every demigod face in either Camp. Besides, the guy didn't have the vibe of a demigod. Looking at him and Frank side-by-side, it was night and day."

"What's the plan?" Reyna asked him.

"We're going to break into NSA headquarters, here in Maryland. I've got the security footage from the bar on a USB. We're going to use the NSA's facial recognition software to find the guy, or at least ID him."

They didn't even blink. Just nodded, and got themselves ready to leave. That was a huge part of why he loved them so much. Whatever needed doing to get the job done, would be done. No question, no hesitation.

Hazel wrapped up with the monsters, and she didn't look much better than she had before. But she had expelled some energy, so in the long run, that was a good thing. He cleared his throat and addressed them all.

"Alright, listen up. We're going to go in on foot. NSA headquarters is about an hour's walk from here. Once we're close, we'll find a high-end clothes store and dress like we're upper-echelon FBI investigators. We'll also buy blank business cards, and kids' police badges, and Hazel will use the mist to make them look like the ID we need. That, as well as some charmspeak from Piper, and we should be clear."

"It's pretty late, or early, I guess, so it won't be very busy. We won't have to deal with too many people. That being said, we'll try to keep a low profile. No point drawing attention to ourselves unless we need to. Our story, is that we're there to investigate a potential leak in their security system, so that should get us access to their system. We could even make out that we think one of them is a mole, so we'll need to be left alone while we poke around."

"Once we've got their computers, Leo will figure out how to use their facial recognition software, and run the security footage from the bar, while the rest of us make sure he gets the time to do whatever he needs. And Nico, as soon as we're in the building, I need you to get to the security room as quietly as you can. Knock out anyone inside, and watch the cameras for us. If they get suspicious and try to come for us, then just say so and I'll hear you."

"Now, whether they catch onto us or not, we'll wipe all security footage from the building over the last 12 hours to make sure they don't have our faces, and get the hell out. If they catch onto us, then the rest of you just get to me as quickly as you can, and I'll shadow travel back here, while Nico does the same. If everything goes well, then we'll just leave the same way we came. Any questions?"

"You got your powers back?" Piper asked him.

He nodded, "Earlier today."

"How?"

"Long story. We'll get into it later."

"What if I can't figure out the software?" Leo asked.

Percy took a deep breath and held it for a while, as he thought.

"If you can't figure it out, we'll focus on getting back out. You can use the next day to do as much research as you need, and we'll shadow travel back in that night."

"If that's an option, can't we postpone this whole thing until tomorrow, just to be sure?"

"We can, but lets keep in mind, the longer we wait, the further away Frank's killer will get. Time is of the essense, in cases like these. 24 hours could make a difference."

Leo looked down, and squirmed uncomfortably. He didn't like the pressure.

Calypso brought his hand up to her lips, and kissed his knuckle gently.

"You'll figure it out. I know you will. I have faith in you," she said gently.

"So do I," Percy said, "Any other questions?"

"Aside from Leo on software, Nico in the security room, and you as our exit strategy in case of emergency, do the rest of us have anything specific to do?" Thalia asked.

"Not specifically. But you're all going to keep a lookout just in case. Lets keep in mind, this is one of the most secure buildings in the world. This isn't going to be as easy as I'm making it out to be."

"If the FBI was investigating the NSA, would they really show up with 9 people? Wouldn't there be a bigger force, with forensics guys and stuff?" Jason asked.

"Probably, but we're going to rely on Piper's charmspeak to stop them getting suspicious. We're also going to try to play up the idea that this is unofficial, and off the books. We'll say we're there on orders direct from the President. Between that and the charmspeak, we should be alright."

Percy gave them another few seconds to raise any questions, but no one said anything.

"Does anyone else want to ask anything?" he asked, just to make sure.

Again, no one said anything. Percy waited 5 seconds before he spoke again.

"Alright then. Let's go."

Percy and his friends walked down the street, looking for a place where they could get what they needed. It took a few minutes, but Percy eventually found a very well-dressed woman walking down the road, so he stopped her and asked if there was anywhere in the area where they could get some more formal clothes. She thought for a minute, and then gave him an address. He thanked her, and they made their way to the store, where Percy went straight to the sales assistant and handed her his credit card.

He explained what they needed, and the kind of price range they were hoping for. Her face lit up. Seeing as she worked on commission, he wasn't surprised. Several thousand dollars, and an hour later, they all looked like very high-level government workers. Thalia begrudgingly did her best to normalize her hair and wash off her dark eyeliner, Piper took the flower out of her hair, Leo reluctantly tied his tie, and they were ready to go. Percy ran into staples and got 9 pieces of paper that he figured were around the right size and feel for ID. He gave one to each of his friends.

"Hazel, can you work with this?"

She nodded, "Should be easy enough."

"Have you ever seen NSA ID?" Jason asked her.

"No, but that's not too important. It's more like I'm making them think they're seeing it, rather than actually creating an image for them to look at. It's all in their head, rather than on the paper."

Percy was confident that she was right, but he wanted to have his bases covered, so he turned to Piper.

"That sounds good, but Pipes, I want you to be ready to go at a moment's notice, just in case. If anyone gets suspicious, you'll need to smooth things over. There's always a chance that one of the guards can see through the mist, but it's not likely."

"Why isn't it likely?" Nico asked,

"If someone is clear-sighted, what would they see on a daily basis?"

He shrugged, "Monsters and stuff."

"Exactly. You think the NSA is going to hire someone who swears they see mythological monsters on the streets of Maryland?"

Nico thought about it, "Fair enough," he eventually concluded.

"But regardless, we all need to keep an lookout. Again, this is one of the most secure buildings in the world, and this whole thing can go very south, very fast if we're not careful. Are we ready?"

They all nodded. He saw the look in their eyes. Resolve, and determination. They were going to pull this off, and that was all that needed to be said about it. Nothing in the world was going to get between them and their goal. That was for damn sure.

They walked to a nearby limo company, and hired the closest thing they could find, to a State car. It was a bit of a pain, because there were 9 of them, but they did the best they could. It might have seemed a little weird to the driver, that he was supposed to drop them off outside NSA headquarters, but it would seem legit to everyone else, so it was a risk worth taking.

They spent the drive going over their cover story. The less they used their powers, the smoother the whole thing would be. The negative consequence of charmspeech and even mist manipulation, was that it didn't last forever. Eventually, people would wise up, and when they did, they probably wouldn't get into too much trouble, considering the fact that their parents were Gods, but it would be a nuisance that they could live without.

"Our story is that we're FBI investigators," Percy reminded them, "We're from a joint task force between the Intelligence Branch, National Security Branch and Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. We're there to run a security check on their operations. We've received evidence of a possible leak."

"If we're there investigating a potential leak, then wouldn't we be expected to interview some of their people?" Reyna asked, "That would lead to a lot more exposure than we're risking already. Poking around their computers is one thing, but talking to people is something else entirely."

"Ok, a potential hack, then. We're there to audit their cyber security. We could even ask someone to walk us through their systems, and then ask for some time alone with it."

"Alright, good. Do we need to go into any detail about it?"

"No. Those government types are all secretive anyway. They'd probably find it more suspicious if we did elaborate. We'll just walk in, explain the situation to them in broad strokes, show our ID, and we'll be in."

"Alright. How do we act, when we're there?"

"Very serious. We don't smile, or crack jokes, or goof around in any way," he said, shooting a pointed glance at Leo, who held his hands up in innocence, "You'll also need to stand and sit perfectly straight, and just generally act like these guys have done something to piss you off. There are all kinds of rivalries between the agencies."

"Anyway," he continued, "I've got the most experience with this kind of stuff, so I can do most of the talking. You guys just need to stand around frowning."

"Sounds fairly straightforward."

"It might not be. These NSA agents are trained to spot lies, and this is their home turf. One mistake, and things are gonna get a lot more complicated for us. Which is why I'm going to offer an out. Anyone who wants to get out of this thing, can leave right now. No shame. Piper, with your dad being who he is, you're the highest profile of any of us. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Frank's dead. Anything I can do to help catch the guy that did it, I'll do. It's not up for debate," Piper said, her tone hard as ice.

Percy watched her for a second, and couldn't find a single trace of any doubt or hesitation. Slowly, he nodded.

"Alright then. We're nearly there. Take a deep breath everyone. No mistakes from this point onwards."

The rest of the ride went in silence. Percy took the time to watch Hazel very carefully. If she was about to snap, then he needed to know before they got inside. But the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. She wasn't feeling any of it. Not yet, at least. She was repressing all the grief and pain. That was bad in the long run, but for the time being, it was going to serve them well. He was going to have to talk to her about that later, but not until they were done.

The car rolled to a stop and they all made their way out. Percy let all his friends go first, because it wouldn't be easy to get out of the car very gracefully. He was a big guy, and the car wasn't the most spacious thing he'd ever been in, so it would be best to let his friends camouflage him a little bit.

Once they were out, they started towards the building, and were faced with their first major hurdle. It was also the easiest. Entrance security. Percy made it there first, but that was to be expected. He was the tallest, and therefore had the longest legs, and the longest stride, so he covered more ground than the rest of them. That was for the best, really, because he was the one who was going to do all the talking anyway.

"Percy Jackson, I'm with the FBI. These are my associates. We're here to investigate a potential security breach in your systems."

The guard he spoke to wasn't too bad. He looked calm, and competent. But even the best security in the world, gets bored pretty early into their shift. It was horribly monotonous. Even so, the words 'Security Breach' made him snap to attention.

"Do you have ID?" he asked carefully, as if he was more concerned about being proper, and following protocol now that security was in question.

Percy dug the piece of paper out of the wallet he had bought at the clothes store, and his friends did the same behind him. Despite himself, he realized he was holding his breath as the guy checked each of the names on the blank pieces of paper.

But he didn't say anything. Just looked down at the clipboard in his hand, and scanned through it.

"I'm sorry, but none of you are on the list," he said, just as carefully as before.

Percy sighed, like he was disappointed in the guy.

"Listen, do you know why we're here? Do you know who we are? There could be a breach in your security that's being exploited to gather highly classified intel even as we speak. The President has personally assigned us to this case, and if he hears that we're being held up by the guard, then he's going to be pretty unhappy with you, isn't he?"

The guard swallowed.

"Do you know what it's like to have the leader of the free world mad at you? It's not fun, let me tell you that. It makes life very difficult. Is that what you want? You want life to be difficult?"

"Umm…"

"Umm isn't much of an answer, now is it? So, here's what you're going to do. You're going to call your boss. You've seen our ID. You have our names. You know who we work for. You're going to tell him all that, and he's going to tell you to let us in. We'll wait."

"Uhh… right."

The guy shuffled off and started making phone calls in the little room. When he was out of earshot, Piper leaned closer to him.

"Are you sure you don't want me to charmspeak him?" she whispered

"No need," he whispered back, "We're about to be invited in."

The guard came shuffling back.

"You can go through here, and he'll meet you once you're inside. Please empty your pockets and go through the metal detector."

Percy smirked coldly.

"That's what I thought."

One by one, they went through the metal detector, and got some awkward looks at some of the things in their pockets. Thankfully, Percy had gottent them to empty their more sensitive items before they got anywhere near the building, but there were still a few odd things. Thalia's can of mace raised a few eyebrows. As did Riptide, in Percy's pocket. None of them could figure out why there was a loose ballpoint pen in his pocket, but no one dared say a word to the Special Agents.

As the group walked through the big glass doors, they were immediately met by an older man, with thinning silver hair, and a belly that was slightly protruding over his belt. Still, he was perfectly arranged and squared away. Not a single hair looked out of place. This was obviously a senior person.

"Mr Jackson? My name is Wesley Espinosa. I am the chief of security for this building. Can we talk?"

His voice matched his appearance perfectly. It was slightly wheezy, due to his age and bulk, but still powerful and professional.

"Of course."

Espinosa nodded and turned on the spot, walking back to his office. As they followed, Percy leaned in to Piper and whispered,

"I'm going to get him to make a phone call. You're going to make him think he got a positive answer."

She nodded minutely.

They got to Espinosa's office. It looked exactly like Percy might have expected it to. There were two framed photos on the desk, which Percy couldn't see clearly from his position in front of the desk, but based on the ring on Espinosa's finger, they were probably pictures of the wife. Maybe kids too. Aside from that, Percy noticed that everything on the desk was perfectly arranged. Maybe there was a touch of OCD. Not a single item was out of place. Not by a millimeter. Part of his brain appreciated that quietly.

"You say you're from the FBI?"

Percy nodded, "We're from a joint task force between the Intelligence Branch, National Security Branch, and Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. We answer only to the Director, and the President of the United States of America. We've gathered evidence that suggests you have a breach in your security. We're here to investigate."

Espinosa nodded slowly, through squinted eyes. He was turning his Bullshit Detector up to the max, trying to root out any lies. But Percy was a natural talent at lying, and he'd been taught by the best in Chaos' realm. He wasn't about to get rumbled by this guy. No way.

"I've never heard of your task force," Espinosa said eventually.

Percy nodded, "We don't like to broadcast our existence. We're not exactly secret, but… Well, you know how it is."

"Fair enough. Who can I call to confirm your story?"

"The Director. I'll give you his number," Percy said, and then rattled off the number for Contemporary Rome, the secret number for Camp Jupiter.

Espinosa called the number, and Percy glanced over at Piper. She was ready.

She nodded, and leaned forwards. She started talking to Espinosa in low, quiet tones, and slowly but surely, his face started to go slack. His grip on the phone relaxed, and he carefully put it down after a minute. His eyes were still glassy and empty of any emotion, by the time Piper had finished with him.

"Ok then. Here, take these," he said, handing them laminated visitor badges.

Percy leaned over and whispered in Piper's ear, "Ask him where the HQ Manager's office is."

She nodded and turned to Espinosa again, "Now, where can we find the HQ Manager's office?" she asked in the same voice as before.

Espinosa gave them directions.

"Good," Percy said, "And now the security room."

Piper asked, and Espinosa answered. Once he was done, Percy turned to Nico, who nodded wordlessly and left.

"Mr Espinosa, you've been very helpful. The FBI thanks you for your cooperation," Percy said, and Espinosa nodded vaguely.

Percy and everyone else made their way to the HQ Manager's office. The HQ Manager, was in the upper-echelon of the NSA ranks, but not too high up. He would still be eager to advance, and compliance with a task force that answered to the President, would go a long way. He'd be eager to help them from the word "go".

They found the office before long, and Percy knocked on the door that read "J. Maxwell, HQ Manager". A moment later, they heard a dull "come in" through the door, and Percy opened the door and strode inside.

"You're Maxwell?" Percy asked curtly.

"I am. And you are..?" he asked, with the perfect mix of politeness, but a firm attitude.

More of a politician than an operative, Percy figured. Just a vibe.

Percy explained their cover, showed him their phony ID and badges, and made sure to mention not-too-subtly that they reported to the President directly. Maxwell sat up a little straighter, and looked a little more eager.

"Yes, of course. What can I do for you?" the guy said, instantly becoming ever-welcoming; all earlier hesitation gone now that he knew of their supposed rank.

"We've received intel that suggests you may have a breach in your software. We need to investigate."

He blinked, "Oh. Well, I'm sorry, but I can assure you, that's not the case. We ran a system diagnostic just an hour ago. It's part of our standard operating procedure. We do it all the time, to ensure that we aren't compromised."

Percy took a small step closer to the guy and ducked his head down, like he was inviting him into a more secretive conversation.

"What's your name, pall? Your first name"

"Uh, James."

"Well, James, we're a little bit concerned about a potential internal leak," he said quietly.

Maxwell's eyes went wide.

"You think we have a mole?!"

"Keep your voice down!" Percy hissed at him.

"Right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Listen, it might be nothing. But we're going to need to take a look at your systems, just to be sure. Now, if there's no problem, and we're wrong, then there's no harm, no foul. But if we're right, then you're the guy who helped us catch a mole. A traitor. And trust me, the President hates traitors."

Maxwell's eyes grew to the size of quarters, and he almost fell over himself to appease Percy.

"Well, when you put it like that…" he said with a growing smile.

Percy smiled. So far, this was a lot easier than he had thought it would be. Chaos had taught him so much over the last 2 decades. Dealing with normal people was like taking candy from a baby.

"Glad to hear it, James. Do you mind if we set up in here? It won't take too long. We'll just need your computer."

"Yes, of course. Can I arrange any refreshments for you?"

"No, that's ok. We'll just need some privacy."

"Absolutely. If you need any help navigating the system, I'll be right outside."

"That's very kind of you, James. Just remember, you can't mention this to anyone else. No one else knows, and it could compromise our investigation, if the mole hears about this."

"Yes, yes, of course," he said, before he seemed to have a thought, "But what makes you sure you can trust me?"

Percy cursed mentally. He hadn't thought of that. But thanking on his feet was something of a specialty for him.

"Well, you were away during one of the data leaks that we traced. We know the person leaking information would have had to be in the building at the time."

"Ah, of course. Alright, I'll leave you to it. Again, I'm right outside if you need anything."

"Thank you."

Maxwell closed the door, and Percy couldn't help but sigh in relief. Immediately, Reyna walked over and locked it, and Jason sound-proofed the room by blocking the air currents.

"Did he catch you off guard with that last question?" Piper asked.

"Yep. How did I do?"

"Pretty well. I don't think he suspects anything."

Then something dawned on her.

"Wait," she whispered, "Are there any recording devices in here?"

"No. I scanned the room the moment we walked in. It's totally clean."

She sighed in relief.

Leo sat down in front of the computer, and they all huddled around him, waiting. He poked around for a little while, and found all sorts of stuff that would have made their jaws drop if they hadn't had more pressing matters to address. But finally, they got to the good stuff. The NSA's facial recognition software. It was some of the most sophisticated software Percy had ever seen in his life. Admittedly, he wasn't too familiar with that sort of stuff, but even he could see how amazing it was. And strictly speaking, it wasn't entirely legal. Their feed didn't just span the US. There was footage from a fair few other countries as well. That worked in his favor though. The more cameras they had access to, the better the odds that they would find who they were looking for.

Percy gave the USB drive to Leo, who plugged it in, and spent a few minutes familiarizing himself with the layout of the software. It took some time, but eventually Leo set the scan to look for the face in the video.

It took a while. But the wait was worth it. Because the software kicked back a name. And a location to go with it. The son of a bitch was right there in Manhattan, like he was just waiting for them. And they were coming for him.

A/N: Ok, that's the end of that chapter. To address the digital elephant in the digital room, it took a very long time. Sorry about that. Stuff's been weird. But it's here now. And the next chapter shouldn't take too long. Or at least, it shouldn't take as long. 'Till next time, stay safe.