Author's Note: I'm laid up for six weeks with a broken leg, and I'm done with my coursework. So, I'll be writing more to pass the time. Hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Chapter Twenty-four: The Gathering Storm

Percy grunted as he fell to hands and knees on Bismarck's deck. The ship radiated an aura that reminded Percy of Hades but restrained. In addition, it didn't exactly welcome him unlike most of the ships he'd boarded with the exception of the Princess Andromeda. As the child of Posieda walked on deck, Percy could feel the ship turn her attention to him. The tide seemed to wash out of Percy's stomach as he walked the ship's deck. "Nico, where are you?" Percy listened for a few moments and heard the clash of weapons. His heart jumped in his throat for a moment as Bianca stabbing Talos flashed through his mind, unbidden. Percy growled as his form flickered before it stabilized. Then, the child of The Sea shook his head and marched down below decks to talk with Nico.

Nico breathed heavily as he brought his blade to bear against Bismarck again. She's fast, he thought. If this is what it's like fighting those machines, I need to be faster! Nico pulled on the shadows of the training room and used them to outflank Bismarck. As he walked out of the shadow with his blade held to her throat, Nico felt the weariness of such quick travel make him stumble for a moment.

Bismarck capitalized on this, ducked under the unsteady blade, and punched Nico in the throat. Then, Nico dropped to his knees gripping his neck in shock. "What…was that?!" He gasped, wide-eyed.

Bismarck sighed and smiled at the boy's stunned expression. "In war, there is only one rule: survive." The holoform said sternly before she stood and nodded towards someone behind the son of Hades. "I believe you have more important matters than me at the moment."

Without another word, her form dissolved into the deck plate.

Nico's eyes hardened on sight of the child of The Sea. "What do you want?"

Percy sighed. "Bianca died a hero; I would have saved her if I could."

Nico's vision darkened as shadows around them lengthened and moved like vipers threatening to swallow Percy. Percy growled and dodged the striking shadows. Then, Percy raised Riptide and shook his head. Lady Hestia, Percy prayed. Help me get to him, please."I won't say I know how it feels, but I can sympathize" Percy began. "When I first came to Camp, I thought my mom died, and the world seemed to die with her."

Nico froze, "I heard stories of that fight, but she didn't die. Did she?"

Percy sighed and closed his eyes, "She was as good as dead until I stared down your Dad and accused him, face-to-face. My only reason for getting the stupid Bolt was to get my Mom back. MY world died without her."

Nico shivered, "That isn't easy," the boy walked over to Percy and put a cautious hand on his shoulder. "Dad doesn't take well to invasion."

Percy nodded. "I noticed. Unless you, Thalia, and I learn to fight together with the children of Primus; there will be nothing left for any of us. I fight for my family." Percy offered a hand. "Will you fight for Bianca?"
Nico glared hot at Percy for a moment. Then, the boy's eyes cooled to simmering coals of obsidian. "Did you do all you could to save her?" The tone didn't come out as angry as Nico intended. To his ears, the son of Hades mentally scowled at the whiny plea in his voice. As Nico searched his cousin's eyes, he thought of how broken Percy looked as he talked of the encounter with Hades to get his Mom back. He knew that look because that's how he looked at his sister before she abandoned him to join those damned Hunters. "You would die if it meant those you cared about survived."

Percy smiled and nodded, "The gods tell me such loyalty will do nothing but get me killed." The child of Poseidea slowly walked up to Nico. "However, I think loyalty shown through sacrifice is how the gods beat The Titan Lord the first time. The Titan Queen was loyal to her children and could not bear to see them treated so poorly. Loyalty to family lead her to feed Dear Ol' Granddad a rock. Loyalty lead The Thunderer to trick The Titan of Time into releasing the other Elder Olympians."

Nico laughed, "Zeus, loyal?" Then, he stopped and stared at the upper bulkhead in a moment of terror. "I said that aloud. Didn't I?"

Bismarck flashed in at the moment. When Nico fell back and started scrambling with hands and feet away from the flash, she frowned slightly at him and offered a hand. "You don't need to fear Zeus while you roam my decks. If Zeus were to strike me or any Cybertronian, the god would not like what follows, and he knows it."

Percy stared at Bismarck for a moment. Then, an uncomfortable theory began to form in his head with what he knew of the real history of The Big Three and Zeus' very un-Zeus behavior in the story. It always nagged at him that Zeus, known for his lack of loyalty to Hera, showed loyalty to his family by coming back and saving them from their father. If that was anyone, Percy bet it would have been Hades or Hestia before he knew the truth. Now, Percy could see only one person in that spot, the Mycenaean Queen of the Gods. And how did they pay her back for freeing them? Percy's mind spat venomously. They split her power, changed her, and made Zeus the star of the show!

Percy was brought out of his dark musings by a hand on his shoulder. The boy looked up into the blue optics of Bismarck. "I think you would do well with some time back on Missy's deck," she seemed to look into him with those glowing orbs and pick him apart in a way that reminded him of his Mom when she knew he was trying to hide something. "We're a few hours from Long Island." She turned to Nico. "Go with him. You still have a lot to learn, kid; and I don't want you to meet your Dad too early."

Nico nodded, "Thanks, I love you, Bea-" Nico froze and squeezed his eyes shut even as tears streaked down his dirty, dust-coated face. Nico's shoulders shuddered with a suppressed sob. "I'm sorry."

Bismarck smiled and gently hugged the boy. "It's ok," she gave a soft look that might have shocked anyone who only knew her by reputation. "I'm touched that I remind you of your sister." Then, Bismarck pinged her comm thrice and vented before her holoform vanished again even as Missy picked up the boys and put them safely aboard ship.
"Give me Shadow Travel over that any day." Nico growled before he reappeared and ran to the side to puke. "How does that not make you sick?" Nico rasped at Percy in disbelief when the son of the Sea seemed unaffected by the teleportation.
Percy looked green for a moment, but as soon as he took a deep breath, his face cleared. "Sea air helps settle my stomach." Percy then grinned with a shrug and slight smugness in his expression.

Nico shook his head and sighed even as Jack and Arcee walked up to the pair while Thalia's eyes sparked with power. Nico couldn't help staring at Jack. It wasn't just the royal blue optics that ran Nico through like a spear. Nico couldn't figure out why, but every instinct in the son of Hades screamed at him to run as if the monsters in the deepest parts of his father's kingdom were staring at him at once and deciding which part they wanted to eat first. When Jack stuck out a hand, Nico drew back as if the hand was a viper. "Who are you?!" He yelled. "You feel wrong…something worse than death!"

Jack rubbed his head and looked at Arcee with a pleading expression. "Dark Energon poisoning?"

Arcee shook her helm. "Can't be. If he had enough Dark Energon in his system to react to you like that, he would have to be…" She trailed off and gained a haunted look in her optics. "…like that beast the Cons made out of Cliff." Arcee faltered, and even through the muted reflection of Arcee's pain in their Sparkbond, Jack made a grab for his chest and winced in sympathy. "It's something deeper, almost like a genetic imprint." Arcee turned to Thalia. "I'm sorry. Who is his…sire, again?"

When Thalia gave Jack and Arcee a confused expression. Jack sighed and looked at Arcee. "He might be Lord Hades' kid."

Why not Pluto?

Jack shrugged. He doesn't feel Roman. You know how Mom bears an air of authority that seems innate to her? That's her Roman demigod blood. Besides, his powers focus on Death after what he said to me. Pluto's role as Lord of the Dead comes secondary in the Roman mind to The Lord of Riches. To keep from any strange looks from the assembled demigods, Jack finally spoke aloud. "After MIko though, I'm willing to entertain a shinigami."

Nico shivered, something deep within hating the name as he heard it. "You could just ask. I'm a son of Hades. I don't understand why that makes me so…" He growled, refusing to submit to fear. "…damned detestable to everyone."

"It's not that," Arcee began. "We're not enemies. We only want to help you face what's coming, and we can't do that if you won't work with us."

Poisoned?! Nico thought with a glare as his eyes grew darker with a slight iridescent purple sheen on the edges of his sclera. Nico laughed bitterly. They couldn't mean… "What could I eat that would poison me?" The son of Hades asked. "All I did while fighting was drink Nectar, and I was careful to never burn myself up."

Jack flinched. "I was afraid of that." The son of Primus looked at Thalia and Percy. As one, the demigods pulled Nico to his knees and restrained him. Jack gathered the energy of The Key until his hand sparked with its power. Then, Jack put his hand on Nico's chest and pushed the energy into him. As Nico screamed in agony, The Hurricane Duo held tighter. Only when Nico dropped to the deck in unconsciousness did Thalia and Percy let the time-displaced son of Hades drop gently to the deck while Percy placed a rolled up towel under the boy's head even as he shook in restrained fear.

"What in Tartarus was that?!" Thalia asked as her eyes sparked with energy, equal parts fear and anger.

"That…" Jack said nervously. "…was the driver behind why The Lord of Time is rising now instead of later."

Thalia and Percy looked at him in confusion. Percy sighed. "I don't understand. I thought it was simple Fate."

Jack shook his head. "It's more complicated than that. A few years ago, Cybertronians arrived here and started fighting," Jack's optics glowed brighter as he accessed the data stream of The Key with the help of Alpha Trion. A beam shot from Jack's optics and filled the room. The light condensed into a hologram of Earth. The Nemesis and the Bots represented by different glyphs. The globe began to pulse faintly with Energon blue light that jumped around on the globe to match the global position of all Cybertronians on the world. In response, the core of Earth which the map marked with a stylized representation of Unicron's faceplate rippled with purple energy and began shunting more Dark Energon into the depths of Tartarus, supercharging the Titan Lord's regeneration. "The Chaos Bringer awakened The Titan Lord as a sort of 'immune response' to the presence of Cybertonians on Earth."

"Hang on." Percy growled. "How did your Dad not activate this when he met your mom?"

Percy froze for a moment. "The power Dad needs to maintain a Human form even at this distance from Cybertron is fantastically small when compared to the Energon profiles of average Cybertronians."

Thalia nodded. "He basically hid in the glares created by the Cybertonians already here."

Jack nodded, "That also explains why Dad left so suddenly."

Arcee put a servo on Jack's hand and looked at each demigod in turn. "We need to be ready as soon as we get to Long Island." She then looked at the other demigods. "Unicron won't waste any time once we step on land. I want to make sure you all know what this means."

The demigods with her nodded. Once they stepped on land, the Titan Lord would send his best to meet them.

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