Motherfuckin' Blink.

Zach had decided to cut his trip a day early when he got an Iris Message telling him Blink had woken up and was feeling better. Knowing his sibling was possibly waiting for him, it made the trip home seem so much longer than it actually was. When Zach got to camp, he picked Tyler up from Ryan's place. He gave Tyler a suffocating hug. "Glad to see you guys are okay. How's everyone else? Doing good?" Ryan had kept his promise and didn't tell Zach about what happened with the fight, so he had no idea Tyler had been injured just a couple days ago. They started their walk to Blink, heading to the infirmary. When they got there, Zach grinned. "You're alive! Hey!" He put an arm on Blink's shoulder. "Glad you're okay, buddy."

Blink sat up in bed and looked down at the handcuffs that were on zir wrists, it was actually pretty painful, if not awkward, lying there with your arms and legs keeping you in bed. Not to mention embarrassing when you needed to go to the toilet. "Of course I'm alive," zie said with a frown as zie shifted uncomfortably in zir bed and hospital gown. "Though for how much longer I'm alive, we'll only know when the Order come to see me, something that they have yet to do ..." zie trailed off and shook zir head.

Tyler couldn't be happier to hear that Blink was finally awake. He wanted to go visit his sibling as soon as he could, but he knew Zach would want to be there for the moment as well. So, he waited. The hug honestly hurt, but Tyler didn't let that show. Luckily, the small bruises on face had faded, the majority of his injuries being on his chest, which no one could see. "I'm good, everyone's fine." He assured Zach, and together they went to visit Blink. Once Tyler walked in the room in offered Blink a small smile. "Yeah, my gods Zach. Blink is invincible, might as well be immortal." He said, clearly joking a bit. He sat down in the chair next to Blink's bed, placing a gentle hand on zir arm. "Let's not talk about what may or may not happen, okay? We'll worry about it once that comes." Tyler said with a sigh. "How are you feeling? That's what I care about."

Zach nodded at Tyler's statement. "Yeah, besides like Tyler said, you're immortal." He sat down on the opposite side of the bed from his brother. Seeing the handcuffs restrain Blink made Zach pretty pissed. Yeah, what had happened up in those hills looked suspicious but his siblings was no mur-Oh, well he actually kind of was. Still, he knew Blink well enough to know zie would never kill an innocent person. This demigod was way too smart and good for that. "Is there anything we can get you? Maybe some food, or ambrosia or nectar?"

"Uh, no I'm good thanks..." ​Blink​ trailed off and shook zir head innocently, pretending that they were really fine, though the truth was that their chest still hurt like a real bitch. Zie was a sixteen year old now and probably facing murder charges on four fronts, that alone was enough to send shivers down zir spine. Tapping zir hands on the bed zie looked at Tyler and the multiple injuries he had showing. "What happened to you?" zie asked as zie shuffled in the bed, hearing the clink of the handcuffs and the rustle of the sheets rubbing together. "And what happened to New Rome? I was out for ages and this shit happens."

Tyler knew Blink was lying. Nothing was really "good" right now, but he didn't want to push it. If Blink didn't want to talk about it or tell them what was wrong, so be it. Tyler shook his head as Blink mentioned his injuries. Of course Blink noticed them before Zach did, and of course zie couldn't keep it to zirself. "Nothing, don't worry about it. Just a few scrapes." He said with a shrug, not wanting himself to be the topic of discussion. "Two Neptune kids cause a huge hurricane thing to go through camp. It was pretty bad, destroyed a lot of stuff. Everyone is working together to get the city back to what it was." Tyler explained. It may take a little while to completely restore the city, but it was honestly amazing to see so many people come together to fix the city.

Zach gave Tyler a look, basically telling him through expression that Blink was as okay as he could be right now. Then his look changed to worry. "What do you mean?" Defense-mode was activated and Zach cocked his head at Tyler. "Were you hurt?" He bit on his lip and looked at either of Blink and Tyler. Zach waited for Tyler to get done talking about what had happened in New Rome. "It's pretty amazing to see everyone help each other out, or mostly. Some of them are acting like real asses and just sitting around." He leaned back in his seat and tapped his fingers against his thigh. "I think we need to talk about Blink, you guys. The Order is gonna come soon and we have to have a defense ready for you. So, there's the obvious case of self-defense and with your mother," he stopped short then began agian, "I think that will work."

Sighing as zie heard about the hurricane, ​Blink​ shook zir head and sighed gently. "Honestly, I don't think I want to ask why they decided that it was necessary to cause a hurricane." Zie shifted once more in zir bed and looked at Zach with a frown. "Actually, I need to know, what the hell possessed them to do that?" zie asked with a gentle frown. For someone who was only 16 years old, zie frowned a remarkable amount. Suddenly the conversation was swinging to a place that zie didn't want it to. "Self defence works for my mother sure, but what about Tyler's body, and the two bodies that I put up there. Travis and ... the other one? What do we do about that?" zie asked breathlessly.

Tyler ignored Zach's questions about his injuries. It wasn't major, it didn't matter. Blink mattered right now, and he wanted to focus on his sibling's well being. He sighed as Blink wanted to know the truth about the hurricane. "I think they just lost control cause Percy was kidnapped. I'm not really sure if that's why they lost control though. I never got the full story on why they did it." He explained with a shrug. At the mention of the bodies, he frowned. He didn't want Blink taking all the blame, it all wasn't his fault. "Self defense." Tyler said softly. He looked at his sibling, shaking his head. "I can't let you take all the blame Blink. What if I confess? Say it was self defense, which it was. Then maybe it will work out." He said, biting his lip. It probably wouldn't all work out, but they could try. "I don't want anything happening to you because of stupid choices I made. It's not fair, it's not right." He said, taking Blink's hand in his and giving it a light squeeze. He stared at the handcuffs, shaking his head again. "I hate this."

Zach looked at both of his siblings. He hated feeling like there were so many lies and stories he hadn't known about. They had kept it from him know for certain reasons . . . but still, that didn't make it okay. "Neither of you two are going to jail for any reason. Now I believe both of you when you say it was self-defense. It that's the truth, then there's no reason the Order shouldn't believe you too." Zach closed his eyes and tried to think of solutions, but without the stories how could he? "Would you both tell me what happened? Maybe I can help out some if I know what's happened. I could try to figure out something." He had just lost Finan. Zach wasn't going to loose them too. He'd sooner tear the Order into shreds.

Frowning, Blink raised an eyebrow at the idea of Percy being the cause of all of this. Zie didn’t bother asking what had happened to the Son of Poseidon that everyone seemed to fawn and fall over, zie could only bite zir lip hard as their siblings spoke about how it was self defence. The guilt was eating ziem up alive and bubbling up to zir stomach, shaking zir head, zie looked up at them both and finally confessed. “The first three bodies, Travis, the burnt one and my mother, those were basically self defense, Tyler knows, he was there for all of them, more so than me,” zie trailed off, the lump that had swollen up in zir throat making it impossible to talk until zie swallowed it away, “but the other body, the one that had been there the longest...” zie shook zir head and rattled the chains binding ziem in place. “That wasn’t self defense, I killed that guy in cold blood, the bullet hole started in the back of his head and I put two more bullets in his heart to makes sure that he was dead...” zie trailed off and kept zirself from talking anymore.

Tyler watched Blink talk as zie went on, still holding onto his sibling's hand for comfort. As Blink described each death, Tyler slowly nodded, remembering each one of them. The burnt one, none of them were there for that, only he was. He remembered the ties around his neck, the lack of oxygen, and once he was set free he remembered gasping for breath and looking up only to see Zion's neck torn apart. Martina did it, but Tyler would never say that. Martina did it to protect him, the least Tyler could do was not even to mention her name, or the others. He would say he did it, out of self defense. But what would happen if they identified the body? Then what? Tyler shook his head, trying not to think about it too hard. This was a sticky situation. "Blink, we can make something up. That body, the oldest one, I'll say I did it out of self defense. We can....we can make something up. I won't let you take the fall, I won't let anything happen to you."

Zach felt caught in a trap. How could they get out of this one? "We're Hermes and Mercury kids. Lying and getting out of situations like this is what we do best. If our father," he raised his hands to make sure his siblings wouldn't say anything, because he knew bringing dad up hurt. "If he could steal Apollo's cows and get away with it as a baby, why can't we get away with this?" Zach wasn't sure about taking the fall for this. He very well could, but he knew they wouldn't let him. And if he did, he wouldn't be there to guide the pack or keep his friends safe. "Self defense is the best thing we can say for right now. Me and Tyler can think up a few situations after we leave, alright? I promise you two, nothing bad will happen. We're gonna be fine. You have my word."

Going around the corner at breakneck speed, ​Blink​ had done zir very best to evade zir mother, that was something that zie had to do. Zie had to get them away. Zie didn't want to kill anyone else in front of zir brother and now Tyler was calling the order and Zach and they were going to find all of the bodies that zie had stashed there over the years and this day could not have gotten any worse. Slamming on the brakes zie scrambled for the car and up the hill. At the top of the hill was a cave that zie had used to hide stuff for years. Particularly two bodies although now there were three there. Looking at Tyler zie pointed at the body. "What the hell is this?!" zie exclaimed angrily. "Why is there another body here?! You and Ryan are the only people who know about this place and I didn't put this there!"

Tyler had to call backup and told them to come to the location Blink told him to tell them. He decided to call Zach, wanting all of his siblings close to him. Together, the three of them and the order could fight zie's mother. Even Tyler wanted to kill her, he knew everything she did to his sibling. All the horrible, unnecessary things. Tyler honestly wasn't surprised Blink had killed her, he was actually glad zie did. Zie was about to get zirself out of his abuse, completely end it. But now she was somehow back, and Tyler needed to protect his sibling. Zach and the order would help with that. Once Blink got out of the car, Tyler did as well, and followed Blink to the sadly familiar area. When Blink questioned the number of bodies, Tyler cursed under his breath. Zie was right, only Tyler and Ryan knew about this place, and they had taken it to their advantage. The extra body was Zion. How the hell could Tyler explain that? "I...um....I put it there. It doesn't matter okay, I did it. Well, helped do it? Whatever, it doesn't matter. I was in charge of getting rid of the body so I brought it here." He left Ryan out of it, as well as Martina and Annabeth. If it somehow got out that all of them were together when someone died, people could maybe put the pieces together.

Zach raced over as fast as he could. He had gotten himself to be quick on his feet, but the way Tyler texted had him speeding to the location on his bike. The engine revved across Camp Jupiter. When he got close enough, Zach started to search for them by scent. He hoped off of his bike and set it against a tree, then got back to being on foot. "What happened!?" Zach yelled from afar when they were in sight. He ran up to the pair and saw the bodies laying about. "Oh fuck . . . what the Hell have you two been up to!? Blink! Tyler!"

You called ​Zach!?​" was the only thing that ​Blink​ could manage to say. Gulping down zir distaste at this zie looked at Zach, "not that we don't want you here, I just thought that Tyler would maybe have called Ryan who knew about these bodies. We've killed a few people over the years older brother .... we didn't want you to worry so y'know we didn't tell you, but it turns out that Tyler is a member of the cobra squad or something, because he has been stashing bodies in here without my knowledge, so you're not the only one who is out of the loop in this one." Zie sighed and checked zir ammo. Zie was running low, not having planned for a fire fight zie had only brought one extra magazine for the two pistols zie had brought with ziem. "Listen, my mother is here, she is back from the dead ... I don't know how but I thought I killed her years ago after she tried to kill me..." zie gulped as tears welled in zir eyes and for a second zie couldn't help but try and wipe them away. Crying wasn't something that would help anyone now.

Tyler sighed. Today just wasn't his day. "Yes, I called Zach. What if something bad happens, Blink? Do you think I really want Ryan to see that?" He snapped, looking over at Blink, then at the bodies surrounding them. He hadn't realized how much the pair had guarded their older brother from. It almost made him cringe. He let Blink do the explaining, knowing that zie would explain it better than he ever could. At the mention of him hiding a body he rolled his eyes. "Listen, I swore not to talk about it, alright? Just know I didn't kill the person, just had to dispose of them. And, it was only one body. Calm down." He said, as if storing dead bodies was normal. It was not normal. But, sadly in the demigod's life, it was. As Blink went further on, talking about zir mother, Tyler frowned. He hated seeing his sibling this upset, hated that Blink had such bad memories of zir mother, hated that zir mother had to be so cruel to such a wonderful kid. Tyler wrapped an arm around Blink, keeping ziem close for a few seconds. He knew Blink would pull away, zie hated hugs and things similar to them. But, the act was just to try and comfort ziem a bit. "We'll get her back, okay? She won't touch a hair on your head, she won't do anything to you. I'll make sure of it. I called Zach because I knew you needed your older brothers here, people who would die protecting you. Thank me later, cause I can tell you're a bit pissed at my decision. But, there's a method behind my madness." He explained with a small, encouraging smile. "The Order should be here soon to help as well. Everything will be okay.”

Zach: Zach listened to them both, standing in a position ready to fight. His hands slowly traveled to his belt to grab his knives while they spoke. His eyes kept switching from Blink to Tyler, then back and forth. "I . . ." Zach held his brother. Once he saw Blink start to cry, Zach jogged up to them and joined the hug that he knew would be over too quickly. Zach let go first, looking around. "We can talk about this later. It doesn't matter, alright. You two did what you had to do." Zach forced a smile that wasn't quite necessary. But he was proud of himself for staying calm. Thankfully the son of Hermes was rested up from the Full Moon and ready to fight. "Alright, what do I need to do?"

Blink paced backwards and forwards, shaking zir head. "I don't know what to do, I don't know if she followed me or not and if the order are coming here then I'm fucked, I'm so fucked, I'll take the blame and go to jail, or I'll be exiled, I don't know, I can't handle this. I don't know what to do!" zie collapsed to zir knees and pulled the magazine out of zir gun. "She is going to arrive soon and she is going to try and kill us. You two should really leave, but I don't think you will. So for now, we're going to trick her."

Tyler watched Blink pace, and zir pacing made Tyler want to pace. He refrained from doing so, and instead kept an eye on his sibling. He had never seen Blink this nervous, this scared. "Blink you are not going to jail and you won't be exiled. I won't let it happen. We won't meet them in the tunnel, we'll meet them outside." Tyler said, looking at the cave entrance. If the trio were to go outside, would the Order think to look in the cave? They might. This whole situation was just a big mess. "We aren't leaving." Tyler said sternly, speaking for Zach and himself. "What's your plan, the trick?" He asked.

Zach stared at Blink in awe. For a few moments he was captivated by how different Blink seemed. This wasn't the sibling he had always seen. Blink had always, ​always​ been there to help him up and keep him courageous. It was looking at the dark side of the moon. "If you don't want the order here, then we should take a step away from this area. If you're mothers coming, and you want to set a trap, snares would be the easiest thing to do. That, or maybe trying to have her attention taken away from her. Tyler at one point, shooting arrows, me running around trying to swipe at her. Blink," his eyes glanced to the bodies. "Is there anyway we can, or any reason we should take her in for a trial?"

Thinking for a moment, ​Blink​ paced backwards and forwards. "I can't prove anything, I can't prove that she has done anything wrong, apart from these," zie said pointing to zir chest, but that is my word against hers and she will try and kill me before that happens. "But I think it is too late to set up traps," zie said looking out into the darkness and seeing the headlights of a car career around. "Here is my plan, she'll have to come up this hill into the cave, we lie in wait for her and trap her, then we'll try and capture her and give her to the order. They can handle her..." zie gulped and shook zir head, honestly terrified of the entire affair.

Tyler looked around, trying to figure something out. Three kids of Hermes/Mercury couldn't plan a trap? Seriously? But, Blink was right. how could they plan a trap when they didn't exactly know where Blink's mother was, so they couldn't plan a trap. He listened to Blink plan and nodded. It was the best thing that they could do at the moment. "Alright. Is there anything we could trap her with besides bodies in here?" He asked, looking around for anything.

Zach walked up to the group of the corpses and covered his nose. Until now he had been focusing on just the scents of his brothers, but those bodies had a putrid odor coming off of them. Something more foul than any stain he could imagine. He didn't remember deer or rabbit ever smelling that terrible after they were dead. "Alright." He raised and eyebrow. "Blink, if your mother is . . . well." He frowned. "Is she more than human? I'd imagine three adult demigods could easily take on a mortal woman."

Pacing backwards and forth, ​Blink​ frowned and shook zir head. "No, she is entirely human, well unless she has some monsters with her but I doubt it," zie shrugged and stuck zir hands in zir pockets. Pacing backwards and forwards nervously. Sighing gently zie heard the car door open and close suddenly, zie could hear the crunch of foots steps coming up the drive towards the cave and the call of zir mother. "Arthur," she shouted, "are you and you little friend in there? Come out, come out and play." A second later their was the unmistakable pop of a shotgun pumping out an empty shell and then several more clicks as more rounds were loaded into the gun.

Tyler shook his head. "I doubt she would have monsters with her. She's probably just alone." Tyler predicted. When he saw her back in Berkley, she seemed entirely human. There was no way she could summon monsters, right? Then, he heard her voice. She called zie Arthur. Although Tyler knew that was zir real name, it made him cringe when he actually heard it. Blink seemed frozen. For now, their best bet was to stay against the walls of the cave, although once she got inside it would be a different story. Tyler grabbed Blink and dragged ziem away from the main line of fire. But then, Tyler felt it. As Blink's mom started firing more rounds, it was rapid. He felt the gunshot hit him in his left shoulder and he flinched a bit, shoving Blink against the cave wall before zie could get hit. He then leaned against the wall next to Blink, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder. He didn't want to worry Blink. "For now we're out of the line of fire since all she can really do is shoot into the cave enterance. We need to figure out what to do when she-" Tyler pauses for a minute to intake a big breath to try not to flinch or say anything to indicate he was in pain. "We need to figure out how we're gonna take her down."

Zach looked back when he heard the sounds of the gun. Then she called out for someone named Arthur. It took him a second to register who she was talking about. "Arthur?" Zach asked himself. He definitely liked the name Blink more. A lot more. Zach ran with them, and was behind Tyler when he got shot. Then it was like some switch was flipped. His claws extended and his eyes glowed red. Zach turned around and howled/roared. Instinct told him to go straight for her and slash the throat. But his mind was still there, thankfully. Zach crept back, quickly, into the cave and looked at his siblings. Zach inspected Tyler and Blink. "Tyler you were hit." He heard another click, indicating that she had just reloaded. Howling in pain, Zach found himself staring up at a blurry sky, his vision going in and out. "Ty-Tyler. Blink," he breathed out. Trying to sit up, Zach screamed out in pain and fell right back into Tyler's arms, suddenly being dragged back. "K-Kill her," he said weakly.

It didn't take a doctor or even anyone mildly intelligent to see that Tyler had been hit by the first blast of the shotgun. ​Blink​ reached down and grabbed the hem of zir shirt. Ripping it off zie pressed the fabric against the wound to attempt to staunch the blood. Folding the magic over and over to absorb as much blood as it possibly could zie looked at Tyler and grabbed the boys hand, forcing it against the wound. "Stop pretending that you weren't hit, hold this on the wound and put as much pressure on it as you can, we have to stop the bleeding." Anger and panic filled zir stomach, zir mother had taken so much from ziem and now zie might lose even more. Turning to Zach zie realised that there was something wrong and a second later Zach was charging towards zir mother. BANG. A second later Zach spun backwards and collapsed onto the ground. Pulling zir guns out of their holsters zie took a deep ragged breath, gasping zie held the breath in and pushed zirself off of the wall of the cave. Leaping in front of zir brother, zie felt zir fingers nestle the triggers of both guns, and then slam down on them. The guns kicked backwards and zie felt the recoil of it. The bullets fired across the cave and for the first time zie got a real look at zir mother. The bullets slammed into her shoulder and stomach and zie watched her flinch in pain. There was a large scar on her neck from where zie had shot her all those years ago. She screamed out in pain and popped the last shell out of the shotgun before firing again. Wincing Blink felt the pellets sear across zir chest as zie was flung backwards by the shot. Anger welled in zir stomach and zie pulled the triggers as zie hit the floor. The bullets tore through her stomach and zie fired again and again until the gun was empty. Zie heard the click over and over again, but the pain was welling up in zir stomach as more and more blood spurted from zir stomach. "Oh shit," zie muttered as zie pushed zirself against the wall of the cave.

Tyler huffed in frustration, annoyed at the fact that he got hit and that Blink was taking care of him. Tyler was supposed to be taking care of Blink, taking care of his younger sibling, not the other way around. He held the fabric on the wound, and he watched as Blink and Zach lashed out. Zach went down first, trying to attack Blink's mother but was also taken down. "Zach!" He yelled and ran up to him, dragging him out of the line of fire. "You could get yourself killed!" He snapped, and copied Blink, ripping off some of his shirt to put on Zach's wounds. Then, Blink was down. Gods, the three of them were about to be a bloody mess. Blink was hit in the stomach though, which was much worse. He ran over to his sibling and knelt next to ziem. "Everything will be okay...." He said softly. "The order will be here soon. They'll heal you up. Just keep looking at me, okay?" Tyler said in a panic, reaching over and grabbing Zach's shirt and ripping it. He handed the cloth to Blink "Time to follow your own instructions." He said and looked over at Blink's mother, hoping she was permentley down.

As ​Blink​ felt zir t shirt get soaked with blood, zie could see the body of zir mother. She wasn't moving and a pool of blood was collecting by her body. The puddle of crimson liquid grew and grew and Blink was sure that she was dead, that was the good news. The bad news was that zie was really starting to feel weak, and terribly cold. It was as if it was snowing again and zie shivered. The colour drained from zir face and if zie could've seen the pool of blood that was surrounding zir body then zie would see that it was growing to a size similar to zir mothers. Despite zir apparent impending doom zie knew that zir family would be safe, Tyler and Zach had been hurt and that was on ziem. But zir mother could kill no one else. As Tyler helped zir apply pressure to the wound in zir stomach, zie could dimly hear voices in the distance. The Order had arrived. Gulping, which send shockwaves of pain lancing and arching throughout zir body, zie grabbed Tyler's hand and stared him in the eye. "Tyler," zie spluttered. "You've got to blame me, you can't take the blame for all of these bodies..." coughing up a mouthful of blood, zie allowed it to dribble down zir face, only really having the effort to continue speaking and applying pressure to zir stomach wound. "I can deal with getting in trouble for this, I will anyway, they'll trace the kills back to me.... but you and Zach can't get in trouble for this. Please. Promise me that you'll just blame me." Zie wrapped zir free hand around Tyler's and squeezed it tightly, a look of urgency, desperation and fear lingering in zir eyes and penetrating Tyler's.

Tyler was starting to panic. Blink was bleeding more and more, the pile of blood was easily getting bigger and bigger despite the pressure on the wound. Tyler's own shoulder was throbbing like crazy, as if the wound had its own, separate heart beat. They needed healers, and they needed them fast. All three of them were hurt, all three of them were bleed. Blink's wounds were by far the worst, however. Tyler tried to ignore his own pain to focus on his sibling, to help his sibling who needed more help that he did. He kept his eyes on Blink's wound, trying to wipe up the blood. His hands were covered in zir blood. What if Blink lost too much blood? As Blink talked, Tyler finally looked at ziem. Zie wanted Tyler to just blame ziem? Blink would get in huge trouble, huge trouble, and that's what Tyler was trying to avoid. He was trying to avoid Blink getting in trouble, he was trying to protect his sibling. But now, none of them were able to go very far so the Order had to come into the cave. They would see it all. There was no other option but to tell the truth, that Blink had done it. That fact alone made Tyler want to vomit. He wiped away the blood that dripped down Blink's cheek with his arm that hadn't been effected by the gunshot and then returned it to Blink's wounds, to apply pressure. His other hand was laced with Blink's. Tyler didn't want to promise, just in case he was able to figure something out in the few seconds he had before the Order stormed into the cave. But, he couldn't ignore Blink's pleading eyes. Blink needed him to promise. "I don't like this one bit." Tyler said, shaking his head. "I'm supposed to protect you, not tell on you. But, you're right. They would be able to link the deaths back to you." He admitted with a frown. "So, I uh- I promise."

Zach felt tears prick at the corner and front of his eyes. He heard it all, but couldn't do anything except put pressure onto his wound. You should know that he tried. Zach tried very hard to move. But the boy had never been shot by a gun before. In all these years it had been arrows. But bullets definitely felt worse. He could feel his own skin starting to heal around the wound. Zach hoped it wouldn't close up. The amount of questions that would raise wouldn't be good. Zach looked over to both of them and tried to speak, but found himself too weak to even talk. The order had arrived and was inspecting everything. Zach just closed his eyes, and began to feel himself black out.

Tyler had thought that it would be a wonderful idea to take Blink out of camp and into Berkley. Zir's birthday had just passed a few days before, so this was possibly considered a birthday present. Plus, the two siblings had barely hung out in the last few weeks, not nearly as much as they did back at Camp Half Blood. That thought alone just made Tyler sad, so why not have a little trip, just the two of them? When Tyler asked Blink if zie wanted to go, zie seemed fine with it. So, now the pair were in the car and ready to start their day together. Tyler decided this would be Blink's day, letting zie pick where they would go since he knew the area better than Tyler did anyway. He even let zir drive. "So, what's our first stop? Have you thought about where you want to go? This is your day after all."

Shifting in the chair as they arrived in Berkley, ​Blink​ couldn't help but think about the fact that zir mother was out there. Zie wasn't sure where and zie wasn't sure when she would strike, it might be today, or tomorrow, or in a week, a month or even a year. But after the second letter, zie was more than convinced that she would take her revenge on ziem for killing her. Not that she hadn't deserved it. But Blink knew that sooner or later zir own life would be on the line and it made ziem uncomfortable. Zie didn't want anyone getting hurt for ziem. "Uh, I need to pick up some stuff from a hardware store," zie prompted, "and I could do with a few more clothes, I ripped a hole in the back of the legs of my pants the other day."

Tyler nodded as Blink explained what zie needed to get. It seemed simple enough, easy enough to obtain. "What do you need at the hardware store? Or is it a secret?" Tyler asked, nudging zie teasingly. Although, he knew Blink might not tell him what it was. Zie did that sometimes, kept things to zirself, which Tyler respected. But, he couldn't help but be curious sometimes. In all honesty, it might even possibly get on Blink's nerves, but all siblings got on each other's nerves at some point. "Finding pants should be easy. I'll buy those for you if you want. How many pairs do you need?" He asked, trying to think of the best place they could go. Hopefully this time he could help his sibling get pants that didn't rip so easily. "We could also go for lunch or something if you want. Or if you get hungry." Tyler said with a shrug.

Honestly, ​Blink​ was starting to wish that zie had come on zir own, then zie wouldn't be constantly worrying about zir mother popping up with a shotgun and brandishing it in zir face before splattering Tyler's brains all over the side walk. Zie had no idea how zie would tell Ryan or Zach or anyone if that happened. That would just ... break them. Gulping gently zie slipped zir hands into zir pocket and sighed, trying to keep zir voice even. "I just need some bolts and stuff for a project I am working on, oh and some duct tape, I always need duct tape." Zie looked out the window as they parked, Berkley was busy, it was just after Christmas but for some reason everyone was out. "Uh I don't know, I mean I'm fine really, I'll just get them myself, not like I've got a shortage of money or anything ..." zie laughed nervously. Scratching zir nose as zie got out the car and made zir way towards the shopping mall. "Lunch could be cool though," zie replied quietly, looking over at Tyler with a very fake smile. "What about you? What do you need?"

Tyler got out of the car as well once they were parked, walking around to the other side of the car to meet up with Blink, walking towards the shopping mall with ziem. "Well, you can never have enough duct tape. Duct tape fixes everything." Tyler said with a laugh, looking around. There were surprisingly a lot of people out and about, probably trying to get the after Christmas sales. He actually was sorta glad that there were a lot of people, that way they blended in easy. "Alright, fine. I was trying to be generous, since it's the season of giving, but fuck you." Tyler joked, nudging ziem. What do you need, it was a simple question that Tyler didn't know how to answer exactly. He needed yet another gift for Ryan, an apology gift. He had fucked up big time, and he knew that Ryan was going to be upset with him. Maybe if he bought him a little something to express how sorry he was, he wouldn't be as mad? Tyler wasn't really sure. But, that was the only thing he could think of. With a sigh, he put his hands in his pockets, looking around. "I don't quiet exactly know yet. I'll just look as we go and if I see something, I'll stop." Tyler said, leaving it very vague. He didn't want to talk about it, especially not with his little sibling. But, he could tell Blink was a bit more fidgety than usual, and zir's smiles were a bit to wide, but he knew that Blink obviously didn't want to talk about it. So, he let it go. Maybe today could serve as a distraction for the both of them.

As ​Blink​ was about to reply, when zie heard a loud bang and flattened zirself against the door of the car. People were screaming and zie was immediately sprinting towards Tyler. Most people were running around as zie caught a view of a lone gun woman with a sneer on her face as she pumped down on her shotgun and ejected the spent cartridge, obviously preparing to fire once more. Zie barely had time to duck after zie heard the second gunshot that showered them with glass as shotgun pellets from a buckshot shattered the glass of the car they'd driven up in. Tackling Tyler to the floor as another gunshot rang out zie reached into zir jacket and ripped out two handguns. Zie didn't need to look at who it was, zie knew. Zir mother was here, trying to kill ziem and zir brother. Shit. ​Shit. ​Shit. SHIT. S H I T ​​. This was not good. Tyler could get hurt because of zir stupidity. A third gunshot ran out and the window opposite ziem shattered. "Stay down and don't move," zie muttered as zie tried to shuffle along to get another look at zir mother.

Tyler at first froze when he heard the gunshot. Then, he immediately he ran towards Blink, only for zie to tackle him. "Blink!" Tyler snapped, putting one hand on zir shoulder, the other pulling zir face to look at him. "Explain, and explain now. I know you know what is going on. I can tell by the look on your face." He whispered, only for Blink to ignore him. He huffed in frustration, somewhat following his sibling's instructions. Tyler had hidden his bow in the car, just in case they needed it. He stayed low, like Blink said, but did not stay still. He slowly opened the car door, since whoever this gun person was already knew their location, and reached inside for his bow. "You're fucking crazy if you think I'm just gonna sit here while you put your life on the line." He whispered, pulling his quiver over his shoulder. "We do this together. You understand?" He said with a firm nod.

Shaking zir head violently, ​Blink​ ignored all of Tyler's questions. "Tyler, you've got to run, we're not doing this together, this isn't some monster we can just kill..." zie gulped and shook zir head, not willing to admit that zie was the one who had brought all of this upon the two of them. The only thing that zie had to be thankful for was the fact that they weren't here with Mena and Nick and the boys. Who knew what zir maniacal mother would've done to them. "Listen, we're not doing this together, please, just run," zie said staring into zir eyes, "please, don't ask me why, you've just ​got​ to go," zie didn't wait for a reply and instead pulling the two pistols down into a straight armed lock, leapt up and began firing rounds off at zir mother frantically. Zie didn't want to hit her, not now, zie had to scare her away, make her follow ziem and then zie could kill her later, out of sight of everyone. But for now zie had to cover Tyler's escape. All zie could hope was that zir stubborn sibling had followed zir advice.

Tyler shook his head, refusing to leave. He decided that Blink was officially insane, thinking that Tyler would ever leave ziem behind. "You're crazy, thinking that we aren't in this together, that I would ever leave you. It's not happening, I'm not leaving you, so just shut up already, okay?" Tyler said sternly. For Blink to look like he had just seen a ghost, to legitimately look scared, this had to be serious. Blink was a tough kid, a kid that had been through a lot. Zie was the bravest person Tyler knew, and to see ziem crumble like this actually terrified him as well. But, right now he had to be the supportive big brother, and that was something he could easily do. Once Blink jumped up, Tyler slowly stood, peeking over the car to see what zie was doing. Zie wasn't hitting this woman, not even close. Tyler knew Blink had to be doing it on purpose, because zie never missed zir target. It had to be a scare tactic. Tyler picked up one of his explosive arrows and shot it quickly, pulling Blink down back onto the ground, covering his sibling's head in case any debris somehow made its way to them. The arrow soared past the woman's head, hitting a building right behind her and exploding. "And you say shooting arrows isn't really considered shooting." Tyler teased, letting go of ziem after a few seconds.

As the explosion shattered the last of the glass around them, ​Blink​ grabbed Tyler's arm and dragged him after ziem as zie sprinted down the street. Zie knew that the explosion might've hurt zir mother. "That doesn't count because I made you those arrows, which work remarkably well..." zie snapped looking at the fire, it was impressive but zie was afraid that it wasn't going to stop her from seeking her revenge on her only child. "Please Tyler," Blink begged as zie sprinted down and alleyway, looking over zir shoulder as zie slid new magazines into the brace of pistols. "Please you've got to go, I've met her before, I know her... a little too well," zie said as zie remembered the knife sliding over zir skin over and over again, cutting deep ridged through zir flesh and leaving bloody letters that had taken months to heal. Zie should've died that night but for some reason zie had survived, long enough to take revenge and become wanted in the state of Texas for questioning surrounding the death of Alice Anastasia and a police officer. But now Alice was back, and she wanted zir head. Zie didn't want to admit who she was, zie didn't want Tyler knowing that zie had killed more than just Travis...

Tyler followed Blink easily, not having any problem keeping up with ziem. "Alright, same shit. I thought to use the arrows. You did a good job with them though, I must admit. Thank you for those by the way." He said with a soft smile. Although, this wasn't really a time to smile. A crazy lady with guns was coming after them. But, if they were to die today, Tyler would rather be with his sibling than anyone else. Blink still tried to get Tyler to go away, and it still wasn't working. "For the millionth time Blink, no. Tell me to go one more time and I will smack you. I'm not going, so just give up, okay?" He said, rolling his eyes. "Who is she? Blink, you have to tell me. For gods sake, we've both told each other our life stories and you can't tell me who this woman is? Are you kidding?" He asked, flashing back to that heart to heart moment they had so long ago in their cabin at Camp Half Blood. After all of that, Blink seriously couldn't even tell him this bit of information? Tyler liked to think that they had a trusting relationship, but did they? "Blink, if this woman is that bad we have to call back up. If she's seriously this dangerous we should call the Order or something, they can handle her."