#f&gwar

Bobbi’s constant frustration as the war dragged along was with the worsening state of her supplies. Medication, gauze, ambrosia, nectar and just about every and any other medical supply that you might need were in short supply. The deaths, injuries and mental onset of damage from the curses was really beginning to take its toll and she was informed that they would make a supply run soon, but not soon enough. So Bobbi took it upon herself to scavenge and found herself in an abandoned section of the city, picking through a pharmacy, or what was left of it. Hearing the door creak half way through trying to get into their locked medicine cabinet, Bobbi stepped nervously behind the door and prayed that it wasn’t a Roman.

There was only so many things Martina could do at the current moment. She was, in a sense, bored. At this point she took any job they gave her. As a slightly trained person in the medical field, she had been set out to gather more medical supplies that they needed. Finding a pharmacy that hadn’t already been totally picked through was difficult, but finally she found one. She entered as quickly as she could, looking around the area, before quietly setting out to find what she could. She only had a few knives on her belt, but otherwise was rather casual for the mission.

Not recognizing the other person scavenging through her spot, Bobbi had to admit that she wasn’t prepared for a confrontation. She had the short sword and dagger that Jax had provided her as a Christmas present at the end of the previous year, but truthfully she hadn’t quite got the hang of using them. She usually ended up training about twice a week, she knew that she should train more, the threat of monsters without a war going on was enough to convince her of that, but the truth was that she spending more and more of her time working in the field hospital and she didn’t exactly get much time to herself. Swallowing, she stepped out into the open, calling out to the stranger. They could be Greek, please be Greek. “Hello?” she asked somewhat tentatively.

Martina’s head whipped around to look over at the voice, her hand on her throwing knife as she crept out to see who it was. She knew she could probably throw and hit faster than someone could pull out their sword, which made her less worried than she realistically should have been. She didn’t know who the woman was before her, just that she didn’t think she had seen her around New Rome. She narrowed her eyes at the woman,“Who are you? What are you doing here?” No one else would have been on this same mission, at least Martina assumed they wouldn’t send out two people for medical supplies.

Raising her hands to prove that she wasn’t looking for a fight, Bobbi swallowed at the sight of the throwing knives. It didn’t matter if she had a sword, if this girl was accurate she could turn her into sushi before she could say by your leave. “I’m not here for a fight,” she said quietly, “I’m just trying to get some medical supplies. My name’s Doctor Roberta Truman, but most people just call me Bobbi…” she looked nervously at the weapon before swallowing once more. “What about you?” she asked perhaps somewhat hopefully.

Taking in the raised hands and the general look of anxiety, Martina decided that the woman was telling her the truth. She shifted her hand off the hilt, but made sure to keep it close enough to pull if she had. She searched her brain for that name, knowing that she had heard it from someone at some point. “You’re with the Greeks,” She said in reply, knowing from Jax that this was his brother’s girlfriend. She definitely couldn’t fight her now, not when that would make things really awkward with Cat and Jax. “Martina Acosta. I’m looking for my own supplies,” She replied, trying not to give away the fact that the Romans weren’t doing as well as they wanted their enemy to think.

As Martina’s hand moved off of the hilt of her weapon, Bobbi couldn’t help but feel slightly better. “I’d like to say nice to meet you, I just wish that the circumstances were somewhat better…” she smiled sheepishly before nodding gently. “I am with the Greeks, actually I’m a daughter of Athena, though I’ve hardly been aware of it for very long…” she cut herself off and sighed. “Sorry, I don’t mean to ramble, it is just kind of … I’m not good in these hostile situations.” She turned and looked around the room. “I’ll split half of what I find with you?” she suggested, knowing that it was hardly an ideal solution but right now it was probably the best one that she could offer.

Martina had the feeling that the woman in front of her wasn’t much of a threat. It made her feel a bit better about being there alone. She wasn’t too worried, she could take someone out if she had to, but she really wasn’t ready to have that conversation with Jax or Cat. The woman… Seemed pretty nice anyways. “I’m not hostile yet, don’t worry.” She replied, beginning to look around the pharmacy. “You said you were a doctor? I assume you’ve had your hands full.” She looked back at the woman with her eyes narrowed,“Why?” Martina wasn’t ready to give her half what she found, so why was she willing to do that for Martina?

Raising her eyebrow, Bobbi couldn’t help but frown at the word yet. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear but she was intent on hearing everything that she had to say. “Let us hope that you don’t become hostile,” she laughed nervously, “I’m not really in this for the fight, I just have a job to do.” She paused as she turned to one of the mostly abandoned shelves and swept a number of items into a bag. Bandages, disinfectant wipes, any painkillers that they had left. “I am a doctor, neurosurgeon by training and by design as well, but things don’t always work out according to plan…” she paused. “Because there are both Romans and Greeks that need help, I don’t care about the stupid differences that everyone else seems to care about. We’re all demigods and we all need as much help as we can get.”

“Let’s hope not. I don’t get much say in it either,” Martina replied lightly. She wasn’t exactly lying, most of the time her mood ended up getting affected by other people. Though, she would admit that she tended to get annoyed easily. “I’m not looking for a fight either. I would get quite the lecture if I hurt you.” She wasn’t looking to fight a woman who wasn’t a fighter either, there was nothing exciting about fighting someone who wasn’t at the same level. She nodded,“I feel that. I was in pre-med before this. Still in the Legion, but mainly working towards getting out of school early. Don’t see that happening anytime soon.” She cocked her head looking over Bobbi with critical eyes. “Romans hate the Greeks, half of them wouldn’t care if y’all ended up dying. That doesn’t seem stupid to me. I wouldn’t expect someone to patch me up after I killed their friends.”

Bobbi raised an eyebrow but decided to remain silent. She wasn’t about to lecture a Roman with weaponry about responsibility for their own actions, especially when she was in a precarious enough position as it was. “Well as there is no reason for us to fight, we can both get what we need and leave without having to fight.” She paused and raised an eyebrow at the explanation that Martina gave her, she honestly wouldn’t have pegged her as being pre-med, or any sort of med at all. “Ignorance has always been an excuse for prejudice and violent actions against people groups that don’t deserve it. I’m not here to hurt other people, I’ve got a job to do and I intend to do it.” She continued her job, at least to the best of her abilities, sifting through what meager leftovers were in the pharmacy. It wasn’t exactly encouraging.

Martina gave her short nod, agreeing for now not to try anything. She could see how grabbing one of the Greek’s doctors would do good for her, but at this point she was really feeling loyal to the Legion. Her loyalty laid with people now. She supposed it always had been. She followed people to the Cult, she’d probably follow them out if they wanted her to. “Yeah, well you’re one of the only people around here who’s got that privilege. We don’t all get what we want being passificists. Some of our jobs is to kill people,” Martina replied back tensely as she gathered supplies. This woman didn’t seem to understand that some people didn’t have the liberty to be selfish in their fight. “I’m that fucker. The one who kills people’s friends. That’s my job.”

“Maybe you should think about getting a job where they save people and you’re not put in a position where it is kill or be killed,” Bobbi replied quietly. This entire system was cruel. It forced children to fight for their lives and experience a plethora of trauma, assault and injury at a truly formative time in their lives. The fact that the Roman demigods had a standing army was nothing short of lunacy, The fact that they were mostly children made her mad. Though she couldn’t say that the Greeks were any better. That was what struck her as confusing about this entire situation. Why were they so intent on focussing on their differences and not their similarities? “You could always just leave. You don’t owe anyone enough to make you kill people’s friends… or see friends die, any of the other shit that we’ve experienced in this hell hole.”

“Get me a job where I can get enough money to support the people I need to, and I think about changing careers,” Martina replied back, knowing that she would be keeping her position with the Legion for as long as she could. No words from someone who didn’t get struggling would convince her otherwise. She looked over at Bobbi for a long moment, before scoffing,“I owe these people my entire life. I was kicked out of my home at twelve. This was the only place that took me in. These people are the reason I got any form of education, the reason that I have a place to stay. No matter the shit I have to do, I owe them. You don’t get it.”

“Being a doctor is usually at least relatively well paid and has decent benefits which mean that the people you’re having to support will benefit from your work, not to mention you said you were pre-med so you’re on the right track for it. You could really help people,” Bobbi paused for a moment and tried to recall her name. “I don’t know what you’re looking for in your life Martina, but there are few paths as challenging or as fulfilling as being a doctor. However, the hippocratic oath is not something to be taken lightly. We have to make sure that we make good on our promise not to harm or hurt anything should we be able to help it.” Pausing, she sighed. “I may not understand the process, but anything that asks you to sacrifice your morals and beliefs and ethics in a war isn’t good. It shouldn’t have ever come to this point.”

Martina stopped and placed her hands on her hips, looking at Bobbi with narrowed eyes. “I’m twenty, I’m not in Med school yet. I have years until I will actually be a doctor, not to mention the fact I’m trying to get into surgery. I’m sure you know that makes the path even longer. I ain’t going to be making that much money for years, not to even mention the amount of debt I’m going to have.” Jax might be helping her out with Milo and her brother at the moment, but she wasn’t going to rely on him forever. She needed to make her own money, get out of the debt that she was already in with him. Huffing, she shook her head at Bobbi. “You don’t get what it’s like having people on your back do you? Not as a doctor, but as a family member. I pay for my brother and my - his nephew’s,” She grimaced at her mistake,“Rent and phone bills. I’ll sacrifice anything for them. Even if it means I gotta kill people who used to be my friends. Morals don’t mean shit when you fail your family.”

Bobbi shrugged, “If you don’t start it soon then I don’t know how you’d ever manage to finish it off, but you’re right, it is a long way away and there is a lot that you need to do first, but there are several programs that help demigods reach their goals despite financial difficulties, you’re not the only one who’s made it through hard things. You could manage this too.” She paused and shrugged. “We’ve always got a need for new healers, whether you’re a trained doctor or not there is always someway that you can help.” Pausing she frowned and sighed. “I’m sorry that you’ve got that to deal with, I understand that it is difficult and I’ve never had to support my family through anything like that, but would your family want you having to do all of this?”

Martina rolled her eyes, this woman really didn’t get it. It wasn’t easy trying finance everything while still keeping herself going. Sacrifices have to be made, even if it’s her doing all the sacrificing. “Programs like that are probably on hold at the moment for the war. Not to mention that would just add to all the shit I already owe this city,” Being in debt to the collectors here was not something Martina could deal with. She could deal with Jax and Fergus, when he was around and helping, they didn’t even expect her to pay them back. She was going to, but they didn’t expect it. “I’m a Daughter of Apollo who can’t heal a scrape. They’ve got healers better than me.” She shrugged as she picked up a roll of bandages,“They don’t have to know. Plus, like I said, I owe people on this side and I’m not dying to join your’s. Rather stick with the people I know can take care of me than with nothing.”

Pausing for a long moment, Bobbi pursed her lips and continued scavenging and dividing rations up that would eventually be used to patch her and Martina’s people up. “I can’t imagine what you’re dealing with and frankly it’s none of my business o even try and do so, however I don’t think you should give up on your dreams and hopes and the possibility for a life that you’re happy with because you’re facing adversity, but I may simply not be able to understand that the obstacles you face are untenable and possibly impossible to over come.” She shrugged and placed a roll of bandages on both terribly small piles before sitting back and sighing. “I’ve separated all my stuff that I’ve been able to find, either pile is fine, but I’ve got a few more hunches if you’re interested.” She paused and quickly packed one of the piles of supplies into the rucksack that she brought with her.

“I got a lot of people who are on my shoulders. After this war, I’ll continue studying, right now though, I got to keep doing this. For them. I’ll be a doctor one day, I promise.” Martina told Bobbi, as if she was trying to convince her as much as she had to convince herself. She looked at the piles and sort the supplies she found between them too. Placing an extra roll of bandages on one pile, she took the other. Greeks probably needed it more. They had enough apollo kids that Martie was sure they wouldn’t miss one roll. “Yeah, gotta get some more stuff anyways. We will do this with those too?”

“I really hope so Martina,” Bobbi replied quietly as she double checked her supplies before zipping up her bag and shouldering it, “there is a distinct lack of capable demigod doctors.” She stood and looked around the now entirely empty pharmacy. A truly surreal experience. Bobbi noticed Martina’s generosity and smiled but didn’t acknowledge it out loud. Martina seemed to be the quiet stoic type. Or at least that’s what she assumed. “Cool, I guess you should follow me then?” she wasn’t really sure what she should say to Martina, they hadn’t known each other long enough for her to know how she would react and Martina’s tension wasn’t making her feel any less concerned.

“I mean a lot of these kids think they’re industructiable. They don’t think they need doctors. At least they don’t think so until they have arrows in their stomachs.” Martina had thought she was indestructible until she ended up in the hospital a few times herself. She couldn’t heal herself. “Where we headed? I can keep you from any sights of the Roman towers.” She zipped her own bag, slinging over her shoulder. “Don’t tell anyone I did this shit with you or for you. I can’t have people know or I’m going to be a traitor.”

“Believe me, I know the type, there was this stunt man who I had to do a few minor operations on, he never seemed to understand that if he didn’t tone it down he could get very seriously injured…” Bobbi remembered him clearly. He had eventually been killed in a car accident. The irony was somewhat palpable. “There is a small bodega with an even tinier pharmacy attached to it on the northern edge of the city. But believe me, I don’t want to jepordise my position within the Greeks anymore than you do.” Especially not because of Leo.

“I broke my wrist once. I was training too hard and too much. I didn’t go to the healers until my centurion saw how swollen it was. I had been trying to hide it under some bracers. Didn’t learn til my third break that I actually have to go to the healers.” Martina had broken quite a few bones over the years. More than she’d care to admit. “I’ll give the Greeks one thing. You tend to be far more forgiving. We aren’t. So, let’s do each other a favor and not tell anyone anything.”

Frowning gently, Bobbi couldn’t imagine ever being so desperate to train and fight that she would hide the pain and the sight of a broken bone. It was frightening what some demigods did out of a perceived duty to their Legion or their People or their godly parents. “Going to the healers is always a good idea,” she shrugged gently, “Agreed. We can definitely keept this between the two of us, for our own good.”

“Not if you got something to hide. You all tend to be nosy.” Martina was the same. She wanted to know what happened and why. She knew that sometimes people weren’t willing to give those answers. “You’re with the oldest Karavadra, aren’t you? Didn’t he leave his family for you?” It had been bothering her since the beginning. It made sense though, how she kept saying you didn’t have to give up morals for family.

“Doctors are usually obliged to keep all matters discussed confidential, I can’t imagine that any of them have been nosy for anything other than professional need, at least I hope not.” Bobbi paused before nodding. “Leo, me and Leo have been together on and off basically since high school, though I guess it was more off than on  …” she had almost married someone else. “I guess I must bear some of the blame, but he didn’t approve of the Roman treatment of the Greeks and this entire conflict, that wasn’t something that suddenly changed when I returned to his life.”

“You’d be surprised,” Martina knew that her doctors had had good intentions, but it had made a little bit of trouble for her. Excuses were harder to find after so many questions. She pressed her lips, giving the woman credit for at least taking some of the responsibility. “Take it from some who doesn’t speak to most of her family, he’ll regret it later in life. I’m not trying to start anything with you, but family should come first. At least in my book. Especially in a town like this.” She shrugged,“Hard place to be in, where you two are. Harder than mine.”

“I think everything that happens is at least somewhat surprising,” Bobbi said with a gentle incline of her head as she slipped through a small alley that wound its way between houses and apartment complexes in the center of New Rome’s italian architecture. “Leo knows exactly what he is doing and I think he is starting to make a new family. He hasn’t cut all ties to his siblings but his father is probably the worst person ever born, so I don’t think he’ll really miss him all that much.”

“I could do with a break from surprises, I think. At least for a little. I almost wish that the curses breaking would give us time to rest, but we just went straight back into this war.” Martina was tired of the war, if she was actually willing to admit that she was. She’d still fight it, still stay with New Rome and her people, but she was tired. More tired than she could explain. “Yeah, I don’t envy them with him as their dad. And mine kicked me out when I was twelve.” She didn’t know Jefferson well, but to have kids like Cat and Jax there had to be something messed up in his brain. Even if she was their friends, she had to admit they were a little messed up. “Father like that could drive anyone out.”

“There seems to be no common ground that we can agree on,” Bobbi agreed. It was nice to hear that the Greeks weren’t the only ones who were done with this entire conflict. Swallowing, Bobbi sighed. “I hope we can end this before we do irreparable damage, although I’m not sure we’re not already past that…” Bobbi wasn’t sure if there were enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe the depths of depravity that Jefferson must have decided to stoop to. “Jefferson may well think he is doing what is best for his children, despite his despicable approach he is not a stupid man. He was simply raised in a culture which is dangerous for us all.”

“I think we’re already there. Let’s say the Greeks are let back in, how do you think that’s going to go? If I had to bet, hate crimes would skyrocket, more fights wll break out a lot. Doesn’t help that half of us are under twenty five. We don’t have the brains for this shit,” Martina grumbled. She, at this point, didn’t even care if they came back. She just didn’t want to deal with this shit anymore. “Yeah, well didn’t half those kids who deserted grow up in that culture too? Why aren’t they fucked up like he is? Culture can’t be all there is to that.”

“We educate the population to avoid hate crimes, we prove that those who have a reputation for hatred mongering and scare tactics are nothing more than cowards. We do all of that and we’ll start to make the impact that we need. I am by no means saying that this is going to be an easy fix to a problem that more than likely has a years long fix to it.” Bobbi paused for a breath. “But this isn’t something that we should or that we can just ignore.” She paused and frowned. “Those children weren’t deliberately shaped to be something that they shouldn’t be. The culture is so much more extreme in the Karavadra family. Why do you think two out of three of Jefferson’s children have led soldiers into battle during this war?”

“Who is going to lead all that? I can’t see us being open to the Greeks telling us that New Rome is full of fear mongering officials, even if it is true.” Martina sighed, even if she wanted this war over, even if she didn’t care if the Greeks came back, this was going to be a city at war for a long time. She shrugged,”They probably feel like me. Like they owe someone something. Or at least, maybe they did at first and now it’s an opportunity. Lots of people are looking at this as an opportunity.”

“We do what everyone else has ever done, we compromise, we elect people democratically and we attempt to move into a better system less hell bent on upholding dangerous and deviant traditions based on prejudice.” Bobbi swallowed for a moment. Pausing, she frowned. She’d not considered that before. “Well, I can only speak to as exactly what my boyfriend has told me, but you’ll simply have to forgive me for being skeptical about any system that prioritises the militarisation of children.”

Martina snorted,“Good luck with that. I’m pretty sure the same families controlled the Senate when my grandfather was here. People are weirdly conservative here.” It was both a surprise and not that the younger population was rather conservative at times. Romans loved their traditions, even if they were too young to understand why they did them. “Dude, I went to war the first time when I was like twelve. Everything is about militarisation here. There are people who are taking the centurions who died or left as opportunities to move up. We ain’t kids here, we’re weapons. Instead of getting a barbie here, you get a dagger.”

“Just because something has been someway for a certain number of years, doesn’t mean that it should be that way,” Bobbi replied defiantly, she liked to think of herself as a realist and whilst she didn’t realistically know whether or not there would be change in her life time, she could only hope, “and things are never going to get any better if we don’t take  a stand and say enough is enough. In Sparta they used to leave their deformed children to die. We would think that was a terrible abuse of power now, and it will be the same with this eventually. Just because things have been one terrible way for a few generations doesn’t mean that we can’t find a way of making things better.”

“I just don’t see it happening. Who’s even got the support to go up against the Senate? Call me a pessimist or whatever, I just don’t know.” Martina didn’t want get her hopes up about the whole thing, not when things seemed to be in a weird limbo thing. “I don’t know who’s going to stand up against this stuff, other than you all. I mean no offense, but people could get in trouble with stuff if they do. Obviously, it’s not as bad as you guys going through your shit, but we’re selfish creatures most of the time. Maybe it’ll change, maybe it won’t. I’m not holding my breath.”

“I can’t tell you how this would pan out, but surprising things happen at times like this,” Bobbi had to hope, gods she prayed that she was right and something happened, “The Russian Revolution, the French Revolution, the rise of the Septum Piercing. Not all were ideal or necessarily good, but they happened at times of tension…” she smirked gently at her own joke. “We’ve just got to hope that something happens, because from my position I can’t see things getting anything but worse if things continue.”

-

Stalking his way through the night, Percy made sure that Wally was with him as they stalked along the shore towards the bright lights of the casino. The war that was currently raging away just two miles away didn’t seem to bother New Rome’s richest as they all approached the casino. Percy could see the lights from across the lake and as they got closer he could see the finest dressed guests moving their way around the garden outside. “I can’t believe that I am wearing a tux!” he exclaimed as they got nearer, “I know that we’ve got to try and be silent about the fact that we’re Greeks, but there is a war going on and unless the Romans have been getting their supplies through another way, I can’t imagine how they justify this lavishness.” He swallowed and felt for Riptide in his pocket. “Not to mention the curses,” anger flashed in him at the injustice and he did his best to get over it with a deep sigh, “come on. Let’s get going. The sooner this is done the better.”

-

Wally peered his head over a small hill as they made their way towards the casino. To hear that some assistance might come out of this place was like catching a curveball. He shrugged and pushed his hair back, although the gel was doing its job of keeping it in place. Since they’d be heading to a more regal affair, Wally shaved and tried to make himself look presentable. “It’s how some of them are, they don’t even care enough for their own. Besides, there are tons of wealthy families in New Rome, right? They probably all pooled their money together or something to keep this place operating.” As they came closer to the entrance, Wally stopped Percy. “Alright, stand back. Now remember, this will only last for a couple hours, so if we split up, find me before then.” Wally’s magic was usually as bright as the day and as obvious as a guy with two heads, but he could contain the firework effect of it all if he tried. Warping Percy to look a different way wasn’t hard at all and was a nice change of pace from trying to stop all these curses. Illusions and transformation were his fortee, so in mere seconds, Percy Jackson no longer looked like himself, though Wally could see through the spell he worked. It was like someone was holding up a transparent picture of the real Percy infront of his disguised face. “Okay, you’re good. Now, let’s go in.”

-

There was something… not magical, but highly enjoyable about the casino to Bran. Sure, the war raging in New Rome had affected many people, but the elite of the elite still found their way here to drink and to gamble and to squander their money. It was entertaining to see rich senators slurring their speech, to watch with barely-concealed glee as this Roman or that Roman went into a full-blown panic as they lost at one of the tables. He could sense the tug of madness at their minds when they ruined themselves in roulette; or broke the bank at blackjack. Sitting at the bar, facing towards the floor of the casino with a large glass of his family’s own wine in his hand, he smirked slightly as a man nearby blew through several thousand in a loss on a poker hand. Closing his eyes for a second, he gloried in feeling the desperation the man was feeling, skirting dangerously close to madness. As a son of Bacchus, he could manipulate and feel madness. Reaching out with his abilities, he placed the mad thought of wagering even more to try and break even on the next hand in the man’s head, and gave a somewhat sadistic giggle as he watched the man start feverishly counting the chips he was left with before taking a slow drink of his wine in order to hide his smile from anyone who might be looking at the Maecenas patrician as he gloried in this one man’s despair at a game of poker.

-

As Wally quite literally worked his magic, Percy didn’t feel any different. He wouldn’t have even believed that anything had changed, but he caught his reflection in the light of the lake and even he could see the differences. “Woah,” he admitted out loud with a surprised raise of his eyebrows, “you’re really getting good at this magic shit hermano.” He smirked through his whisper to Wally and double checked on Riptide on the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket before setting out through the front door of the casino. He spotted senators and even a few members of the Legion, but none of them seemed to realise it was him. So at least everything here was going to plan, for now if nothing else. Pausing momentarily, he reached up to stroke his beard before stopping himself. The visage he wore was clean shaven. “Do you know what you’re looking for?” he asked Wally curiously, glancing left and right trying to work out exactly what it was that they were here for.

-

“Thanks, Jackson.” Wally beamed at the other lad. Indeed, Wally had gotten better with his magic since the war had begun. He’d used the new battle-torn turf they were in to advance his powers through rougher practices with the elements and powers that be. As they walked into the casino, Wally was a bit overcome. He had never seen a casino before - well, he had seen them in movies, but they seemed different in person. Maybe it was because they were all demigods here, but Wally could feel the power in this place. Everyone was dressed to the nines, and because of their attire, the smiles, the eating and drinking, you’d never guess there was a war going on outside. “Look at all these asshats,” he commented quietly. “Yeah. Brandon Maecenas. He’s a son of Bacchus. His family owns a vineyard that was blessed by his dad. Gives ya’ a bit of an idea of who we’re dealing with. I met him at one of the parties Jason had before the war. Doesn’t like Greek’s at all. But, rumor is that his family has some really strong ties to some artifacts. Getting one would really help us with the ritual.” Heading to the bar, Wally inclined to the bartender, asking if anyone had seen the man. “Brandon Maecenas, he’s been known to frequent places like this. Tall, looks kind of like a bull?”

-

Bran was part of the way through considering whether to make the poker-playing gambler snap then and there when he heard his name being mentioned at the bar. Turning slowly on his stool, he took in the sight of the two men - one he didn’t recognize, and one he did. He’d met the one with the mis-matched eyes somewhere… It’d come to him in time, he was sure. “A Bull?” He asked dryly, eyebrows rising slightly as he drained his glass of wine, placing it down on the bar and snapping his fingers to demand a refill from the bartender. “We’ve met.” He stated simply, eyeing the one who had asked about him. “Warrington or Walsworth or something, yes?” He asked, pointing at Wally as the bartender dutifully refilled Bran’s glass. “Something with a W, anyway.” He picked up his glass of wine once more, taking another drink - and pointedly not ordering any for the pair of them. He had a nagging suspicion he had met Heterochromia over there in something less-than-acceptable circumstances, which immediately made Bran guarded towards the two newcomers.

-

For once Percy had a line ready. He was about to explain to the bartender that they were friends with Bran and that they had a gift for him. Something that would get them off the hook of suspicion. And yet before he could say anything someone was talking to Wally and it didn’t take him very long to work out that this was their target. It was awkward if he was perfectly honest, Wally hadn’t exactly insulted Bran, but there was room for offence. A nagging feeling that this might not go as well as he would’ve liked started to tug at him, he patted the inside of his jacket to ensure that Riptide was there, though he knew that it would be. Somewhat comforted by the backstory that he was beginning to concoct in his head. “Is this Bran?” he asked, leaning forwards and smiling brightly at Bran, “Duke Chadinson,” he said stretching a hand out for Bran to take, “nice to meet you.”

-

Wally tried to look confident, which was getting easier now that he had protected himself against so many attackers and even killed one. He was able to keep his back straight and take a few steps over to Bran without faltering, definitely a change from a few months ago. He looked to Percy as he introduced himself to Bran, his smile changing to something more humorous. “Bran Maecenas? We have met before, at a party months and months ago. Wally Robinson.” He didn’t put his hand out, thinking Bran might remember who he was and not only not shake his hand, but immediately call security. “Thought I might buy you a drink, offer a proposal to ya, if you’d be interested?” Thankfully their tuxes masked their forearms, helping to hide the fact that unlike everyone else here, even Percy, Wally had no SPQR tattoo. “Might we take a seat somewhere more private?”

-

Before Bran had the chance to process much of what was being said to him about where he had met ‘Wally’ (that didn’t seem right, did it?) the other man was introducing himself as ‘Duke Chadinson,’ a ludicrous name that made Bran just stare at him and his extended hand in very clear judgement for a long moment. “You are either the worst person I’ve ever met when it comes to making fake names, or you have a very unfortunate mortal parent.” He said a little jeeringly to the man he was, as of yet, unaware was Percy Jackson before turning his gaze back to Wally. “I can pay for my own drinks,” He said a little stiffly - the memory of the party coming back to him now his memory had been jogged about it. “Tell me, how is Jason these days?” He asked with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, subtly warning the two of them that he knew precisely who - or what, rather - they were. “You have five minutes,” He said flatly as he stood from his stool, brushing past them both before finishing the sentence quietly so that only ‘Duke’ and Wally would hear, “Graecus,” and led the way across the casino floor to a back reception room, shutting the door behind the three of them.

-

Following Bran through the casino, Percy considered giving up the act but thought better of it. “I actually changed my own name, I used to be called William Hernandez, not exactly the most exciting name. Not quite like Duke Chadinson.” Smirking through his drinking, he swallowed a mouthful of beer before raising an eyebrow and shrugging. “Jason’s doing as well as could be expected, all things considered of course,” he paused for a moment before stepping into a private room with Bran and Wally. “You’re not blind, you might be stupid but only time will tell,” he shrugged for a moment, “so you know that there is a number of curses affecting both Romans and Greeks. We’ve found a way to stop the curse, but we require certain components that we don’t have access to.” Pausing for another second he let that sink in. “We can’t keep things going for too much longer, we don’t think you can either.”

-

Wally sighed, giving Percy a quick look. Was that really the best name he could manage? Wally pursed his lips and held back the urge to slap the backside of Percy’s head. Espionage was not his thing. “Jason’s alive, which can’t be said for all of us,” Wally added, walking to the room with the other two men. Wally wasn’t sure if it part of who Bran was, but just looking at him made the blonde feel uneasy. It was like looking at a known murderer, which now Wally had to wonder, did this guy kill any Greeks? “You’re family I heard has a lot of highly priced jewelry, some magical, some not. Some of these items might help me,” he paused, “might help us all in ending this curse. We know that the Romans can’t be doing well, not based on what we’ve seen. So, I need to get into your house, see what you have that I can use, then we’ll be gone. I imagine that if the Roman’s haven’t fixed this by now, they can’t. So . . . that’s our proposal. You help us, we can end the curse.”

-

“Yes, I suppose doing as well as can be expected in the current circumstances is the best he can hope for as a traitor to the Legion and to Rome.” Bran said smoothly as he eyed the two now that they were alone in the small side room. Raising his wine to his lips, he took a slow sip as he considered both of them and their proposals. Eyeing ‘Duke’ for a few moments, he turned his gaze to Wally. “Your friend has quite the mouth.” He stated dryly. “It would be quite unfortunate if his propensity to running it would keep us from arriving at a deal.” He let the threat hang there for a few moments. “Rome is an eternal culture and society, Graecus.” He sneered at ‘Duke’ in response to the comment about the Romans being unable to keep things going. “My own family has held high rank and privilege in the Empire since the days of Caesar Augustus. You would do well to remember which civilization fell, and which endured.” He drained his glass of wine, and turned his attention fully to Wally and his proposal. “Well, Washington,” He said, deliberately getting the Greek’s name wrong, “What is in it for me if I lend you assistance? I am a Centurion of the Legion - consorting with a Graecus could earn me a charge of treason, no better than those so-called Praetors who await trial.” He examined the wine glass for a long moment. “Would it not just be better to let the affected… endure? Surely whatever caused this curse had its purpose.” He knew very well what had caused the curse - had been involved in unleashing it, and now stood here discussing ending it with fugitives from justice, terrorists, and Greeks.

-

Percy’s stomach boiled at Bran’s comments, but he had dealt with bullies before and he was more than certain that he would have to again. He wasn’t about to get riled up by some floppy haired puta who thought that they were still living in ancient times. “Yes well antiquated and inefficient institutions often have to be torn down by a popular revolution, I suppose it can’t be too much longer before it happens here. But for the moment we’ll have to keep with the oppressive drudgery, what is it that they say, when in Rome right?” he shrugged gently and sighed gently at the bravado of Bran. Every other bully acted like they had nothing to be afraid of too. “Was this before or after one of your Emperors appointed his horse to be his successor?” He gave Bran an amused smile before sighing. “You may not have to like us, in fact I’m certain you don’t. That’s fine. I couldn’t give a shit. What I do care about is the literal thousands of Greeks and Romans alike that are suffering through this.” A brainwave came to him and he reached into his pocket and flicked his phone onto record the rest of their conversation. “Many of the victims of the curse are suffering from things that will eventually kill them, we’re looking for a way to solve this.” He paused for a moment, he hadn’t come utterly unprepared. “We’re willing to pay you for your contribution of course,” he paused and smiled sweetly at Bran, “but I always thought that helping the Roman people was the duty of a Centurion, wouldn’t you say Bran?”

-

Wally kept exchanging glances between the two other men at the table. As both Percy and Bran talked, he worried that their deal might be slipping. It seemed like the son of Poseidon and son of Bacchus were trying to have a dick matching contest. “You must have people you care about, Bran. Have none of them been affected?” He looked sincere in his empathy and he hoped that got across to Bran. “I think we’re all okay with fighting each other fair and square, but this curse is going to destroy everything if left to continue. You may be doing fine now, but it won’t stay that way. And let’s be honest, if we had nothing that you need or want, you’d have already gotten the guards.” He nodded at Percy. “We can pay something worth your while.” He leaned back and put his hands on the table, cupped together. “Help us now, then you and I can tustle later on the battlefield.”

-

Bran fixed ‘Duke’ with a pointed look at his comment about popular revolutions and drudgery. Sneering slightly at the man, he shifted to lean back slightly to regard him suspiciously. “Who are you?” He asked simply. “I remember now – Watson over there is a Son of Hecate. A witch.” He nodded his head towards Wally. “You’re far too bold to be any run of the mill Demigod. Which means he is using his magic to hide your identity.” He challenged the man who had identified himself as ‘Duke.’ He missed the man’s hand vanishing into his pocket to start recording the conversation. “I care about the Romans. Of course I care about the Romans. You Greeks could be stacked like cordwood on the side of the road for all I care.” He gave a dismissive sniff, scrutinizing the pair of them as he was offered payment for his assistance. His gaze drifted between the pair of them. “I could just be humoring both of you before killing you both myself.” He pointed out to Wally, before giving a genuine, deep laugh at the mention of a payment worth his while. “I don’t need money, you stupid Greeks.” He smirked at the pair of them. “I want something a little more… tangible than gold.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I want prisoners – noted Greeks or traitors who have taken up arms with you – surrendered into my custody to be conveyed to the Senate for trial.” He was improvising on the spot – but if he secured the capture of traitors like Jason Grace and other Romans who had taken up arms alongside the Greeks, the Cult would emerge ahead in the calculus, even if their curse had backfired.  

-

It was an accident really. The laugh. But this situation was so absurd that Percy couldn’t help himself. It started out as a giggle, and it wasn’t long before he had to take a chair and sit in it as his body was wracked with hysterical laughter. It was almost a full minute before he was able to compose himself enough to speak. Wiping tears away from his eyes, Percy looked up at Bran and smiled amused. “That was a no if it wasn’t clear. We won’t be trading human lives just so that you can get another feather in your cap, the irony of course being that you’re putting your own people in even further jeopardy just so that you can advance your own career. I shudder to think what the senate would think of that.” He looked up at Bran for a moment before shrugging and standing. “Who I am is of little consequence as we will be leaving now, it is obvious you’re not willing to attempt to help your own people and I’ve got other options to explore.” He looked at Bran for a moment more before standing from the chair he’d sat in a moment ago. “As for attempting to kill us, Wally is the most talented battle magician I’ve seen in almost five years, I’m feeling pretty safe thanks.” He shrugged gently and looked at Bran, waiting for him to make the final offer. Maybe there wouldn’t be one at all. If that was the case then they’d think of something else.

-

Wally didn’t know whether to join in with Percy’s laughter, or . . . well, he didn’t really know how to react. Wally did smile though, because Percy wasn’t backing down at all, and he loved that. Hearing Percy compliment him in such a way really strengthened the demigod on the inside. He felt more powerful just by the other man saying it. “Look, Bran, giving ourselves up to you isn’t really an option.” He said it so smugly, which may have been a mistake, considering they needed Bran’s help. “Not to threaten you, but Duke is right. It wouldn’t take a lot of energy for me to turn half the people in here into guinea pigs. I for one wouldn’t mind becoming Circe 2.0 and turning this place into my own island. As quick as you can do whatever you can, I’m sure I’m just as fast.” He took a pause but held his hand up to let Bran know he wasn’t done. “You want a win here, I get that. It wouldn’t be much of a bargain if you didn’t get that. But your win is seeing everyone you care about be restored to their health.  Your win is New Rome being able to fight at a hundred-percent again. You have a chance here to really be a savior and help us remove these curses.” He took on a more sympathetic look, trying to show all his emotion in his eyes. “Come on, how much longer can we all hold out? Help us help you.”

-

Bran’s eyes narrowed a little as the one who had been pushing his patience the entire conversation started laughing at his demand. His eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the other man while he took a chair and wiped tears of laughter from his eyes while laughing hysterically, he folded his arms tightly over his chest, fixing the man with a pointed stare as he was told the answer to his demand was ‘no.’ “I feel like demanding the capture of traitors and rebels is hardly putting my own career before the people.” Bran shot back pointedly as the man stood up once again. Chewing his lower lip slightly, he shifted his gaze to Wally as the witch spoke – eyes narrowing a little more at the smug tone the witch was using. Still chewing at his lower lip, he drummed his fingers against his biceps in thought as Wally spoke. “Stop the raids targeting Roman Citizens, and I’ll help.” He said simply. “Restrict yourselves to operations against the Legion. The citizens of New Rome don’t need to be caught in the middle of all of this.”

-

Raising an eyebrow, Percy shrugged gently at Bran’s reply before speaking in turn. “If your motive were to assist your people then perhaps I would agree with you, however it seems apparent from your attitude that your motivation is not to assist your people but to further your own career.” He paused for a moment, it was hardly as if they were hurting the Roman Citizens, they never harmed anyone and they didn’t take prisoners. They simply had attempted to cut off their supplies. “Agreed,” he said without hesitation knowing that they were unlikely to fight the war in the same way if and when it were to restart from the semi break that it had taken during the duration of the curses, “we will stop the raids on Roman Citizens and focus on military operations as soon as we receive what we want.” He would keep the recording, blackmailing him later may be something that they were forced to do.”

-

“See,” Wally said between them, “that wasn’t so difficult, was it.” He stayed seated for a moment longer, laying both hands flat out on the table. “To get this over with, I’d like to go to your place tonight. I imagine you have a showcase of all your prized items?” He then stood up and fixed the collar around his neck. “If you have any doubts that we’ll only be there for the items we need, try and stuff those feelings down. We don’t wanna be in your home anymore than you want us there.”

-

Bran sneered slightly at ‘Duke.’ “You know nothing about my motivations, Graecus.” He snapped slightly before nodding his head lightly as he agreed to the demand. Shifting his gaze to Wally as he spoke again, Bran gave a slight huff. “Just because you don’t think of it as much doesn’t mean it is truly a little thing.” He pointed out as Wally stood. “You will not be alone with any of my artifacts. Either I or my security will be with you at all times in my home, and you will promptly return whatever you use.” He said flatly.

-

Percy raised an eyebrow and bobbed his head in agreement with Bran’s demands. He was tired of the dick measuring contest and he didn’t want to over stay their welcome. “We shall meet you at your estate,” he said before withdrawing from the room. He and Wally didn’t speak as they began the trek from the casino to the estate they had agreed to meet at. As they waited outside of the gates, a guard informed them that they would be received shortly. “This is going better than I’d hoped,” he admitted still disguised, “for a moment there I thought that he wouldn’t bend.” -

Wally nodded at Bran, pulling his hands back into his lap. “I would not expect it any other way, Bran.” Both he and Percy stood up and started to walk out. He looked over to the demigod and smiled a little. “We’re not done yet, Perce, but yeah . . . it’s not going bad at all. This guy doesn’t seem happy about it all though, look out for any tricks or traps.” As they were let into the manor, Wally was amazed. At first he’d been impressed by the outside of the place, but the inside was far more stunning. “Gods, this place is beautiful.” He stared in awe, eyes taking long gazes from the floor to the ceiling. “Alright,” he pointed to a few of the guards. “Let’s follow them.”

-

Bran watched the pair of them leave the room at the casino, glaring pointedly after the two Greeks before getting in touch with security at his estate, and informing them of the impending arrival. If the two visitors did anything beyond their welcome - if they made to go anywhere but the display rooms of artifacts, if they made to touch anything beyond what Wally (whom he called Warburton to his security) said they needed to lift the curse, they were both to be detained. Heaving a heavy sigh, he returned to the bar - switching to whisky now as he took a heavy drink before stepping back into the side room to contact the Cult to inform them what he had done - and to offer a defense for his actions: it would save the Romans affected by the curse, and it had given him some insight into the Greeks.

Percy had agreed to take several Greeks out on scavenging missions, if only in an effort to get Nico to come with him. He was growing more and more concerned as time passed. He hoped that he would be able to convince him to be honest with Will. But really, he wanted to talk to his younger friend. He wanted to ensure that he was surviving this war. He’d made Bianca a promise. Lifting the tent flap, he stepped into his friend’s tent and threw a flask full of coffee at him. “Get up sleepy head,” he said without really looking, his eyes not fully acclimatized to the darkness.

Honestly, Nico wondered how he’d let himself get talked into a scavenging mission, of all things. Animals weren’t particularly fond of him - Blackjack the Pegasus had always insisted he smelled like death, and Nico was relatively sure that if Pegasi were antsy about being near him, actual animals would be even worse. It wasn’t like he was about to head to a zoo and listen to everything scream to find out, but he had his suppositions. Nonetheless, Percy had insisted, and Nico had agreed. Though he hadn’t expected that part of the deal would be to have a full flask of coffee thrown to land on his chest while he slept. Nico’s eyes shot open, his hand instantly fumbling for his sword before he realized two things: firstly, it was Percy at the entrance of the tent; and secondly his hand felt weird. Frowning slightly, he looked at Percy first. “Good morning to you, too.” He shot back a little darkly before turning his gaze to his hand, but the semidarkness of the tent didn’t allow him to see much.

Slipping out of the tent, Percy held the flap open for his friend. “Good morning Nico,” he beamed with an all but sing-song tone in his voice, reaching into his rucksack he pulled out two long subs that he had made and handed one to his younger friend, knowing that Nico wouldn’t normally bother with those most important meal of the day. “We’re going very soon, it is very important that you eat so that we have happy Nico and not the normal cranky Nico. These are relatively new Greeks and they don’t need to be dealing with you as well as trying to fight a war.” He smirked at his own joke, finally enjoying himself with Nico. It was nice that they were just friends again, rather than anything else.

The sing-song tone was a little much for Nico, especially when he had just been woken up by a flask full of liquid landing on his chest. Grumbling under his breath for a moment as Percy let the sunlight stream into the tent while rummaging for sandwiches, Nico shifted forward towards the flap of the tent, his hands emerging first to grip the mouth of the tent as he slowly crawled out. His hands, of course, were the first indication that something was wrong: the skin had seemingly melted away, allowing the exposed flesh beneath to be seen - looking a mottled, disturbing shade of purple as it was literally rotting away. Nico himself emerged from the tent a moment later, not having noticed his hands, to reveal a face looking hollow, almost shrunken - his eyes deep set into a face that seemed coated in bruises with stretched taut flesh which perfectly hugged the shape of his skull. “Thanks, Percy, I really needed to be reminded I scare people.” Nico responded a little dryly - not noticing as a hunk of his hair fell out onto the ground behind him as he stood up.

Looking at Nico in the full light, Percy immediately frowned. “Nico what the fuck?” he asked with a frown, “Hermano, you look like you went nine rounds with Mike Tyson and I mean that in the worst possible way.” He frowned and took Nico’s face in his hands, examining the bruising and even more hollow face. Nico had always been skinny, but he had taken on a deathly look that was even more terrifying. He looked even more unhealthy than before, if that were possible. “Did someone get in a fight with you?” he asked as he stowed their sandwiches away safely and looked at his friend. He didn’t look well enough to be going scavenging, especially not recently. “What the hell happened?”

Nico looked at Percy and his frown. “‘What the fuck’ what?” he asked with a note of irritation in his tone - because that was not how he was used to being greeted after waking up. At the mention of having gone nine rounds with Mike Tyson, Nico was sporting a frown of his own. “Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about - I went to sleep, woke up getting hit with coffee, the end.” He responded as Percy started touching his face, making Nico’s sunken eye twitch slightly. Something seemed to be rattling Percy, so that wasn’t a particularly good sign. Nico raised his hand to his face as Percy started putting their sandwiches away, and began gently feeling at his face. “If I knew what the hell happened, don’t you think I’d tell you?” Nico shot back with a note of annoyance in his voice. His face certainly felt wrong - in the center of his field of vision, he could see his nose looked darker and less … well… alive. “Where’s a mirror? Or a cell phone camera or something?” He asked a little more gruffly than he’d intended to.

Reaching into his back pocket. Percy pushed Nico backwards. “Stand still,” he ordered as he fumbled for the camera icon and quickly snapped a photo of his friend. Flicking through his apps to his photo storage he handed it to his friend and showed him what he meant. “I know that you like to take malnourished to a new level and that you’re not great for looking after yourself but this is a new low Nico. Even for you.” His friend looked out of sorts in more ways than he had noticed before. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t completely believe that Nico hadn’t had something to do with this, but he stopped himself from saying “what would Bianca think?” because he knew that wasn’t going to help. “Are you sure that you haven’t done anything, because, and I don’t mean this in a rude way, but you look pretty fucking awful.”

Nico stumbled a little as Percy pushed him back. Folding his arms over his chest, a bubble of anxiety swelling inside him, he watched as Percy dug out his phone and quickly took a picture of him. As Percy turned the phone and handed it to him, Nico took it gently - noticing the odd coloring of his hands as he did so. He blinked at the phone screen for a few moments, raising his left hand to feel his face once more. “And why,” He started slowly, “would I start myself decomposing, Percy?” He asked - his voice a little strained as he gingerly felt his nose - which was much smaller than it had been when he had looked healthier. “That’s not even one of my powers.” He chewed at his lip for a moment, handing Percy’s phone back to him as he took a few shaky breaths in. “This isn’t me.” He informed his friend. “This - I don’t even know what the fuck this is, but it isn’t me.” He looked down at his hands, flexing them anxiously as the skin darkened on them once more, a bit of flesh on his thumb sloughing off revealing the bone of the first finger joint beneath. When he looked back up at Percy, despite his relatively neutral expression, his sunken brown eyes were filled with alarm and fear.

Frowning, Percy slipped his phone into his back pocket, but not before sending Annabeth a text explaining the situation and asking for her advice. If anyone was smart enough, wise enough or well read enough to know exactly who it was or what it was that could be causing it then it would be his wife. “Okay, okay, okay.” He frowned. “I get it, this isn’t something that you would do to yourself and even if it was then why would you want to do it.” He was talking out loud, his voice slightly louder than normal. “This has to be the Romans,” he said with a frown as he looked around him, “or one of the Gods? Have you done anything to upset your dad or your stepmom recently?” he asked with a frown, they would fix this together. They had to.

Nico shifted on his feet, anxiously drumming his fingers against the legs of his black jeans, nervousness making it almost impossible for him to stand still as Percy texted someone - no doubt Annabeth - before trying to process through it himself. “Contrary to popular opinion, I only feel like I’m dying some days, I never said anything about wanting to look like I was already dead.” He snarkily commented as Percy finally acceded that this wasn’t something Nico had done to himself. And then when Percy mentioned the Romans, Nico felt his stomach flop slightly. “How would they even know I’m back?” He asked anxiously. The thought that the Gods were behind this didn’t make sense to Nico - his father wasn’t the type for a slow-burn curse like this, and it was entirely antithetical to Persephone to do this. Dandelions and other plants, yes. Not decaying away while being alive. “Dad didn’t want me to leave to come back here, but I don’t think that was enough to cause me to rot away like a corpse.” He answered Percy’s question. This time, the hunk of flesh that fell was his nose - leaving a gaping black hole in the middle of his face as more hair fell from his head.

Well the sarcasm and somewhat dark humour were at least good signs that Nico wasn’t entirely all gone yet. Besides, he was one of the most powerful demigods in existence, if anyone could survive this it was his cousin. Percy nodded and smirked. “I was about to let you know that there was some bad news on that front, with all the black you wear, many people have believed you to be dead and attending your own funeral, pretty much since you turned up at Camp. I would advise wearing an orange Camp Half Blood t-shirt, your counsellor one should do.” Turning his humour off for a moment, he frowned and nodded. “Good point, so we can’t blame our parents for this one and that doesn’t exactly leave us in an ideal state.” He scratched his beard and sighed. “Come on, I want to get you to a doctor, someone who can give you a look over and make sure that this isn’t an illness or a disease before we immediately jump to mythological conclusions.”

Nico’s eyes narrowed a little at Percy as his cousin started talking about how everyone had been mourning him for years and how he should wear orange to help reassure them he was alive. “Funnily enough,” He said quietly, “I don’t think I will take that advice.” It had been months of arguing and pressure from everyone before Nico had even conceded to wear a gray sweater that Will had bought him. Orange was still several bridges too far, Camp Half-Blood shirt or not. As Percy scratched somewhat anxiously at his beard, Nico kept drumming his fingers against his own thighs - trying to ignore the sensation of more flesh peeling away every few moments, revealing more bone beneath as his hands looked less and less alive. “Not Will.” Nico warned his cousin pointedly. “You’re not calling him for this. Or so help me, I’ll make sure you wish you looked like this.”

“For some reason I hadn’t expected you to take my ideas into account.” Percy frowned gently and nodded. He was doing everything that he could to clear his head. Trying to think clearly about what they could do to. “Will has as much as a right to know as you would if the situations were flipped, but it isn’t my place to be your relationship counsellor and I don’t think that either of you want that.” He paused for a moment. “So for that reason, and that reason alone I won’t say anything. But let’s be perfectly honest, you couldn’t make me wish I looked like a scrawny ghost boy for any reason.” He was about to lead Nico away when he heard a yelp from an adjacent tent and a cry for help. Rushing in, he looked at the Greek in the tent who’s hands had been replaced by tentacles. “Somehow, I get the idea this isn’t a localised problem.”

“Perhaps because I usually don’t listen to your ideas?” Nico offered simply to Percy, hopeful that his friend was at least managing to focus, because Nico was utterly distracted by the fact that he was literally falling apart before both of their eyes. “And if there’s nothing a doctor can do, do you want him to have to watch?” Nico shot back pointedly. “And I certainly could.” He huffed a little as Percy stated that nothing Nico could do would make the son of Poseidon wish he looked like Nico did. At the sound of the cry for help, Nico turned to look at the other tent as Percy ran in. Staying outside - lest his decomposing visage cause more fear than usual - Nico reached a couple of now mostly bony fingers to pull the collar of his shirt out to look down at his chest, confirming that the coloring of decomposition covered his body. That’s just great… “So it has to be the Romans.” Nico stated, irritation creeping into his voice.

“Even when they’re better for you and I am usually right 99% of the time,” Percy retorted with a laugh. He was trying to keep their interaction as light and airy as he possibly could, but the truth was that right now he couldn’t think of a situation like this within mythology or something that he had actually experienced and in this world that they lived in, that was something new and very scary. “I want him to sit and look after you, as he would want. He wouldn’t want you to have to deal with this on your own and if I know anything it is that there has been nothing and no one better for you then Will.” He was a literal ray of sunlight and had brightened all of their lives. “Please, you’re a small fish trying to be a big fish, like me.” He smirked and sighed gently. As Percy helped the poor soul who’s limbs had been replaced with tentacles from the tent and into the sunlight, he looked at Nico and sighed. “Perhaps, we can’t assume anything without more proof, but it seems like a safe bet.”

“That’s a bit generous to yourself.” Nico responded a little dryly to Percy’s claim he was right 99% of the time. He couldn’t help but take a moment to admire at least how fake-calm Percy was being, if nothing else. The green-eyed demigod was doing a remarkable job of keeping his composure and playing it cool. As Percy commented about Will keeping watch over Nico and how no one had been better for the Son of Hades, Nico had to almost physically stop himself from saying the name ‘Bianca,’ because digging that up again right now would do absolutely nothing to help the situation. Almost as if on cue, the wristwatch on his left wrist dropped off with a hunk of flesh - the leather sliding over Nico’s bony fingers as it impacted on the hard ground face-down, the impact knocking open the false back of the watch, revealing Bianca’s photograph inside - even if Nico hadn’t said her name, there she was - almost as if she’d responded to Percy herself. “Everything have to be fish with you?” Nico responded with a tiny hint of amusement in his voice at Percy’s smirk, watching as Percy pulled the tentacled Greek from their tent. “What else could it be?” He asked pointedly. “The Gods wouldn’t be firing this wildly. It has to be the Romans.”

“What can I say?” Percy replied with a smirk that danced its way across his jaw, “It is difficult being this humble when I’m so wonderful.” The teasing was all in good humour. It was one of the hallmarks of their relationship that had developed over the years. Percy mothered Nico terribly or at least he tried to. Nico made it difficult. Yet they always managed to have a healthy back and forth. Their reparte was something of its own class, or at least Percy thought so. Squatting down, Percy scooped up the watch moments after he had handed the poor tentacled person onto someone else. “Take him to the infirmary, I’ll help Nico.” He said as he closed the photo back inside of the watch and handed it back to Nico. “Everything in the world revolves around fish in one way or another, at least, that is what my dad seems to think.” He smirked and sighed sadly. “We’re not going to beat this or them with wild guesses, we need to be less reactive and more active and some of that comes in the form of being careful. But I have to say that it isn’t looking good for them.”

“Humble, yes.” Nico mumbled with a roll of his eyes in his sunken, corpse-like face. “That’s exactly what you are.” Before he could move to pick up his watch, Percy was stooping to pick it up. He watched as Percy sent their newly tentacled-friend off with another Greek back to the infirmary before handing the watch back to Nico. “Funny, my dad says something similar about death.” He responded dryly. “And I’m sure Jason would tell us Zeus thinks something similar about storms.” As Percy sighed, Nico found himself sighing slightly too. “Careful or not, you can’t tell me this isn’t very convenient for them.” He said a little dryly. “Unleash a swarm of curses against the Greeks: a very Roman strategy.”

“I’ve always been the most humble of all the children of the Big Three,” Percy continued unperturbed. “But I choose to think of it as a blessing and not a curse.” He smirked once more and tugged at his beard for the last time. “Come on, we need to get you to the infirmary too. I want someone who actually has some experience with this to give you a real experience with this,” though right now as he watched his friend slowly decompose he found it very unsurprising that there might not be a single person in this camp who had ever experienced anything like this before. “Convenient or not, we don’t know the full effects of this and we need to work out how to stop it. The longer we leave this the worst it gets.” Wrapping an arm round Nico he pulled him away from his tent. “Scavenging can wait.”

“I’m sure Thalia would agree with that absolutely.” Nico commented, his tone dry and sarcastic at Percy’s continued insistence that he was more humble than the other children of the Big Three. “Or Jason. Or Hazel. Maybe Tyson might agree with you, but he’s not the most impartial observer where you’re concerned.” Grimacing a little as he watched another clump of decayed flesh drop off his hands, he flexed his now wholly visible skeletal hands a little curiously, the middle and ring fingers of his right hand being pressed tightly together to keep the silver skull ring his father had given him in place on his bony fingers. “And where, precisely, do you propose to find someone with experience in a living person decomposing down to an ambulatory skeleton?” Nico asked, his eyebrows rising so far they were threatening to disappear into what remained of his hair. As Percy’s arm wrapped around him and the other demigod began to lead him back towards Camp, Nico stumbled a little at the sudden movement, still staying on his feet, but shooting Percy a look. “You’re lucky I’m in no fit state to tell you off for touching me.” Nico grumbled slightly.

“I forgot about Tyson, including Tyson I am definitely the SECOND most humble.” Percy corrected himself with a smirk before looking at Nico. He did his very best to keep the concern out of his emotions. After all Nico was the one who was going through this shit. Not him. He didn’t want to make it more unbearable than it was already for his friend. Biting his lip for a moment, he took a breath before replying. “Normally I would go to Hazel, but no one has seen her since they arrested Frank. So I plan on asking my friend Wally, he has enough experience with magic to tell whether this is a curse or a hex or a disease or something else entirely. Hopefully he will be the key to solving this, or at least one of them.” Pausing once more he looked at his feet nervously. This was somewhat out of his depth, but the evidence seemed to suggest that other people were being impacted. “You can pretend to be tough as much as you like Nico, but remember that               I saw the look of pure wonder in your eyes when you worked out what this world actually was. The tough guy shit won’t work for me.”

As they stole out of the city and into the waiting embrace of the shadows, Percy could only hope that they would be able to find Annabeth. Swallowing nervously he gripped Riptide as they skirted around the Camp and into the forests that stood along the edge of the valley that they were located within. Glancing at Lina and Jason, Percy paused by the edge of the tree line before they made their final approach. “Let’s go over the plan one more time,” he said nervously, there was no margin for error here, “we get past the walls with the help of Jason and his wind powers.” He checked his watch, two minutes to go, “the patrol changes in two minutes so we have to do it then to make it through the blindspot,” the three of them had spent hours and hours locked in a small room planning their entry. Lina had provided a lot of useful information, Percy just hoped that they hadn’t changed anything. “Once we’re inside the camp we make straight for the HQ and go to the prison cells.” There wasn’t really a plan beyond that. They kind of had to hope for the best and try not to wake up the entire Roman force.

It was high time they mounted a rescue mission for Annabeth, and Jason was thrilled to be a part of it. He nodded as Percy went over the plan one more time, looking at the watch on his wrist as he stretched and limbered up his powers. They’d gone over this no fewer than a hundred times until they were sure that they were ready for whatever got thrown at them but Jason had been on enough missions to know that whatever could go wrong, usually did. “I’m ready.” He started to form a small ball of air between his hands, letting it grow incrementally. When called upon he’d be able to expand it rapidly and sweep them all into the air in the tiny blindspot during patrol shift change, “if anyone tries to get between us and my sister-in-law they are going to be fiercely sorry.” Annabeth was coming home with them; even if Jason had to burn New Rome to the ground to ensure it.

Lina had to prove to herself that she was helping the Greeks and not just wasting their space by being there. Being included in the plan to rescue Annabeth gave her the opportunity to be helpful, they needed Annabeth back. It was too dangerous to have her in the jails any longer as well. Lina nodded, swallowing back any nerves she had,”I’m ready too.” She hoped, prayed, that no one stopped them. She didn’t want to see anyone she knew, she didn’t want to have to fight anyone she knew. “Let’s hope that no one even sees us for long enough that they have the chance to get in between her and us.” She had a fierce look of determination on her face,”We’re getting her back tonight.”

Nodding at the pair of them, Percy set off running towards the wall. He let Jason lead the way as he stirred up air and condensed it into a tight ball that he would use in an ingenious way, of that Percy was certain. Swallowing nervously, Percy felt his heart flutter nervously. He didn’t want to think about what could happen if this went wrong. Jason and he were the leadership of the Greek’s right now. But they couldn’t trust anyone else to do this. This was something that they were going to have to do themselves. As they reached the wall, their two minutes ended and Jason propelled them all through the air over the spikes of the palisade and gently landing on top of the wall. There shouldn’t be another guard patrol for two minutes. They had to move.

Keeping pace with Percy, Jason streamlined his thoughts to focus on making them fly and nothing else, “Stay close please. The smaller I have to make this the easier it is.” He judged their approach to the wall and twisted his hands, letting the orb he’d been carefully controlling spread and encompass them, lifting them into the air and setting them down on top of the wall. The minute he knew their feet were safely on the ground he let the orb go, steadying himself with a few deep breaths. “Alright. I didn’t smash us into a wall. Good start. 120 seconds on the clock we gotta move.” He focused his thoughts again, causing a small patch of air to coalesce under everyone’s feet, “i can keep this up while we’re running, but I gotta drop it if we get into combat. But this should help with the stealth aspect. It’ll keep us pretty close to silent as long as we don’t run into anything. Lead on, friends. I”m just here to fly us in and out and set people on fire with electricity!” he tried to keep his voice light but he knew exactly how much rested on this mission. If it failed, the Senate’s forces would have captured the entirety of the Greek leadership and would have the means for complete control. They could not afford to fail.

Flying through the air to get on top was a wall was something Lina had never done before. She could say, confidently, she did not like it. She let out a little puff of breath when they safely landed, her teeth gritting a little bit. She started to count down in her head, making sure she knew how much time they had left. She nodded, with a small smile,“We’re going to need to be very stealthy, so this helps a lot. It’s a great idea.” She wondered if she was ever going to get out of her habit of positive reinforcement. She took a deep breath before beginning to head towards HQ, attempting to watch out for any legionnaires that could see them. They couldn’t get spotted. “Let’s get there as quickly as we can.”

As they snuck through the night, Percy weaved through legion buildings; barracks, the stables and storage rooms whizzing by as they made their way towards the central building. The plan had been to go in through the back, and so Percy went for the delivery entrance, knowing that it would be lightly guarded at this time. Though it was difficult to be sure about this with everything that was going on. The Romans could’ve completely changed their system. They all knew it. Sneaking through he slipped behind the Camp HQ and moved towards the fire door at the back. Taking out a tool that a son of Hephaestus had given him, he watched the door pop out of the hinges of the frame and slipped silently into the Camp HQ. “Jason, you or Lina should lead the way, I don’t know where I’m going like you guys do. I didn’t spend as much time here.”

Jason managed to keep his laughter under control when Percy talked about how much time he’d spent in the Headquarters. Jason had practically lived in here before the Exile and even that seemed a lifetime ago as they snuck through the darkened hallways, “For how many nights I spent sleeping on the couch in my office I should know my way around here.” He breathed out, a hair below a whisper, praying they wouldn’t have to fight anyone in the building. There was no way they could have a quiet conflict without bringing everyone inside down on them and that would make it profoundly more difficult to get to Annabeth and back out again, “You know, back in my day, we would have just bribed Nico with McDonald’s to do this for us. That man’ll do anything for a large french fry.”

Lina let Jason led them through HQ, she was familiar with it, of course, but she had always spent more time with her cohort than in her office. She trusted that he knew exactly where to go, which was reassuring to her. “To be fair, I think anyone would do anything for those fries.” She didn’t even eat fast food, but she knew that those fries were tempting. She kept in pace with the other two, though it was a bit of adventure for her, considering she quite short compared to them. “What are we going to do about the guards around her?”

Pausing for a moment, Percy and the group crept through the silent halls of the HQ. Swallowing nervously, Percy watched as they made their way into a small control hub. They’d made their way down several flights of stairs and into the basement of their building and as he spotted two guards he realised that he would have to answer Lina’s question. “I’m sorry, but we really don’t have all that much of a choice, we’re going to have to kill them.” Turning to Jason, he pulled a sliver of water from the water stored in his backpack and hardened it into a long dart. “You take the one on the right and I will deal with the one on the left?” He didn’t even wait, knowing that his friend would do exactly what was needed.

Nodding tersely Jason readied himself, answering Lina’s question as he took a fighting stance. “We’re only here to rescue one person. Anyone who comes between her and us dies. Hopefully quickly, but the longer this war rages the more comfortable I find myself with the idea of torturing someone.” He saw Percy ready a lethal spike of ice and gathered some lightning around his fist, “You got it.” Staying low to the ground he dashed towards his assigned guard before punching him in the chest, and letting the electricity stored in and around his fist travel to the man’s heart; first stopping it, and then burning it to ash inside the man’s chest. As he pulled away there was a fist sized charred mark in the man’s armor. “Done.”

Lina stared mutely at the two of them for a few seconds, before opening her mouth to speak. “You know I know how to blind or bind people with spells? Send people into madness so they can’t even function for while.” A crease made its way between her eyebrows, as  she pointedly ignoring the bodies that had fallen at the hands of her allies. She knew that death came with war, she had killed people herself, but they could have asked. “Or even made an illusion so no one would see us walk by them?” That one was pushing what she could do; three people was a lot, moving made it even more difficult, and illusions weren’t her best subject, but they had had more options than killing. “We always have a choice,” She said a bit tensely as she started to walk in further, leaving the two others behind her. This wasn’t easy for her. She didn’t want to kill people who didn’t have to die.

Stepping into the control room, Percy headed over to the desk in search of a manifest of some kind so that they could begin to search for Lina. “A blinded or bound prisoner isn’t something that we can afford on top of this,” he replied with a shake of his head, “believe me I wish that there was another way,” he looked at the small hole in the back of the head of the body of the man he’d killed. It wasn’t something that he was really happy with doing, but it was necessary. He’d been separated from his wife for far too long. Pausing for a moment he begun rummaging through the desk in search of any clue for Annabeth’s whereabouts. “We have lots of belief in you, we know what you’re capable of, but we’re not acting rashly, if there were a better way then we would’ve gone with it, I promise.”

Stepping over the corpse he’d left on the floor Jason wiped human detritus from his fist. “Believe me we do know you can do that. And in times of espionage your skills will become incalculably important. But while this is a time for stealth, it isn’t one for overt kindness.” He stood watch by the door while Percy scoured the control room “This is a moment for a message. Any attempt to capture or imprison the Greek leadership will be met with a proportional amount of violence. This is war, and I’d really like this to be the last one I ever fight in so I am going to make it count.” He cocked an ear as he listened for anything that might interrupt them, “I hear someone upstairs but you’re good for the moment, P.” While he didn’t necessarily share his adopted brother’s belief that he wished there was another way, this wasn’t the time for his bloody rampage. They needed to get in and out swiftly.

Watching them with a grim expression, Lina couldn’t help but think that they were excusing their behavior. They wanted them to pay, she thought, make them suffer. It made sense to take out as many people as they could, they needed to weaken the Roman side of things. There should be other ways to doing it. She kept her thoughts to herself. War made people different. She had a feeling if one of her loved ones was in this prison she wouldn’t be thinking this way. That thought didn’t make her feel better. She cleared her throat,“If I were to be dealing with Annabeth, I would put her as deep and far in as I could. Solitary confinement… And I wouldn’t keep record of where she is. It would be too easy that way, since they know you’d be coming sooner or later.”

Nodding gently, Percy smiled at Lina. “That is some good thinking there,” he said, “lead the way, I’m assuming you’ll be more familiar than me.” He raised Riptide and pulled the doors closed. Locking them as best he could with funiture just in case. “I don’t know how long we’ve got,” he said with a stroke of his beard. In the months of the war he’d allowed it to grow in thick and bushy. “I can’t imagine that this will go undiscovered for too much longer, but we’ll have to risk it.” They had come this far. There was no turning back. It was now or never and he had to find Annabeth. His conscience couldn’t take another night without her by his side. “Let’s go,” he said, setting off towards a door.

Though it wasn’t strictly a moment for smiling, Jason couldn’t help but crack one, “If they’re smart it’s not us they should be worried about, but her uncovering all of their plans while they think she’s sitting good and captured.” He helped Percy barricade the door and nodded towards Lina, indicating that she should be the one to take the lead, “It won’t. We’ll be in the thick of it soon enough. I’d just like to have Annabeth broken out before the shit hits the fan too strongly.” He ran a hand over the blonde stubble on his jaw, unconsciously mimicking his best friend, “Let’s go indeed. Time to bring Annabeth home.”

“Was that a joke about me being in prison?” Lina asked Percy with a quirk of her lip, her expression amused. He was correct however, she knew more about the prison than most did. She had gotten familiar with it by the time she had been arrested, she had figured shed end up there sooner or later. She watched them with a little smile. “You’re at the wrong door. It’s this one,” She pointed with an amused look. She walked towards the door, pulling it open as quietly as she could,“I imagine the guards get more dense as we go in. She’s a rather… High profile prisoner.”

“It could’ve been an orange is the new black joke, so count yourself lucky.” Sighing, Percy took his hand from the door handle and turned to head back towards Lina and Jason. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he shook his head and forced himself to focus. He couldn’t mess this up. “The number of guards they have aren’t going to give them any help,” he said confidently as they made their way deeper into the heart of the prison. He wondered how deeply this went. He’d never really given any thought to the New Roman prison system, after all there was virtually no visible crime, or there hadn’t been until recently. Was this their prison? He wasn’t sure but as they trekked further in it became clear that there were signs that directed them deeper.

The deeper they went into the tunnels the less Jason felt the need to contribute anything to the conversation. He’d known, in some small way, that there’d been a place for people to be kept under lock and key but he hadn’t expected it to be this vast. He tapped his fingers quietly against the warm gold of his spear, flipping it into its sword form as the tunnels got a little tighter. He followed Lina and Percy and looked around; when they won this war this would be something they’d change. There wouldn’t be any need for dark secret prisons. As he watched Percy rub his eyes he quickened his pace slightly to bring him level with his friend, squeezing his shoulder tightly and shooting him a commiserating and loving look. As hard as all of this had been on Jason, it must have been a hundred times harder on Percy. At least Jason was alone in all this, P had his wife to worry about.

There was a growing sense of despair growing in Lina’s chest. The last time she was here, she had witnessed Callum dying. She took a breath to steady herself, she had to focus on what she was here for. There was no room for her to think about this. Not when Annabeth was in this prison. She couldn’t think about it. “I feel like we’re coming close to the section she could be in.” She whispered as they walked. Finally, they come to a corner and Lina rounded it.

The moment Annabeth had been taken had been the moment she’d begun to plan her escape. Snatched from her wedding and her new husband, she’d been furious as she’d been thrown into a cell, kicking and yelling all the way until her imprisoners had simply opted to hit her over the head to knock her out, finally silencing her. Now...these few weeks later— her plan to escape had finally come to fruition, though after she’d managed to break out of her cell, and had her constant guard lured away she was left to trying to find the way out of the prison. After watching the guards she was certain she was heading the right direction, but as footsteps could be heard nearby, she tensed and readied herself for a confrontation. The skirmish would have to be quick and quiet should she want to avoid detection, so as the first footsteps began to round the corner— Annabeth was aiming to sweep the feet of whoever was coming out from underneath them from an iron bar she’d extricated from her cell.

Sensing the impending strike, Percy stepped around the corner ahead of Lina and as the iron bar lashed out he feel it scrape out one of his legs, sending him stumbling over into a wall. As his shoulder made a semi painful impact with the wall he couldn’t help yelping from the surprise of it all. What was even more surprising was to see a blonde girl on the other end of it. She looked thinner than he remembered. Her cheekbones sticking through her skin with high ridges, not to mention that there was a determined look in those all to familiar storm grey eyes. Dropping Riptide, he had barely suppressed his yelp when he pulled her into a tight bear hug, furiously holding his wife as close to him as he possibly could. “I’m so glad I finally found you,” he whispered quietly, “I’ve been so worried.”

A couple of things happened in quick succession, and unintentional spousal abuse aside, Annabeth’s return was the most important of them. “What did I fucking say?” Jason couldn’t help the broad smile that crept across his face, “I fucking told you she’d break out on her own when she was good and ready because she’s smarter than the rest of us rolled together.” He waited until Percy’s hug had finished before taking Annabeth’s Hand and squeezing it, brushing a kiss across her knuckles “welcome back, princess. We’ve missed you.” A quick examination of the situation brought more to his mind though, “if you’ve escaped that means they know you’re gone and probably looking for you. So we should probably get a move on and get the fuck out of here. I can probably take us airborne as soon as we get outside. As long as we stay real close to each other. I think a quick getaway should be the name of the game.”

Lina watched the reunion quietly, not knowing Annabeth well enough to really celebrate as the other two did. “I’m glad to see you out,” She told her quietly, keeping her watch on their surroundings. They didn’t need to get a surprise attack while they were hugging. “Let’s hope they haven’t found the bodies yet either, they’ll just add more fuel to this fire.” She glanced around, distaste for the prison coloring her features just the slightest bit,“And I doubt any of us want to be in here any longer, so we should try to get out of here as soon as we can.”

At first, Annabeth didn’t register who it was she’d hit with the bar until she heard a familiar voice crying out. She knew that yelp. Though she didn’t drop the bar from her hand, as instinct told her to never let go of a weapon, she did give a gasp of surprise as the revelation overcame her, and raw emotion swept through her as she threw her arms around her husband, planting a fierce kiss on him. She had little more to say than his name, as the shock of seeing him was too overwhelming. “Thank the gods you’re alright.” Perhaps it was strange coming from the one who had been locked up, but they were in a war. Then she was giving a laugh at Jason’s words, sending him a broad smile and realizing she wasn’t certain of the last true laugh she’d had. “And I’ve missed you, obviously. But you’re right, we need to get out of here. They didn’t see me escape and I haven’t heard any alarms yet but—” Just then a loud blaring filled the structure, as if the Fates couldn’t resist teasing Annabeth.

As she kissed him, Percy felt his heart flutter like it had the first time she had kissed him in the heart of Mt Etna. Lifting her into the air, he held her light frame (which seemed to have gotten lighter after her time in captivity) and basked in her golden presence for a second. “Of course I’m alright,” he replied, “you got yourself captured and someone had to be the responsible adult and keep the rest of alive. Fortunately Jason did that and I’ve been trying to help however I could.” Reaching over his back, he pulled his rucksack off and drew the drakon sword from the jagged sheath they’d strapped to the side, handing it to Annabeth he began to make his way back the way they’d came as the alarms blared. “It might not be us,” he said hopefully as they made their way up a flight of metal stairs, “maybe something else has happened and we can use this to escape?” However as he said that he knew it couldn’t be true, they weren’t that lucky.

“He’s been doing such a good job, too!” Jason chirped as he kept an eye peeled for guards, “He earned a bunch of good boy points while you were away.” When the alarms started to blare he couldn’t help but heave a sigh, “I just want one excursion with you two that doesn’t end with us running from people trying to imprison us. I know I’m the third wheel in this marriage but you don’t have to try to get me thrown in jail for it.” He rolled his eyes at Percy as they ran up the stairs, “alright. So. These, if I remember correctly, lead to the roof. I can try to fly us to freedom when we get there, if we wanna try that way. Percy, you’ll have to carry Annabeth, and Lina you’ll have to climb on my back so we occupy as little airspace as possible. But that’s certainly an option. Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?” He felt like he was going to need a ten hour nap after this.

Already, the presence of Annabeth’s two favorite people in the entire world were doing wonders for her, though she couldn’t banish these difficult times in the prison from her mind entirely, even with the two sun spots of Percy and Jason. Another laugh of joy fell from her as Percy spinned her, as she felt as if she’d gained back a part of herself and she returned his kiss eagerly before the alarm had gone off. Unfortunately, it meant that their reunion was short lived, all feelings of coming to life once more having to be put on hold in favor of escaping. But the feel of her sword in her hand was more than welcome, and just another thing that made her feel as if she were coming back to the world. If she had more energy and hadn’t been locked up for weeks, she might have made a joke about why Jason hadn’t offered Annabeth to carry Percy, but this wasn’t the time. “But then we wouldn’t be us,” she settled for saying with a small grin. “It sounds good enough to me, but if Percy and Lina could provide us with air cover from any archers as we fly away that’d be ideal.”

There was a bitter taste in Lina’s mouth watching the sweet reunion between Annabeth and the two men with them. She was with people who loved her. She didn’t want to be bitter, didn’t want to think of what she gave up for this war, but she couldn’t help but wonder, how would those she had to leave react to seeing her again. “I’m fine with being on your back. It shouldn’t be an issue.” Her jaw set as she thought of potential spells she could use for that. “I’m okay at manipulating the Mist, so I could potentially keep us from view, or at least make us less noticeable. Elemental spells are harder for me than other spells, I usually deal in emotional, but I could attempt to use some air manipulation to make it harder to hit us, if it came to that,”She bit the side of her cheek thinking,“Most spells require view of the person you’re using them against, so blinding isn’t really something I can do in the dark.”

Annabeth was back by his side and for Percy that is all that mattered. As he took the stairs three at a time, they eventually broke out onto a flat roof. Stepping through the door he held it open and ushered them all through after him. “Jason are you sure about this?” he asked his friend nervously, biting his lip slightly as he worried that their combined weight might well be too much for their friend to cope with. Swallowing nervously, he looked over the edge and saw a flurry of activity below them as lights flickered on and the Romans rushed towards the HQ. “Four people is a lot for you up carry and they’ll have the giant eagles out sooner rather than later. Are we sure there isn’t a better way?”

As they burst out onto the roof Jason started breathing heavily. He always found saturating his body with oxygen was conducive to controlling the air around him… at least until he hyperventilated so much he passed out, “I’m like… a solid 85% sure of it.” he muttered, judging the distance he’d have to fly them before they could land safely, “I’ve definitely flown further, but with fewer people, so I sort of feel like it all comes out in the wash? But you definitely can’t let them land a shot on me or we’re all going to fucking have a bunch of broken bones and probably some closed head injuries. But hey… I”m game.”

Perhaps Annabeth should have offered kinder words to Jason that those she was going to speak, but in their current situation, she knew he would still recognize the well-meaning tease behind them. “If you came to break me out only to drop me out of the sky, you’ll have another thing coming, Jason Grace,” she said before looping her arms around Percy’s neck, waiting for their lift off. The feel of Percy under her touch was something she wanted to revel in, having been denied of it for so long after near constant companionship, but there was no time for such luxuries still. She’d just had to make do with the knowledge that there would be time for it later. “I haven’t even had my honeymoon yet so you better not disappoint,” she said towards those that were responsible for shielding them from archers and the like. She’d do her best to block any that came within her reach

Rupturing a pipe that ran along the roof of the headquarters, Percy dragged the water towards them. He visualised exactly what he wanted to happen and wrapped the water around them in a tight shield that would protect them from any aggressive volleys and as Annabeth stepped into his arms once more he was forced to hoist the water into mid air with his mind, large blobs of water momentarily hovering in front of him as he held the water aloft. “Well, if we’re going to do it now then we’d better get started, the sooner we go the better,” already he could see people scrambling up the outside walls of the fortress, presumably to take positions of an offensive nature.

Lina took a deep breath, before climbing onto Jason’s back. This seemed so dangerous. She should have offered to figure out a way out on her own. This was risky. She could try to manipulate the mist around the water to make it darker, but they already knew they were there. It was better to take a more offensive measure and get ready to use some spells. “Just so you know I have to use my hands for spells, so if I let go of you with my hands, don’t get worried that I’m about to jump off or anything.”

Nodding tersely, Jason took several more deep breaths before turning and nodding at Percy, “Jump off a cliff with me?” Already knowing the answer he made sure Lina was sitting comfortably on his back before charging towards the edge of the roof. The more velocity he could gain on the ground the easier it would be to propel them through the air. Looking to make sure Percy was next to him he leaped off the edge, simultaneously expanding a bubble of low pressure air around the four of them. The exertion was unlike anything he’d had to do before and he could feel the strain in the back of his brain, slowly bleeding him dry. “Oh shit.” He muttered, guiding them as swiftly as he could towards the wall they’d be safe behind, “Definitely not opening an airline.”

“Only because you asked so nicely,” Percy plucked Annabeth off the roof and held her in his arms, smiling reassuringly at her he hurtled towards the edge and hurled himself off into the air. For a moment they tumbled and then Jason caught him, Percy saw the Romans take aim and threw his wall of water beneath them. Arrows rippled into the liquid, hanging there before tumbling back towards the ground but he knew they weren’t out of the woods yet. “Lina!” he shouted looking at Jason with concern, he could only imagine the strain placed on his shoulders, “see if you can do anything to keep them busy.” Willing the clouds around him to drop, Percy grasped the water in them and dropped it below them to give them a bit of cloud cover. Looking at Annabeth only steeled his resolve to get them out of this safe.

The effort he was having to exert into making sure they didn’t crash into a building or the ground was unlike anything Jason had ever experienced before. He could feel the oxygen being drawn from his body, his lungs, his blood as he kept them aloft and he knew they wouldn’t make it over the wall. “Have to land on top.” He gasped out, blackness closing in around his eyes. “Can’t keep afloat.” He landed on the rough stone, gasping for air as spots floated in front of his eyes, feeling the stone ground him in reality. “I’m sorry. I really tried. I just couldn’t keep going.” Several things then happened in quick succession. There was the twang of an arrow, he noticed the small explosive attached to the arrowhead that landed next to him, and then there was sound and fire and pain. He pushed Lina fully behind him before he felt the shrapnel impact his body, and in the next moment felt the most uncomfortable sensation of something entering his eye socket “oh fuck” was the only set of words he could manage before he was blinded by both blood and whatever had entered his left eye socket. “I can feel it grating against my fucking skull!!!” This was rapidly turning from bad to even worse. “Get down get down the wall I can hold them I think” he brought up a wall of wind and shoved it towards the Romans, trying to wipe the blood from his eye. “Percy” he whispered, knowing Percy would be the last to escape, “Percy I can’t see.”

Gods what the fuck was happening. Lina hadn’t imagined things would go this poorly this quickly. She started to breath quickly trying to figure out exactly what to do. Fire… Fire would be good, people would panic because of what happened to the Senate. The city was basically off limits for people, so she imagined that with the amount of people in the area, a fire would be a huge concern. A magical fire even more so. Jason, Annabeth, and Percy were not people who could die or get captured again. They were the biggest part of this whole thing for the Greeks. Their people needed their leaders. Taking a deep breath, she whipped around to them. “I can probably light some of the buildings on fire. I have to be here to do it though. You all can’t be here. Your people need you to get back to the camp, okay? I can figure out my own way back, if I have to. It’ll hopefully be enough to distract them for a while, so you can get out of here.” She could figure a way out and if she couldn’t at least she’d be doing something for them.

The Romans were swarming out of Camp after them, Percy could see torches both electrical and flame flickering to life in the darkness as they made their way towards them. Pulling nectar out of one of the rucksacks that they’d brought he unscrewed the cap from the flask and pinned Jason down. “I’m sorry hermano but this is going to hurt,” he clenched his teeth and poured the nectar over the wound which steamed gently as the flesh reacted to the godly liquid. “Lina, I appreciate the suggestion, but I’d rather not set anything on fire if we can help it. Here is the plan. Annabeth, you take Jason and you go ahead of us, Lina and I will follow along and delay them as much as we can. But we’re not going to take any stupid risks if we can help it. We’re just doing enough to get us to the Lake District.” Standing, he pulled Jason to his feet and passed him his spear. “Use this as a walking stick, we need to go. Straight away. Now.”

Annabeth had cried out when Jason was hit, her stomach plummeting some degrees as she instantly scrambled to try and get to him. Thankfully, Doctor Percy was on the scene— but she could tell that the wound wasn’t one that would be easy to rectify. If they wanted a better chance of saving Jason’s eyesight, they had to get him to a child of Apollo or doctor fast. She was also thankful that her husband had shot down Lina’s idea, as she’d been just about to do that same thing. Perhaps it wasn’t the best that Annabeth should lead Jason to safety, as she wasn’t all too familiar with the current theaters of war and whose territory was who after being imprisoned, but his words of the Lake District made it easy enough to guess that they had taken refuge in the underwater training facility. A moment later, Annabeth was looping Jason’s arm around her shoulders, and hefting some of his weight onto herself as she began the process of helping him to safety. “Of course you had to go and get shot in the eye,” she tried to joke, though there was an obvious strain of worry in her voice. “You just couldn’t resist stealing my thunder.” The pun was intended, trying to distract whatever pain Jason might be feeling as she pushed onwards.

The flame of the nectar on his skin was very nearly enough to knock Jason out of any semblance of consciousness “son of a bitch.” He grit out between his teeth as the bleeding slowed somewhat. Leaning on the spear that Percy handed him he attempted to wipe blood away from his one good eye “if you aren’t five minutes behind us, eye or no eye I’m coming back for you. I’m not leaving anymore people behind.” Jason slung his arm over her shoulder and they started moving as quickly as they could in the direction of safety. “Annabeth.” He managed to grit out, every movement stretching at the myriad cuts on his face and chest, “I have what feels like roughly a five inch shard of stone in my fucking eye socket… and your shitty thunder pun was more painful than that.” He squeezed her shoulder, “Thank the Gods you’re back. We couldn’t live without you any longer.”

Lina almost rolled her eyes, because really she should have seen everyone telling her no to that plan. She resisted the urge to grumble about it, because even if it was half baked, at least it would have helped everyone else get out. “I could make an illusion, doesn’t hurt anyone, but it’ll distract a few?” Then she paused,“Can you make fog, Percy? Like heavy can’t see ten feet in front of you fog. If you can do that, I can make it seem like we’re going in a different direction. Or at least they’ll lose us in the fog.” It was the only thing she could really come up with at this point, her brain working slower than she really wanted it to. It was a bit frustrating to Lina, her powers were better at one to one, and she hadn’t really discovered that at this scale until now.

Frowning gently, Percy ran his hand over his facial hair for a moment before shrugging. “There is a lot of water in the air all the time and I can at least try,” he had to admit that he wasn’t really sure what he was doing but right now he was desperate. They had to get out of here so that Jason could see a doctor, he’d seen the wound to the eye and he knew that it wasn’t good. The longer that they were out here the more dangerous it would be for all of them, and he too didn’t want to have to leave anyone behind. “You’re being paranoid,” he replied with a false laugh, it felt hollow but he had to keep morale up or at least try to. “I don’t know how well this is working,” Percy said as the air in front of them misted up slightly, a gentle fog beginning to grow, but it was hardly anything thick. “I don’t know if this is working,” he grunted as he spotted the first Romans in the distance, “whatever you’re planning on doing I’d do it now.” He strained with all his will, doing everything he could to blanket them in a thick mist.

Lina was being paranoid, but she was was fine being called out for it. She would rather not take any chances on them being followed. “This will help at least make it more realistic,” She said, knowing that illusions at this level tended to not match up as well to the real versions as less grand attempts did. Her hands began moving in a rapid movement, while she whispered under her breath. Suddenly there was two slightly see through mirror images of their group. “They’ll follow what we do, just in opposite directions. They won’t know exactly where we go, unless they all split up to do it.” She shrugged at Percy,“It’s better than nothing.” She already looked more tired, but she wasn’t slowing her pace. “Let’s go, we don’t need them to worry about us.” She said nodding in the direction of Jason and Annabeth, her mirror images doing the same. As they moved, the images branched away from them going out diagonally.

As they returned to the Greek sanctuary Jason sloughed his arm off from around Annabeth’s shoulder and leaned against a doorway, looking out into the he was sure magically growing fog. “Come on, P.” He whispered, wiping blood from his good eye. He could hear the sound of boots behind him, undoubtedly coming to whisk him into surgery, “Not until everyone’s back.” He snapped, holding up a bloody hand. He saw shapes in the fog, identifiable vaguely as his friends, and raised both his arms. Summoning any kind of wind was agony, but he made sure the gale came down behind them; blowing dust and debris in the eyes of anyone who was attempting pursuit “THIS REALLY FEELS LIKE MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES, PERCY.” He shouted above the howling winds, “I’M GONNA BLEED OUT IF YOU DON’T PUT SOME PEP IN THAT STEP”

Annabeth’s own lips were pursed as she waited for her husband to appear, and it had taken all her will power to insist that he retreat with her and Jason rather than trail behind. They’d be seperated for weeks, and immediately after finally reuniting they’d simply separated again. But she’d known it was their best bet of all getting out alive,especially after Jason had been so severely injured. After she barked at one of the scouts who’d come to see what commotion was approaching the Greek safehold to grab a medic for Jason’s eye, she turned her voice to join the son of Zeus’ calls into the wind. “If you don’t get back here this instant whole and alive, I’m divorcing you!”

“It’s the butterflies that are worst for me,” Wally says to a son of Aphrodite. The man next to him looks like he’s never been in a fight. He fits what might be a stereotypical mold for the son of the goddess of love. A lean build with perfectly chiseled features and clear skin. Wally can tell that no matter how long that helmet stays on for, when the guy takes it off his hair will have beared no damage. Wally easily notices how scared he looks though. A lot of people do, even those who have been in the past wars. “Every time I go in to fight I get nervous. It’s natural, ya know? Even if we’re meant to have that kinda nerve in our blood, I still get scared like hell. But, don’t worry, okay?” The other guy looks like he’s too frozen in place to even blink. “You’ll be okay.” Wally stares ahead as they approach their target, wondering how bad this fight will be, and if they’ll be able to return . . . The battle lasts for hours in Wally’s mind. He spends equal amounts of time fighting off Romans and hiding between wherever he can find to wait and restore his energy. This fight has gotten him into smaller areas than he thought possible. Crevices and in between structures where he’d be totally stuck if not for his powers. Wally has been letting out curses, hexes, spells of all kinds. In the beginning he was just trying to slow down the Romans. He’d make a few of their eyes so puffy they wouldn’t be able to see, or switch their legs with their arms. But as they got started to push back, the magic began getting darker. He felt, somehow, that it wasn’t really his decision to down a harsher path with his spells. Coming back out into the battle, Wally froze when a pissed off looking Roman, one who’d got him good last time, rounded the corner.

The battle was unexpected, Cat didn’t want to say that she saw it coming. She didn’t. It was a bold and brash attack and for that she gives credit to the Graeci, a strong plan of attack but they’re able to recover, and within three hours the Romans have ground back at least half of the territory that they lost. However, she knows that this attack comes from the fact that the Greeks were able to recover their key strategist and she can’t believe that they let Annabeth go. She holds a key point, surrounded by Romans who she has trained personally and a swell of pride at their ability to fight. She wonders if this is what being a parent is like. Leading her troops around a corner to set up a new position, she spots the blonde Greek that had attacked her convoy. “Shields,” she orders her Romans and they respond to her command with a shout of Latin and the clang of tall boards locking together. “Your move Graecus,” she spits in his direction.

“Eh’great,” he breathes out. Wally keep his sword sheathed and strapped to his waist. He can handle a one-on-one with a weapon, but this fight with five legionnaires and their pissed off centurion will be a lot more fair with some sorcery involved. Fearful of the power she sprung on him last time, Wally’s placed a charm over himself so that he doesn’t go mad like he did last time. Pulling out a glass orb from his pocket, he launches it at the two closest warriors. One is able to jump back and miss the blasts radius. The other isn’t so fortunate and the pig bombs hit takes. While the smoke clears, they hear what is the clattering of armor against the ground. As the legionnaires rush past their hammy companion, Wally puts out a volley of magical blast, keeping them just far enough away while he thinks of another quick attack. One of Cat’s soldiers gets close, and Wally raises a simple shield that evaporates the moment its forced upon. Wally catches the legionnaire off guard, a sneer across his face. Magic sweeps the man off his feet and carries him right into Wally, before being forced back and over a ledge, falling a dozen feet then landing into a shallow pool. Three more and a feline, he thinks. I got this. As the remaining trio of grunts form around him, Wally gathers the mist around his arms, shouts in ancient Greek and unleashes a quick surge of winds, knocking them all off their feet. “Is this all?” he asks her, feeling more confident than he probably should. “You can’t ruin my raid, shoot me a couple of times then send this weak ass pack of shitheads to me.”

-

Gritting her teeth, Cat had to admit that she was far from pleased to see some of her best soldiers get so easily dispatched by simple magic. Wally wasn’t skilled enough to do this without magic, or if he was he wasn’t bothering. She made a mental note to find someway to dispel magic, because she was sick of it being used as a trump card against her. Swallowing, she watched him deal with the three soldiers she had left before grunting. “Why do I have to do everything myself?” she asked before charging him. Springing over the prone form of some of her soldiers, she leapt towards Wally, jabbing her pilum at his eyes, hoping to move fast enough that he wouldn’t have a chance to use magic to defend himself.

-

Wally knew that he’d have to pull out some more talented tricks if he wanted to get Cat immobilized. Unfortunately for him, but good on her, she was really fast. Wally barely dodged the pointy end of her stick going into his eye. His hand flew up to grab at the edge and push it away while his face moved to the side in the opposite direction. He lifted his leg up and kicked her in the chest, knocking himself back since he wasn’t in a balancing stance. Wally ran through his choice of spells and settled on forming a bubble around her, something that would keep her locked up. As he shaped it, a Roman soldier came down from above, landing on his feet behind the blonde. Wally had to stop his casting to fight the costumed gladiator. Luck being in his favor this time around, a few more Greeks began piling into aid him. Wally and the Roman had fallen to the ground, wrestling. This guy seemed to know Wally’s M.O. as the man grabbed both of Wally’s hands and started to squeeze. Wally let out a vicious scream and let his eyes rake over the man, trying to find some sort of weakness. This guy wasn’t your average legionnaire. He had a modified armor, different from everybodies, even Cat’s. And there was a not-so-subtle insignia on his shoulder plates, made up of tallies that Wally could only assume was a body count. As the Greeks rounded them, Wally screamed for them to get him off of him.

-

Cat was knocked back for a moment before leaping back to her feet and charging forward, she drove her spear through the chest plate of a Greek before raising her shield to catch a crossbow bolt that had come streaking her way. Swallowing, she watched as a gladiator dealt with Wally, at least for the moment, giving her the time to duck and weave through the Greeks. Three of them surrounded her, but as a wild grin spread across her face they started to realise what their mistake was. Summoning her powers, she allowed blinding flashes of light to cause chaos and sow discord within their ranks. Dancing forward, she drove her spear through a stomach, before wrenching it free and slashing it across the throat of the poor bastard she’d just skewered. Drawing her pistol with her spear hand, she allowed the Pilum to clatter to the floor before firing off a single round that caught a Greek girl in the left eye socket. The back of her head exploded in brain matter and gore, coating the wall behind her before the Greek slumped forward. Glancing over to Wally, she saw him still occupied by her fellow Roman. Good, they’d gut him together. She just had to get rid of the last Greek.

-

“Frrru, fuck you.” Wally curled his lips in then spat out spit onto the man’s face. The strain his fingers were under was agonizing. This man had gone right for Wally’s most sensitive and vulnerable area, an area he hadn’t even really thought of protecting all that much. Wally was kicking for all his worth, trying to think of some charm or hex that could get him out of this. A helpless squeal came out when the man put more strength into his fists, about to put Wally out of commission without even doing much damage. His eyes panned over just at the wrong moment. The son of Hecate caught Cat in her moment of glory, killing a Greek soldier, like it was the easiest choice she had ever made. A silent ‘no’ fell from his lips. For a few moments as time slowed down, there was pain in him. He didn’t know who that Greek was, but a life had been taken. That pain warped into anger without much thought. Wally’s face turned back to the man above him, a fire in his eyes of the most royal color. “Bind.” He then felt the power move him up, pulling his back off the ground for a second. The pair then fell back to the floor. “Bind.” Mist pooled around them, as Cat advanced on the third Greek. The soldier meant to destroy Wally could feel himself becoming constricted. A sinister smiled started to appear on his face. “Bind.” The man began to choke, coughing up both mucus and saliva onto Wally’s face. Wally repeated the mantra, the soldiers grip weakening. Wally focused all his thought on the man’s throat. He saw in his mind the man’s innards twisting, contorting and wrapping around each other in ways that defied the greatest man’s logic. “Bind.” Wally spat at him again, spitting directly on his face as a mark of the final move to be made. The Roman soldier had let go of Wally’s hands. His own hands, which Wally could now see were the hands of a true killer, had wrapped around his throat, trying in some way to help him breathe. Wally watched as this victim of his magic became the first to die from it. His face was purple. His eyes, filled with tears and bloodshot, were pleading. The man’s throat constricted and Wally, not expecting it, heard from outside the soldiers bones cracking and breaking from inward. Wally didn’t take a lot of time to examine what he’d done, as he knew he still had Cat to deal with. As he turned around, he looked on at the dead Greeks. Never before had Wally felt such a level of hatred, such a passion in him. It scarred him, how good it felt. Wally looked down at his hands. They were sore, and his fingers were hard to move, but they weren’t broken. They were calloused, from some of the work he’d help do in the Greek hideout. They were dirty, and his nails could be better. But they weren’t dry with blood or have scars on them like the mans he had just killed. Wally looked up at Cat. “Hey, bitch, you still gotta kill me.”

-

The last thing that Cat needed or even wanted was to watch the hulking form of the gladiator die beneath some dark magic or some other Greek trick. It was almost too much for her to accept when she saw his body crumble and she heard the bones crack. Swallowing, she worriedly took a step back before feinting left and bringing her sword whipping out from her belt. The short imperial gold blade cut through the leather armour that the Greek wore with ease and she dispatched her final enemy. She knew that Wally wasn’t going to succumb to her powers twice, which meant that she was at a severe disadvantage. But she wouldn’t allow this undisciplined scum to beat her at her own game, she’d been training at war since she was almost knee height. Raising her blade in one hand, she discarded her shield and held her gun lazily in one hand. “Don’t worry,” she said with a grin as she wiped away blood that had sprayed her face, “I’ve got more than enough bullets for you and the rest of your friends too!” Smiling maniacally, she charged forward, her sword flashing in the dim light as she slashed at him.

-

Wally needed to conserve his energy. He’d brought along wedges of ambrosia and bottles of nectar, stuffed in the satchel around his waist. There were crystals that’d been charged by the sun, lined along his armor to give him energy. For the better part of a full hour of fighting, Wally had been doing good, but as the universe does so, the playing field was uneven. Cat wasn’t experienced against magic and Wally had more than enough to throw at her. It only made sense that he start to lose his stamina around the time she showed up. They were a balanced act. As she came at him with her weapon, Wally used magic to raise a simple shield, then lowered his other hand to shoot a blast of energy at her waist. The shield crumbled under her first strike, and Wally didn’t waste time in trying to get the weapon out of her hand.

-

Dodging away from the sudden blast of energy that Wally had sent her way, Cat took a short step backwards but she was too slow. The energy lanced through her body tingling before exploding into a lancing sensation that electricified her for the briefest second. Wiping away sweat, she sprung forward again before bringing the butt of her blade crunching down towards Wally’s forehead. If he was going to play dirty then she would too. But she was working with limited ammunition and especially in a time of war it was even more difficult to find ammo for her pistols than it had been before. The thought of Z flashed in her mind for the briefest second as she realised she was using the weapon he’d given her.

-

Having the blunt end of a weapon knocking against your cranium was an unwelcome action. Wally let out a disgruntled . . . sort’a cough. Wally fell onto his back, pushing his hands onto the ground to relieve his fall. He kicked at the front of her knee, probably not doing a lot of damage. With his hair in his face, his vision had become obscured. Wally snapped his fingers and made a rinsing, spinning motion with his hands. Wally was doing this all in such a fast motion that he couldn’t even stop himself when one Roman soldier came out of the blue and tried to finish what Cat began. The soldier, having put herself between Cat and Wally raised her spear. Wally’s magic acted just as this legionnaire created the divide. Her armor began to break off into dozens of pieces, falling to the ground and leaving her in only in the simplest of clothes. Wally, with his hair, his mind racing, and all the commotion didn’t even really recognize that this wasn’t Cat. He snapped his fingers and bellowed out a howl. The soldiers weapon shimmered for a moment then changed into a long piece of rope. With his final act, Wally wrapped the mist around the soldier. She was too stunned and unsure to do anything as the Greek wizard used a simple spell of telekinesis to push her over the edge, literally. The woman was knocked to the side and found herself falling three stories down to her death, with no armor or weapon to save her. Wally, seething with a newfound anger cried out again and pulled the mist around him then forced it away, sending Cat backwards. Wally then started to run in the opposite direction, not yet realizing what he’d just done.

-

“Who the hell are you?” The question came as a surprise to Brooks. The last time he had checked over his shoulder before plunging his hand into the reserves, he had been completely alone. He hadn’t gone completely ignorant of the fact that swinging in and back out unnoticed had been harder, if not almost impossible since getting to New Rome. Damn these demigods and their superior senses. Back in New York Brooks could have robbed everyone around him blind before a single person realized their wallet had been missing. He had planned on changing his ways once arriving. Finding a new path, leaving all the lying and thieving behind him, and all that jazz. But with the war breaking out and everything going to shit he had found it easier to survive by slipping back into the old patterns that he already knew so well. At least, that was until he had gotten caught. “I’m doing my damn job.” Brook’s tone changed immediately before standing up straight and confidently, making eye contact he was way too uncomfortable to make when he was actually being himself. “At least I was, until you interrupted.” He turned back and began digging through the food again, hoping that would be enough to get the man who had caught him to go away. It wasn’t. “And what exactly is your job again?” Brooks wish he knew more about this war so that he could make up a convincing lie. But in his moment of weakness, Brooks did what he did best. He grabbed a loaf of bread and ran for it.

Caspian was on patrol. When he wasn’t with Kol, or training, it was really the only other thing to do. He wanted to do more of course, but there wasn’t much to do. Percy’s superior organizational skills had this place running pretty smoothly. So when he heard the shouting from the food storage he had no choice to stop and inspect what or who was disturbing the peace. He stopped at the entrance and narrowed his eyes, trying to put a name to the face that he saw inside talking to a Greek guard. He was about to dismiss the situation when the one Caspian couldn’t recognize grabbed something from the store room and bolted. If they were underwater, he wouldn’t have got away. However, they were surrounded by air and a pesky thing called gravity existed. As he moved to chase after the boy, he tripped over his own legs. The guard that was inside came sprinting out and tripped after Caspian. With multiple grunts the two got to their feet as fast as possible and were after the thief. “Stop! That is not yours! Others need it more!” He called out, already running out of breath. Curse running.

Things had been going far from well. More injuries and more deaths meant that there was only so much that Percy could cope with in his usual rational (or as rational as he could manage) manner. Swallowing a gulp of water, he had rounded a corner to see a strange sight. Caspian and a few other Greeks giving chase to a very familiar figure that was hurtling right towards him. It took him a moment to place the face, after all there were so many people within this part of the city that he knew and that were under his care. However he had met this person a few months back, in New York. They’d been unaware of the truth about the demigod world, and after a monster attack Percy had been forced to intervene and establish what had really happened in the world so that he wouldn’t get eaten ignorant. But now, he was somewhat disheartened to see the chase that was going on. Scraping up a puddle, he littered the cobbled streets with water before causing it to freeze into a thin icy film which he hoped would slow the other demigod down enough for them to discuss what the hell was going on.

Brooks was so sure that he was in the clear until he felt his foot slip out from under him. He was outrunning those guards chasing after him, and as soon as he had got out of eyesight he knew he could slip into shadows and enjoy his lunch in peace. But somehow, even in April, patches of ice had somehow appeared along the road. Brooks had been running so fast that he had no time to stop or prepare himself for the fall. He barely stopped, just smacked his back against the ground and rolled. He kept the bread tucked to protect it from dirt. Protect his meal to the very end, he supposed. He knew he had no time to run at this point. He also had no idea what was going to happen to him. It was war time. Was stealing punishable by death? As a figure caught up to him, Brooks broke into tears and screamed out to whoever was coming up to him, “Stop! Wait please don’t kill me! I’ll give it back I swear!”

Spotting Percy and then the ice, Caspian began to slow down and melted the ice in front of him and the other guard. He watched as the thief slipped and hit the ground. Caspian wasn’t angry as per say, he was just upset that someone would be selfish enough to take for themselves when there were others that needed it more, especially since people risked their lives to obtain food and resources. Caspian had more of a stern look on his face, but as soon as the boy broke into tears, he was taken back. “Nobody is going to kill you. I just want the food back.” He looked over to Percy who was the one who truly apprehended the thief. He hoped that his uncle hadn’t seen him stumble and cause the other guard to fall. “What do we do here Percy?”

Raising an eyebrow at the situation, Percy took a look at both Caspian and then Brooks. As he fully realised exactly who the other was, he had to admit that he felt somewhat disappointed that this was happening. “What exactly has happened?” he asked with a frown, concern furrowing his brow gently as he couldn’t imagine that this would be good for morale. Things couldn’t get much worse though. Situations like this would almost certainly turn worse if they were left to rot and he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks if he could help it.

For whatever reason, crying in front of the dude who had saved his life and introduced him to this entire world just seemed wrong. Brooks cut the act and wiped away the forced tears. “Uh- Hey Percy. Long time no see.” The two barely knew each other, and yet Percy was the closest thing Brooks had had to a real friend in what felt like years. Realistically, it was probably much longer. And all because Percy had saved him from that monster and then told him about demigods. It felt like forever ago. He looked at the kid next to Percy, definitely not the best way to start off friendships. Or any type of relationship.”Sorry” He held his arm out towards them, loaf of bread in hand and ready to surrender, “So, I get this probably looks bad.”

The guard explained how he had noticed Brooks suspicious behaviour and interrogated him and Caspian confirmed his story. “Yes, and then he made a run for it and he slipped passed both of us and that is where you stepped in.” He pointed at Percy whilst saying the last part. Caspian then reached out and took the break from the boy and then passed it to the guard he started heading back to the storage area. “I just do not understand why you would want to steal it. You could have just requested for an extra loaf.” Caspian had no idea who this man was, but Percy seemed to recognize him and Caspian was unaware what the procedures for this would be.

Rubbing his eyebrows exhaustedly, Percy sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t really decide what they were going to do with this situation. Taking the loaf of bread, Percy frowned as he looked at it in his hands. Swallowing he bit his lip and glanced from Brooks to Caspian. “You can go,” he said to the other Greeks stood around before handing them the loaf so they could return it to the stores, “Brooks, Caspian, follow me.” Caspian had just been doing his job and he’d done it well enough, at least all things considered. “Brooks, I know you’re brand new to this world, so we’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you get caught stealing again we’ll be left without any choice but to take action. “We’re all Greek here, there are some Romans too and we’re being forced to fight for our survival. None of us want to fight, but the only way we’ll make it is together.” He looked at Brooks. “Caspian makes a good point, why did you not just ask for extra food if you needed it?”

Brooks breathed a sigh of relief. Of all the things Percy had just said, ‘benefit of the doubt’ was the phrase that stuck with him the most. It was a sort of bittersweet statement with a mixture of meaning. On one hand, Brooks was off the hook. On the other hand, Brooks felt like he was a child being scolded by his mom. She wasn’t angry, just disappointed. It somehow made Brooks feel even worse. Maybe he would have been better off if Percy or the other kid, Caspian, had just punched him in the face. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He repeated again and again. He couldn’t tell if he was even acting anymore or not. “I’m not used to being the kid who gets to just ask for more food. That’s not how it worked in New York.” His eyes darted to the ground as he tried to find the right words to say. His stomach felt like it was free falling and he hated that feeling. “I guess- I guess I felt bad. It didn’t seem right to ask for more food when I’m not doing anything around here to earn it. The logic is twisted I know.”

Caspian followed, listening to conversation. He didn’t really have much to add. He had never had to live off the streets, he had always had some kind of family, and with the Nereids way of life being so interconnected, nobody went without food or shelter. Kolby had told him all about it and now it being brought up again, he couldn’t help but feel bad for the kid. “In Atlantis, if a thief or scoundrel was caught, they were given three options. One, leave Atlantis and never return. Two, serve out a sentence or three, try out for the Atlantean guard, and if fit enough, serve the guard.” He was talking to Percy more than anyone else. “Perhaps Brooks could join the guards here. He would learn our ways, learn discipline,” he turned to Brooks before adding the last part, “And you will be doing something, so you would not feel bad for asking.”

Percy listened to the two responses carefully. Taking a moment, he took a long breath and scratched the beard that he had grown in the past few months since the war had broken out. “Well we’re not going to exile you, and I think that sentencing you isn’t going to be feasible or useful.” He chewed his lip thoughtfully. “I don’t want to put you on the front lines and force you to fight when you’re not ready, you’re just going to die.” He scratched his chin before continuing. “But I think that joining in on missions and running supplies might fit into your particular skill set and it’ll give you the chance to make a decision about whether or not you want to join in the fight. Either way, it is time that we outfitted you properly, we can’t expect you to act like a Greek if we don’t treat you like one.”

Act like a Greek. It was strange but those words were actually uplifting to Brooks. It had been forever since he felt truly part of something. Even longer since he had been part of something that he actually wanted to be a part of. He still hadn’t decided whether or not this was something that he wanted to be a part of but he wasn’t going to figure that out by sneaking in and out of camp and swiping bread from the supplies. It would be a nice change of pace for Brooks to actually earn the food he ate. Brooks held his arms up in surrender, “I’m in. No more stealing and no more running, promise. I can help.” He cautiously took a few steps forward hoping that neither one decided to throw a punch just to prove a point. “Thank you Percy. Seriously. And hi. I’m Brooks.” He held a hand out towards Caspian and put on his best performance smile. This was how normal people made friends right?

Caspian let out a small sigh. It released the tension in his body that had built up since the chase. It wasn’t like himself to be so uptight, but he guessed that it was just the war. “Caspian.” He said back with a smile. “If it makes you feel any better, I am not from around here either. I have been here longer, so I have learnt the ropes, but I am sure you will too.” He shook the others hand, still remembering the first time he shook someone's hand. “I can show you around now if Percy is fine with that?” He offered looking up at his uncle.

Biting his lip gently, Percy followed along with the conversation that was going on between the three of them. “You’re a child of Hermes, Brooks,” Percy pointed out remembering the caduceus that was present the moment that Percy found Brooks. It had floated above his head eerily and it had been Percy’s job to explain the situation to him. It still seemed ridiculous that Percy might well know Brooks’ own dad better than Hermes’ son. Yet the god’s decisions were their own and Percy wouldn’t take responsibility for it. “You’re welcome, we’ve got to stick together in this and we’ve got to make sure that everyone’s fine.” He paused for a second and shook his head. “If you don’t mind Cas, I’m going to tag along and make sure that Brooks settles in alright, I also want to make sure that he gets a weapon. So if you’ll follow me, that is what we’re going to do first. Unless you’ve got something better to fight with?” It was a genuine question. You never know which demigods were pre-armed.

Admittedly, Brooks understood that Hermes was not an inherently bad god. Yet somehow he thought that every time somebody asked Brooks about his heritage that they were judging him for being the son of the god of thieves. Maybe that was just Brooks own insecurities showing. Still, he couldn’t help but flinch whenever it was pointed out to him. “Lead the way.” Brooks followed closely behind the two not leaving much room as a sign that he wasn’t going to run away again. “I’ve never really used much of a weapon.” That wasn’t a lie. Brooks owned a pocket knife because it was helpful for lockpicking and cutting the plastic and zip ties off of things he had stolen from stores, but he had never been much of a fighter. In a battle between fight or flight, flight almost always won out in Brooklyn’s case. “Back on the streets I was really good at talking myself out of any danger. If not, I was usually able to outrun anybody chasing me.” He couldn’t confidently claim the case would be the same against any type of demigod. Up against them, things turned a lot more dangerous.

Caspian nodded and walked next to Brooks, interested in making new friends, especially ones that were around his age. “I use a trident, which is not always effective on land. If not, Percy and I are lucky to have the ability to control water. I suppose you can manipulate words in the same way.” Caspian wasn’t really sure what Brooks being a son of Hermes meant. He knew all about the god of course, but had no idea what his children were capable of. “At least you can run fast enough. I still trip over my own feet.” He added these comments in, not realizing that Brooks had no idea where Caspian was from and how much he had actually adapted. “The usual weapons though are daggers and swords, so maybe you should start with those? It depends if you like short or long range when it comes to fighting. Staying and fighting or running is something that you can learn whilst training. It comes with confidence.”

Leading the two of them through the Greek base, Percy brought them to a large shop that had once sold water sports equipment for people to use on the lake. Right now it was one of the many armouries that had sprung up across the district to equip the various Greeks in their fights against the Romans. “Well, since you’ve never used anything or fought really we’ll start with the basics, swords, spears and shields.” Biting his lip gently, Percy smiled brightly as he moved through the racks and pulled down a spear which he handed to Brooks, pulling down a sword as well he handed that to Brooks as well before having Caspian hold a shield. “I’m tempted to try something more unorthodox with you true, how do you feel about battle axes?” he asked curiously. It wasn’t that he was sure what weapon would suit Brooks, it was more that he wanted to try everything just to be sure.

Brooks could tell that the makeshift armory had not always been a location to pick up various tools used to kill people. If it had, New Rome had a lot more issues than Brooks had originally imagined. He listened as Caspian explained that he used a trident to fight, which seemed incredibly impressive. Brooks couldn’t imagine learning to use a weapon like that one. But he had picked up on the fact that Caspian had fallen behind while Brooks made off with the bread. He must be clumsy. Or- wait hadn’t he mentioned Atlantis? As in, the underwater city of legend? Jesus he had so much to learn. “Confidence. Right. Okay.” That was going to be a problem. Inside, Percy began explaining weapon training basics that no teenager or kid Percy’s age should have this much knowledge knowing. He handed a spear which Brooks took in one hand and then a sword that Brooks took in his free hand and attempted to mess around with both. He spun the sword around a couple of times like he had seen on television. Then he tried imagining what it would be like to carry the sword or spear around New York City. Trying to sneak through a crowd or get away from people through a narrow alley with a huge ass spear strapped to his back seemed impractical for Brooks. But this was not the streets of New York. That wasn’t even including the shield. “I could work with these I guess. Maybe.” Brute strength had never been Brooks’ expertise. At Percy’s words, Brooks eyed the axe nervously. “They look pretty… conspicuous. I have always been better at not standing out.” He changed his tone quickly, hoping not to annoy or anger Percy, “But I can try anything.”

Caspian watched as the other held the weapons. The boy didn’t seem comfortable with them but Caspian wasn’t about to say anything. He felt that it wasn’t really his place and watched curiously to see how this would turn out. At the mention of a word he didn’t understand, he lent towards Percy and gently asked, “Uh, what does con-spic-uous mean?” His english was decent considering he had recently learnt it, but his vocabulary wasn’t too great.

“Conspicuous is like when something is overly obvious,” Percy explained with a gentle smile before taking the weapons out of Brooks hands and putting them back on the rack. “None of those weapons are inconspicuous,” he replied with a laugh, “there are different options, we can give you daggers, they’re easy to hide on your person, but they’re hard to work with. You’ve got to get up close and personal, and that is where the real danger is. If you can’t see the whites in their eyes you don’t get the value from the weapon.” That was something that Annabeth had said to him before. Taking a pause he stroked his beard thoughtfully. “The other options are long ranged weapons, we’ve got custom firearms, crossbows, short and long bows, blow darts, throwing knives, axes and even some javelins. So ultimately the choice is yours.”

How did anyone go about choosing the weapon he might use to take someone’s life? Specifically, when one had never used a weapon before in his life. Every single one he eyed around the room had that sharp and dangerous look of finality to it. Any one of these weapons could kill a person and Brooks new that in war time, eventually it may come down to kill or be killed. The idea terrified him. “Well that’s a morbid saying.” Brooks gave a humorless chuckle and ran his fingers across the shelves as he listened to Percy describe the weapons. “Not going to lie to you, I have no idea where to even start with picking a weapon.” He figured carrying blow darts around in battle would cause someone to just laugh in his face before beheading him with a giant ass sword, but this was the demigod world. Who knew what all was going to happen in the field. “I guess I should try a mixture of both. Maybe if I had someone who could help me train with some? This is purely a guess, but I would say I’m going to be better with something small and hideable.”

Caspian nodded, “A knife or dagger would be the best option. I can help train you in fighting, but I cannot help train you with a dagger.” Caspian was a skilled fighter, he recalled the time he held his own against Percy and allowed it to fuel his confidence in future fights. He had been training all his life, how hard could it be to train someone else? As for the knife issue, Caspian preferred not to be so up close and personal, hence the use of a trident or his water abilities to push people away or strike them with icicles. “Maybe Percy can help you with weapons training? He seems to know what he is talking about when it comes to knifes.” Another name came to mind when it came to people who could train Brooks, but unfortunately she wasn’t around at the moment, and he wouldn't dare say her name in front of Percy, not now.

Swallowing gently, Percy thought about Annabeth. She was the obvious choice to train Brooks. One glance at Caspian told him the same thing. “We’ll all help,” he said with a shrug, “there is lots for you to learn and the more people helping you with that the better. If we allow you to fall behind on your training then it could be problematic, I’ll do my best to get you up to speed Brooks, but this is going to take hard work on both sides.” He thought about his first time fighting with a real weapon, it wasn’t that he’d been afraid, it was more that he’d been entirely terrified by everything that was going on. It’d taken him years to adjust to this world and he hoped that Brooks would manage to do just as well. “Here,” he said reaching down and pulling down a set of celestial bronze daggers with leaf shaped blades, “this will start you off for the moment. Do you have somewhere to sleep?”

“Thanks!” Maybe Brooks was making up for the former thieving by being obnoxiously enthusiastic and thankful, but he figured that was his best option here. These two obviously knew what they were doing and Brooks could use some allies like that. “I’ll accept help wherever I can get it. Seriously.” Percy expected something of Brooks, and Brooks would be damned if he was going to let Percy down after saving Brooks’ life. “I won’t slack off, promise. Scouts honor.” Then he honest to god saluted. What the hell was wrong with him? “Um, I can pretty much sleep anywhere.” He purposely avoided the question. It wasn’t hard to pick up on Brooks lack of a good family life, but he was still embarrassed to admit that he had been sleeping in alleyways and in the forest for as long as he could remember.

Caspian couldn’t help but laugh at the salute before moving his hand over his mouth in a blink of an eye and looking at the floor. Caspian had officially moved from soldier mode into casual mode. He cleared his throat, “Brooks can sleep with Kolby and I.” He offered, “I mean he could always stay in our room.” He was sure Kolby wouldn’t mind, or maybe he would. Caspian was just trying to be polite and make new friends. He was also pretty confident that Percy would assign Brooks his own room or perhaps he’d bunk with a few other young demigods. He had heard about how in Camp Half-Blood, demigods used to bunk together according to their godly heritage. Caspian would then sleep by himself, or maybe he’d share the Poseidon cabin? “I am just saying.” He finished off.