Chapter 9 || Percy

-4 YEARS LATER-

Percy walked through the halls of the water facility.

"Mr. Jackson, the country of Afghanistan needs clean water," a worker said with a clipboard. "Investigators said that the waters there aren't clean anymore."

"Poseidon and I are working together to create a device to clean up the waters." Distantly, Percy added to himself as he walked. "For now, tell the Clean Lives program to start sending in the water tanks for the people. The gadget is almost done."

"Copy that."

"Mr. Jackson, there's been a dispute about the amount of plastic bottles used. Gaea is trying to start a war to take the Olympians down right now."

"She's not wrong about the plastic, though," Percy frowned, "Let's start by recycling to see how that works. I'll talk to Jason about creating a filter to stop the pollution from reaching the air, and I'll talk to Hephaestus about creating another material that isn't plastic that is biodegradable."

"Copy that."

"Sir, Apollo just called and said that the sun has nothing to shield it from burning the forests."

"Turn on the clouds, but don't do too many. Let out some more mist into the atmosphere to balance out the heat," Percy responded.

"Right."

The sound of heels and shoes clacking against the tiles were everywhere. But what Percy learned from age 14 when he first started to take over the water facility to take some stress off his dad's back, is that people love to ask questions. When Percy finally made it out of the water facility, he sighed.

Why was he taking over the water facility? Why was he helping with the making of all these gadgets? In hopes that Poseidon would finally want to meet Percy again. Because Poseidon seemed to be too busy to even spare Percy a glance. He ground his teeth bitterly. He had left his mother alone. He'd left his three ex-best friends alone. All for a father who didn't even spare Percy a glance.

That's when his watch beeped and Percy remembered that Poseidon could read his thoughts if he was paying attention.

I'm sorry, Percy.

That's what the holographic message said.

It's okay, Dad. I just wish I could see you more.

Percy responded.

I know, me too. But rules are rules. It's to keep you safe.

Percy sighed, knowing Poseidon was right. So he nodded.

I know.

With that, Percy closed off his watch and walked over to his blue bulletproof car. He made sure his shades were on so no one could see his sea-green eyes as he drove through the streets of Manhattan back to the safe house. He sighed when he saw Thalia, Nico, and Annabeth sitting at the ice cream shop they used to go to all the time. But Percy couldn't go back.

Not if that meant hurting them.

It'd been years since Percy had seen them last. When he was twelve. But now, he wasn't going to turn back. He had Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, and Hazel. It was okay. His life was moved on from them.

But he couldn't move on from Annabeth, no matter how hard he tried.

What Percy did was push her out of his mind. He didn't think about her. Not one second of his life. He'd learned that spies and assassins didn't let emotions get the best of them. That was his mistake when Luke betrayed them. And it hurt.

"Let's get the meeting started!" he cheered when he came in.

Percy did a lot of quests after he successfully completed his first quest. And that gained him respect throughout the whole house. Taking a seat at the table, he took a sip of the blue soda in front of him. Chiron had placed the papers in his hands earlier that day and Percy placed them out for the rest of them to see.

"Okay, it looks like Mark, a close friend of Luke's, is holding his gang in Manhattan for the year."

Mark's gang was a deadly gang with much stealth. The Olympians hadn't managed to catch them as they were always jumping from state to state, going unnoticed. Thankfully for Percy, he'd caught Mark's gang walking in an alleyway, so he snapped a picture to confirm he wasn't seeing things. Hallucinations were powerful.

But he was right. They'd finally tracked Mark down after years.

"We have to detain them this time," Reyna said, looking at the picture, "Do you know how many Olympian children he's killed?"

"He's also on the assassin list for this year," Percy said, scanning through his.

"Again, I can't believe they're letting teenagers do this," Jason chuckled.

"So..." Percy bit his lip, "Mark obviously knows who we are and he knows we live in Manhattan."

"Yeah, it's no secret," Hazel rolled her eyes.

"But one thing I know about Mark is that he never goes anywhere but the alleyways. So, we're safe. But we do need to campout in the regular world for the year that he's there. We're also in need of info on the army and what they're planning to do next."

"Kronos and Gaea declared war," Clarisse scoffed, "Sure, we'll sit back and get no info. That's the whole reason why Kronos was able to break in four years ago! I say we attack."

"No, we're not gonna attack," Percy shook his head, "That'll be too risky. You need to think like the enemy to know what the enemy's gonna do. Right now, either Kronos and Gaea need to get a bigger army to take on the Navy, the Olympian Army, the Olympian spies, and the Olympians themselves, or they need to demolish any way we could get to the rest of the Olympian children."

"So?" Frank asked, "What can we do?"

"We have to play like they're gonna play. If they're gonna go try to kill these children, we have to be there to prevent them from thinking they have a chance."

"So we're gonna guard them? That's too suspicious," Hazel shook her head.

"To gather info, you need to be inconspicuous. Which is why we're gonna live like regular people for a year."

"You don't mean..." Jason's eyes widened.

"High school, baby. That's what Chiron suggested. A child who comes from a school called Goode High was actually murdered by Mark's gang a week ago. They suspect Olympian children might be there. If we go there, they'll back off."

"What makes you think that?" Clarisse asked.

"We're trained spies and assassins. We have a high chance of winning against them. They'd rather avoid us. Remember, fights mean death. They're working on raising the numbers. Not lowering them."

"So basically, telling them that we're there means they won't come?"

"Wherever we are is where they know not to attack. They also can't reveal themselves," Percy reminded the whole group.

"So we're spying for a year."

"Mark's a coward," Percy chuckled, "And he's also a little bit of a sucker when it comes to tricking him to get the information out. He'll leak all the information we need to know by the end of the year."

He leaned back against his chair, sipping more soda.

"But we can't all go. That'll be too much," Reyna said, "We could send Percy, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Piper, but the rest of us have to be on the lookout elsewhere."

"Just be around. Walk around the streets. Do your jobs. But be on the lookout for information. Always be on the lookout," Percy said.

"Okie dokie!" The Stoll's said at once.

"So we'll be walking around Manhattan retaining information?" Katie asked.

"We're spies. That's what we do. But our goal here is to gather information on Kronos and Gaia, but we also need to make sure we guard our own facilities and 'realms'. Mark's not here for nothing."

"Sounds like a plan," Reyna shrugged.

"Good," Percy sighed, "F**k, the water facility people love asking questions. I had a dude literally ask me what conditioner I use just because he ran out of questions!"

"I don't blame him," Piper ran a hand through his hair, "Your hair's like silk... Whoa... That's a lot silkier than I imagined it... GUYS LET'S ALL FEEL PERCY'S HEAD!"

"That sounds strange out of context," Percy chuckled.

After they were all done feeling his hair, they walked out of the meeting room.

"Are you gonna come to Goode?" he asked Clarisse, who was thinking.

"Well... I think it wouldn't hurt. I can. But if it's too suspicious, I'll leave."

"Thanks, 'Risse," Percy gave her a slight playful shove.

"Call me Clarisse, you nub," Clarisse gave him a shove in return.

Percy laughed. A pang of nostalgia hit him. Just like Thalia used to do.

"You busy?" he asked.

"No, why?" Clarisse frowned.

"I was thinking we could grab some Starbucks for the group and run back."

"Sounds good to me," Clarisse shrugged.

"Really?" Percy mocked her, "I thought you said you wouldn't be caught dead with me."

"That was the time when I hated your guts and tried to shove your ass down the toilet," Clarisse growled.

"And you don't hate my guts now?"

"Oh shut up you annoying little shit," Clarisse finally said when she'd had enough.

"Point for Percy," Percy grinned cheekily.

"Let's just go to Starbucks," Clarisse grumbled.

They both got in Percy's blue car, wearing matching black hoodies. The hoodies were just for blending in.

"Gods, change the song," Clarisse groaned.

"Make me," Percy smirked before sighing.

"Fine," he groaned.

Percy was already glad when he was thirteen, and he was a licensed spy and assassin, meaning he could be free into the world. After one long year of training. But he was even happier when he took his drivers test on his birthday. When they reached the Starbucks. Percy pulled his hood up, as did Clarisse. Her brown hair like a bush on either side of her neck.

"Jeez, did you brush your hair?" he scoffed.

"Do you know me at all? F**k no, you dumbass," Clarisse mimicked his scoff.

"You shut up," Percy rolled his eyes, reaching the barista. "Hey, can we get eight salted caramel iced mochas with one pink drink?" He remembered that Frank was lactose intolerant.

"Can I get a name for that?"

"Perseus."

Even if Percy hated using Perseus, he knew no one was called Percy in his town. It would be a bit suspicious if anyone was listening.

"That'll be 24.52, sir," the woman said as he handed her the credit card.

He shoved it back into his pocket and he froze when he saw three people in the cafe.

"Hello? Prissy, did you hear me?"

"Clarisse," Percy whispered, jerking his head in their direction.

"They're just random three teenagers... oh... Your old friends. Let's go say hi--"

"No," Percy grabbed her arm, yanking her back, "They're my ex-best friends. I don't wanna go anywhere near them."

Annabeth turned and he looked away.

"Shit," he cursed.

"Just look away and I'll face them. Your face won't be seen."

"Eight salted caramel mochas with a pink drink for Perseus?"

All three heads whipped around.

"Uh... shit," he sighed, "Clarisse, can you go up to get em?"

He felt all three gazes pointed right at them.

"F**king get them and get out," Clarisse muttered, getting the two trays.

She handed him one and they dashed out of the store. Leaping into the car, they sped away before Annabeth, Thalia, or Nico could check to see if it was them.

"That was close," he breathed.

"No shit, Sherlock," Clarisse scoffed. "Watch the road, Prissy."

"It's Percy."

"I call you what I wanna call you."

When they reached the house, they brought in the drinks.

"Cheers to our big mission for the war!" he laughed, handing out the drinks. "I know we'll win. We always do."

But did they, really?

___

"Hey," he said when Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, Clarisse, and Frank came into the Poseidon lounge. "You should probably get some sleep. School's gonna start in a week and we need a good sleep schedule or we'll be f**ked."

"A good sleep schedule? My ass," Leo rolled his eyes.

"I've never been to school," Jason gave a small scoff.

"Nervous?" Percy guessed, "I was too when I first stepped into that room in preschool."

"I hated school," Clarisse rolled her eyes, "It's so much learning."

"That's what a school is for," Frank stared at her, confused.

"I do me," Clarisse gave him that look. "Deal with it."

"How do we fit in if we haven't even gone to school for at least a couple years?" Piper asked, fingering the feather in her hair.

"You think we're gonna do homework?" Percy scoffed, "Just come home, ask some of the Athena kids to do it."

"They're gonna make us pay them, you do realize that, right?" Leo raised an eyebrow.

"That's why I have an endless credit card that my Uncle H gave me for my birthday. Hazel, tell your dad I said thank you."

"Uh... he just gave it to you because then he technically gave you money for your birthday every year."

"Either way, this is money."

"Whatever," Hazel chuckled.

"Goodnight," Percy yawned, "I'm gonna be at the gym all week. Gotta burn off all that cake I ate for my birthday last week."