Interlude 2: Deals with a Madman

Nico was outside St. Peter's Basilica trying to look inconspicuous in his brown bomber jacket and leaning in the shadows against a pillar in the courtyard. Around him were a mass of tourists taking photos and pointing animatedly at all the artistic statues of Heavenly figures. People were speaking all kinds of languages as he saw a British couple joke quietly together in English, saw a guided tour group of Japanese people eagerly taking photos with their cameras, and of course the regular Italian natives muttering expletives about annoying, uncultured visitors.

He himself rolled his eyes at the display and turned his attention to the steps of the Basilica. It had been over half an hour now since Connor and Travis Stoll had snuck into the building and, while he would never admit it to the others, he was starting to get anxious. The mission was supposed to be fairly easy. Get in, steal some special sword they had locked up, and get out. Or course there was bound to be security in place to prevent the swords theft and from what Nico understood this sword was supposed to be really important to the Angels, but Connor and Travis were sons of Hermes, the God of Thieves, and they were extremely talented at what they did.

Nico remembered hearing one story about how the two managed to steal two 80-inch TVs, Blu-ray players, Xbox One and PS4 consoles, along with hundreds of games, only to take one of the salesman's cars and drive it all to camp. Of course, Chiron made them return everything once he found out about it, but for a very brief moment in time the Stoll's were everyone's favorite people at camp.

That's not to mention the special ability that some Hermes Children seemed to possess that allowed them to bypass certain security features. Just take that traitor Luke Castellan for example. He used his special Hermes powers and managed to steal arguably one of the strongest weapons the world has ever seen. Connor and Travis also inherited that ability and they have had years to hone their skills.

Another ten minutes had passed and the sun was starting to go down. People were beginning to leave the courtyard and only a handful of tourists remained. If Connor and Travis didn't return soon then Nico was going to have no choice but to enter the Basilica and search for them himself.

Maybe the Angel's powers were interfering with Connor and Travis' own demigod abilities? The son of Hades mused to himself. He remembered how unusual and difficult it was to accurately use his own powers when he helped Percy take out that Fallen Angel whore and her gaggle of idiot servants. The Heavenly power of the Church was actively working against him though in the end he was able to overcome it.

Nico checked the watch he wore on his wrist again. Another two minutes had passed.

Dread started creeping through him as he prepared himself for the invasion.

That Fallen Angel Church was certainly a stronghold there in Kuoh but it wasn't nearly as powerful as this place was. Nico could practically feel the Heavenly power rolling off of St. Peter's Basilica and wrecking all kinds of havoc on his own abilities.

But this was partially why Connor and Travis were in charge of making this theft and not Nico. Annabeth had hypothesized that because of Hermes skillset as a god – Travelers, Thieves, Athletes, Trade and Merchants, Roads, etc. – then his children were also the least likely to be affected by Heavenly power. Her explanation was actually much more complicated than that and she did some kind of analysis comparing the power bases of demigods by using Nico's explanation of what happened in Kuoh as a threshold, but in short it boiled down to the fact that because Nico's power was so concentrated in one area – Death and Necromancy and Shadows – the Heavenly power had an easier time of focusing its hindering abilities on him. Conversely, because Connor and Travis had such a wide range of abilities and skills as sons of Hermes, Heavenly power would have to target more of them to stop their abilities from working effectively.

Of course, she could be wrong about it; nobody really knew what kind of effect the Christian Powers had on demigods yet, but she did seem pretty sure of herself. Enough anyway to convince the others this plan had the most success.

Another five minutes gone. Nico shuffled his feet back and forth a few times, refusing to take his eyes from the Basilica's entrance.

The daughter of Athena was actually with Hazel and two other sons of Mercury in England right now performing a similar heist on the Church of England, a separate Protestant branch of Christianity. Hazel's powers were actually geared more towards the geokinesis skillset of their father while he himself seemed to inherit more of the Necromancy and Umbrakinesis powers though both could use either abilities. Much like his own job, Hazel was supposed to get everyone back to camp after the theft was complete.

Nico checked his watch for a third time and looked specifically at the two smaller clock faces to the side of the main clock. The one on the left was set to time in the United Kingdom and was an hour behind his own current time. 4:47 pm his own watch read which meant it was 3:47 pm in the UK.

The face on the right however was ahead of his own. 6:47 pm it read. The time of Istanbul Turkey and where the third sword they were after today was supposed to reside.

That was where the last group of thieves were. A daughter of Mercury, supposedly the best thief in Camp Jupiter, and Jason along with Mrs. O'Leary as their transport. The second strongest base supposedly, after St. Peter's Basilica at least, and one of the heads of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The only reason the gods and demigods even knew to hit these targets was due to some mysterious source of information Athena refused to elaborate on. Whoever it was, Nico was supposed to meet back up with Annabeth and Jason later today after everything was completed and take them to Japan where they were going to hand off the weapons to somebody else and help kick-start this war.

It was probably somebody on the Fallen Angels side if snippets of overheard conversations were anything to go by. The son of Hades had accidentally overheard a discussion between Annabeth and her mother going into some detail about what her next part in this whole situation was going to be. And, to be honest, what he heard was definitely not what Annabeth wanted.

As was the case in recent weeks, Annabeth wanted to go to Japan and search for Percy. Nico still thought that was a terrible idea and fortunately Athena saw through her daughter's manipulations and prevented her from doing so. Unfortunately, she was required to go to Japan still in order to complete the hand off of the swords they were stealing as she was expected.

Alright, it's been too long now Nico thought. The courtyard was mostly barren at this point with only a few stragglers remaining. A few Vatican guards roamed the upper part of the Basilica but they stuck out like a sore thumb and could be easily avoided.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Nico began walking towards the entryway of the Basilica trying to look unsuspecting. He didn't really want to imagine what these Angels might do to him if they discovered he was here to rob them of a Treasure.

Nico might actually be able to use some influence with his father to help him out in the event he did get captured however. Hades was on ok terms with Heaven and of all the Christian forces he got along with them the most. It was almost as if he admired them a bit. Nico wasn't sure exactly the relationship his father had with Michael and the Angels but it was certainly better than the one he had with Fallen Angels and Devils.

"Nico" a voice quietly whispered to his right. The son of Hades practically froze midstep on the stairs when he heard the voice and relief washed over his body.

Without drawing attention to either himself or the mysterious voice, Nico casually turned towards the gates and tried to act as if the Basilica was closed. Not that hard to pull off considering it was supposed to be closing soon anyway. After looking like one of those "uncultured tourists" for a minute, Nico turned back around and headed straight for the shadows in the Square where he knew Connor and Travis would meet up with him.

He only had to wait for a few seconds before he felt the presence of the two sons of Hermes stroll up behind him, hiding next to a pillar. Nico could feel the power rolling off of them and knew they would only have a few minutes max before they were being hunted. That was if they weren't already being hunted.

"You took your damn time about it" Nico grumbled quietly as he leaned against the pillar. He didn't turn his head afraid that might draw too much attention to them but he let a little of his cold aura escape him to let the two idiots know of his displeasure with the situation. A few more seconds and he would have walked right into the Basilica and who knew what kind of problems that was going to make.

"Well we needed to find the right souvenir after all." Connor said smirking.

"We couldn't not come to Vatican City, perform one of the world's greatest heists, and not take a little something extra for our trouble, you know?" Travis added.

Nico squeezed his hands tight in a fist and felt a wave of fury wash over him.

Here he was, worrying about the mission and their potential capture, and they decided to take their sweet time because they wanted a trophy of their feat. He turned around to give them a piece of his mind when alarms suddenly started blaring out all around them. A massive barricade was quickly placed in front of the Square cutting off the exit way and sealing all remaining tourists inside the courtyard including the demigods.

Nico shot Connor and Travis his worst glare and the two boys had the audacity to give a cheeky grin though they looked extremely nervous.

"Schist" Nico muttered aloud. Already many of the Vatican guards were swarming the courtyard and separating many of the remaining people searching them for something.

"When we get back to Camp" Nico said addressing Connor and Travis, "I am going to beat you both so bad not even Hephaestus will envy your looks."

The two boys gulped at the threat obviously hoping Nico didn't make good on his promise.

"Alright," Nico said, "we need to get out of this courtyard as soon as possible. If we can get past the barricade I can Shadow Travel us back to Camp but right now the Heavenly Power is interfering too much to make a successful jump. If it was by myself, I could probably do it but if I try and drag you two along and whatever sword you managed to steal there's a good chance either somebody's going to lose a limb or we could end up in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I doubt either of you would like that now."

Connor winced at the prospect of losing a limb while Travis just nodded vigorously at not trying to swim the length of an Ocean.

Nico surveyed the Courtyard trying to find an escape route that would allow him to get everyone home safely. The gates at the front were a flimsy defense at best but the dozens of guards standing behind them were another matter entirely. Each were carrying a gun strapped over their chests but that wasn't the part that made Nico pause. No, what made him pause was the odd sword hilt sticking off their waists without an attached blade.

The son of Hades recalled his fight with that rogue exorcist in Kuoh Town and how he had seen something similar. A golden hilt that, when activated, sprung forth a blade of white light and could hold up against his own Stygian Iron sword. That guy wasn't the best fighter but he was clearly able to hold his own against Nico and Will which made the demigod a bit nervous. He was only one guy but there had to be easily three of four dozen of them now, each with their own hilt. That way was almost assuredly blocked to them.

The demigods hadn't been noticed yet but it was only a matter of time. The guards searching the tourists weren't exactly handling them with care although they weren't inherently invasive either. It seemed they were looking for a specific individual too as their searches of the children were quick and mostly a formality.

"We can go through there," Connor spoke up suddenly and pointed his hand at a smaller alleyway that only contained four guards preventing escape. It was fairly small but if they went single file they could hide in the shadows and hopefully take them down quickly.

Nico nodded his agreement and together the three boys slowly began backing away and turned towards the alleyway. Fortunately, the sun wasn't able to get into the alleyway much, casting shadows throughout the path. The son of Hades felt a sense of comfort at the prospect and quickly strode between the buildings with Connor and Travis right on his heels.

It wasn't hard to figure out what was happening as the four guards were talking quietly amongst themselves in Italian.

"Can you believe somebody actually thought they could break into the Vatican and get away with it" a balding guard said to his companions.

"Do we even know what they took?" the guard on the far left asked.

The one in the middle left shook his head while the one on the far right said, "Not a clue. Apparently, somebody thought they would desecrate one of the graves though."

Nico turned around to give Connor and Travis another look and saw both brothers go ashen white at his glance. They didn't know Italian so they had no idea what was being said but if Nico could put two and two together it didn't take a miracle to guess that the sword, they came for was probably not what set off the alarms.

Oh, they were definitely going to be suffering later on if it was their little trophy that set off this chain event.

Taking a deep breath, Nico calmed himself and eyed the four guards ahead of them. At a distance they seemed ready to fight and appeared to be no nonsense about letting anyone escape. However, now that they were closer, Nico knew he could overpower them quite easily. Their stances weren't as straight-backed as he assumed and these four seemed a bit on the older side. They were still fit as far as he could tell but age catches up to everyone and these four didn't have the benefit of demigod genes to make them stronger and faster than a regular mortal.

Nico stopped for a minute and pulled at the shadows creating a barrier in front of him and the sons of Hermes effectively making them invisible for the moment. He knew he could keep this up for a few minutes but this drew a good amount of his strength to effectively do and he still needed to Shadow Travel everyone away.

He gave Connor and Travis a quick hand wave and started walking forward again. He didn't need to turn to know that they followed in his footsteps.

The guards stood only a few feet in front of them now. It didn't seem as if they had noticed anything different about the alleyway yet but it was only a matter of time. Nico raised his hand again and indicated a punching motion to the two guards on the left for Connor and Travis. He felt one of their hands touch his shoulder and give a light squeeze in acknowledgment.

With Connor and Travis focused on the two to the left that only left the two guys on the right for Nico to handle. He would have to be especially quick considering there was two of them.

Taking one more deep breath, Nico held his hand up with all five of his fingers raised in a countdown. He pulled his thumb in and tensed his muscles. Next came the pinky and he could feel Connor and Travis tensing up behind him. Now, the ring finger and Nico felt his free hand itching for action. Then came the middle finger and with it one final breath.

Nico didn't even pull his pointer finger down instead bringing his whole hand forward and releasing his shadowy shield in front of them. He surged forward and punched the far-right guard in the face without any qualms. He went down like a sack of potatoes and Nico's hand throbbed in pain to confirm his success.

To the side, a few grunts seemed to escape the other guards but Nico didn't wait before he tackled his second target to the ground and smacked him in the head with the pommel of his Stygian Iron sword. The guard's eyes fluttered briefly before unconsciousness overtook him and he was just lying on top of him.

"Well" the voice of Connor said drawing Nico's attention, "that was pretty anticlimactic."

The son of Hades snorted in derision. "Not only did we surprise them but they are mortals. Did you really expect them to be able to fight demigods?" Nico didn't wait any longer before he stood up and looked down at all four guards lying in a heap on the ground. They might have been wearing armor and carrying some weapons on them but a strong knock to the head is enough to take out any enemy.

"Come on" Nico said. He grabbed hold of both of their arms and ran towards the nearest shadow he could find. They were on the outskirts of Vatican City now and Nico could already feel the Heavenly power waning from this distance. "We need to get back to Camp. The others will be assuming something happened if we don't get back in the next five to ten minutes."

The sons of Hermes didn't need Nico to remind them of the kind of trouble that would cause. Especially considering how things had already gone down. Annabeth would undoubtedly be upset with them for the delays.

Nico didn't wait for them to say anything further and just led them outside the Angel's stronghold before running them all straight into the shadows and back home.

Annabeth stood in the Rec Room of the Big House pacing back and forth while waiting for Nico and Connor and Travis to return back from Italy. She and Hazel had gotten back well over thirty minutes ago now just as she'd planned it. Jason wasn't long behind her having returned twenty-five minutes ago.

Everything had been going to plan up till that point which meant of course something had to go wrong. And naturally it was probably the fault of the Stoll idiots. Annabeth knew she shouldn't have let both brothers go on the mission; she just knew something would go wrong with them in charge of the heist. However, both brothers were hands down the best thieves in either of the camps and St. Peter's Basilica was undoubtedly the strongest warded base the Angels had.

Or at least that was what her mother said based on reports from Hermes and Aphrodite. Both god and goddess had met with Angel delegations from all the Heavenly factions and seemed to think that Italy was their most guarded location. How her mother ever got Aphrodite to actually be useful for a change Annabeth didn't know but she was glad to have all the information she could get her hands on. It provided much need intelligence in how they planned the thefts of those Heavenly swords they had after all.

Jason sat down in the Zeus seat at the head of the ping-pong table watching her curiously. His glasses met the glare of the fluorescent lighting in the room reflecting it back to the ground and hiding his electric blue irises. She knew he was analyzing her demeanor but she didn't care much about hiding her agitation right now. No, when Nico and the Stolls got back she was going to –

Before she could even finish her thought, a flicker of darkness caught her attention in the corner and she whipped around faster than a speeding bullet. There, forming from the shadows, stood the trio of demigods she was just thinking off.

Nico stood in front of them and collapsed to his knees when he finished pulling everyone through the shadow. He was breathing heavily and patting himself down as if to make sure all of him made the journey successfully.

Behind him, Connor and Travis were taking in deep gasps of breaths themselves though the look of exhilaration on their faces conveyed their excitement. After a brief check themselves to make sure they made it in one piece, they turned to face each other and let out a little cheer before high-fiving each other in congratulations.

"Awesome!" Travis said thrilled.

"We did it!" Connor responded just as happily.

Annabeth, on the other hand, was not pleased.

"What took you so long?! Jason and I have been waiting for you for almost half an hour at this point."

She gave all three demigods her fiercest glare. Both sons of Hermes were suitably chastised and shrugged back behind Nico. The son of Hades on the other hand met her glare with his casual look of indifference. It always bothered her that her glare had such little effect on him compared to everyone else. Even Jason and Percy and Thalia felt the effects of her intimation on occasion.

"We got delayed thanks to these two idiots" Nico said standing up. He pointed his fingers over at the Stolls and watched as both demigods had betrayed looks on their faces. "They decided that stealing a Heavenly Sword from one of the most protected and safe Christian strongholds in the world wasn't enough of a prize and needed to desecrate a tomb in search of something else. They ended up setting off the alarms and we needed to escape."

It took Annabeth a moment to process all that. And then when Nico's words registered in her brain…

"You did WHAT?!" she practically screamed at the two brothers. Both cringed at the level of the shout and even Jason and Nico stepped back from her hostility.

"You risked the mission and our entire relationship with the Angels for a small trophy?! And you destroyed one of their sacred figures burial sites to do it? What the Hades is wrong with you?!"

The two scrambled to answer her talking over one another to pacify her.

"It was such a small thing Annabeth" Travis said.

"They weren't ever going to miss it" Connor piled on.

"It's not like anyone went down there. The entire place was covered in dust and dirt." Travis followed up.

"I doubt they even really know it's missing right now even" Connor finished.

Jason and Nico looked at complete loss over what they were saying and the only reason Annabeth was even able to follow along was due to her higher brain functions and her ADHD being able to process multiple conversations at once.

She knew she had to calm down for a second here. While the Stolls were idiots – utter morons really she corrected herself – and had put the mission at risk she needed more information. She could decide whether or not to stab them later.

Turning to Nico, she ignored the rest of the brothers rambling.

"Did you at least get the sword?" she asked.

Nico nodded and waved a hand at Connor who produced a long, shiny three-foot bastard sword with a white gold hilt and an opaque opal ensconced in the pommel. It seemed to vanish and reappear as Connor moved it. The blade itself was sharp as a razors edge and seemed to be able to cut through event the hardest of diamonds smoothly.

Gingerly, Annabeth took the blade and set it on the table between the two other "swords" the retrieved today. Of the three, it was the first one to actually look like she expected it to.

To the bastard sword's right was the blade she retrieved from England with Hazel. A long Kris sword with a diamond shaped gap through it and spikes on both edges. Excalibur Rapidly her mother had told her. The curves of the blade belied the smaller width of it but making no less deadly than the bastard sword.

On it's left sat the most curious blade if it could even really be called that. It was more like a rod with a sharp edge on once side that could be used to cut someone. Only spanning a foot and a half, the white metal met a hilt of blackest night with a leather grip. There was nothing ornate about this weapon but that didn't surprise her either. She had sent Jason specifically to get this weapon: Excalibur Nightmare. And if the legends about it were true then she had no desire to be cut by it.

Together laying on the table the three swords seemed to glow just a bit brighter. Excalibur's Rapidly, Nightmare and Transparency, the blade Nico and the Stolls retrieved radiated power in the same way the Greeks Celestial Bronze weapons did.

"What exactly are these weapons?" Jason asked stepping up beside her. To her other side Nico shuffled up and gazed down at the swords as well.

"These" Annabeth said in a lecturing tone, "are the Excalibur Fragments. Pieces of the once legendary sword Excalibur wielded by the Once and Future King Arthur Pendragon himself. Forged with magic and alchemy, these are three of the parts that make up the Holy weapon. My mother gave me some preliminary research into these specific pieces."

Stepping closer to the table once more, the daughter of Athena picked Excalibur Rapidly. She thought she could feel the thrumming of the blade and took a moment to swing it around a few times. She blurred incredibly fast as she maneuvered around the room, deftly avoiding the other demigods.

"Excalibur Rapidly" she said excited. "The fragment that enhances the physical speed of anyone who wields it. With this sword as your weapon you could challenge even Hermes himself to a contest of speed and stand a chance at winning."

Taking one last swing she saw in a mirror set up in the room how her body was too quick for her eyes to even register her speed. An afterimage was left behind blurring the vision as she was putting the sword back on the table.

Moving over just slightly she then picked up the bastard sword.

"This is Excalibur Transparency. Wielding this weapon allows the user to turn themselves and the sword completely invisible." She demonstrated just that but disappearing completely from view only to reappear behind Connor and Travis making them jump.

"Or" she continued, "you can just turn the sword invisible." One second Annabeth was standing there pointing the blade at the wall and the next she was emptyhanded looking only as if she was making a fist. "Very useful if you wanted to trick your enemy into thinking you are unarmed."

She walked back to the table and was returning it when she offered her last piece of information on the weapon. "My mother speculated that it was of a similar power threshold as Hades Helm of Darkness. Or at least in terms of invisibility. There is no trace of the wielder at all including smell and noise. Whoever uses the blade is completely disappeared."

As Excalibur Transparency was laid back down Annabeth turned her attention to the last weapon on the table. She couldn't help but eye is skeptically and was hesitant to even grab it. The dark power from the sword was obvious and Annabeth could feel it's reach as close as she was. Nonetheless, she resolved her nerves and reached out for it.

"Excalibur Nightmare" she said reverently, "the Holy Sword of Dreams. Not much is known about this weapon other than it should be used very cautiously." Bringing the sword up to her face Annabeth could see her image in the weapon's reflection.

She was standing above a horde of Devils and Fallen Angels whilst crushing all her tried to reach her. Her face showed a picture of happiness as Percy stood behind her in complete support. She knew she could do anything with her Seaweed Brain beside her.

"Annabeth" Nico said slowly. When she didn't answer immediately, he tried again a bit more forcefully. "Annabeth!"

That was enough to draw her attention away from the images in the blade.

"Right" she said coming back to herself. "With the Sword of Dreams the wielder can manipulate their enemies in both the waking and subconscious realms. This sword can create illusions and invade dreams that even the strongest of beings would have a hard time grappling with. If you were to master this weapon you could master the psychology of any opponent."

Just as carefully as she picked it up, she laid it back down on the table. It was silent as each demigod looked down on the three pieces of history. At least until a loud creaking sound echoed in the room.

Whipping around, Annabeth saw the Stoll brothers trying to make a quiet getaway and growled. She wasn't done with those two yet.

"Don't even think about it" she said harshly. Both demigods froze under to glare and immediately looked contrite. "Now that we have the sword you can tell me what it was exactly you deemed worthwhile to threaten everything for? And you can be sure my mother and by extension Zeus and your father are going to hear about this as well."

Connor and Travis audibly gulped. If it was just their father then they wouldn't have cared. Annabeth knew Hermes probably would have come down and congratulated them on the successful heist if that was the case. Which was why she included both Zeus and her mother in the threat as well. Zeus might not care in the short term but Athena would make it damn obvious just exactly it was those two risked and that would make him angry thus resulting in an angry Hermes. A simple trickledown effect.

Travis looked to Connor for a moment and both sighed heavily. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a large golden cross that seemed to shine with a warm glow. Annabeth stuck her hand out and Travis gently placed the trophy in her palm.

Upon examination it was obvious this was a sacred object. It didn't seem to possess any sort of power by itself but the unnatural glowing of the gold indicated it might have once long ago. Now it was simply an unusual trinket that held significant religious value.

"Whose tomb did you raid to get this?" she asked finishing her observations.

Both of them just shrugged. "It was difficult to see in the dark but there seemed to be a plaque on top of the tomb. Pete, I think it read but I don't know for sure. Whoever it was hadn't been disturbed for at least a few centuries."

Annabeth had been in the processing of handing the cross back to them as he spoke but quickly pulled back when he finished his answer. Her eyes bulged out of her head at the possible repercussions of their words.

"Pete?" she asked. "As in Peter?"

Connor shrugged again. "I guess. It was just a tomb."

She came very close right then to stabbing him with her drakon-bone sword for such a stupid response.

"Did it never occur to you that they tomb you were raiding just happened to belong to the man WHOSE BUILDING YOU HAD JUST ROBBED!?" she screamed. There was not a doubt in her mind that her voice could be heard all the way out in the woods.

Travis blanched and Connor didn't seem any better.

"OF ALL THE IDIOTIC DECISIONS YOU TWO COULD HAVE MADE YOU WENT AND STOLE THE CROSS OF ST. PETER HIMSELF! I SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS THAT IF YOU LITTLE ROBBERY RUINS MY CHANCING OF GETTING BACK WITH PERCY IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, I'M GOING TO -"

However, the Stolls never found out what exactly would happen to them if the Church every discovered their crime because in that moment Jason came up behind Annabeth and put his hand over her mouth to prevent her for speaking further. Of course, the muffling only covered some of her tirade but some words still managed to escape.

"I think you two better leave" Nico said quietly. He too joined the restraint of Annabeth by holding her sides to her body and limiting her movement.

They nodded vigorously and started making for the door before stopping and looking back at Annabeth. She had stopped her yelling when it became clear Jason wouldn't let her continue but she gave them her worst, most intimidating glare ever.

"Umm…" Travis said, "can we get that cross back? We did steal it after all"

And that was all it took for Annabeth to break free.

Elbowing Jason in the stomach she managed to pull his arm from her mouth but she was still entrapped between him and Nico. There was a brief struggle between the three demigods but when it became obvious Annabeth couldn't escape them, she had to settle for threats.

"Get out, Travis" she said coldly. "If you value your life at all you will get out of this room and never show your face to me again."

The two boys didn't waste any time is vanishing through the doors though Annabeth got no satisfaction from it.

Her mind ran through a thousand different scenarios coming up with a thousand different solutions after this latest piece of information.

It was highly unlikely that the Angels wouldn't noticed that one of their tombs was raided after everything was done. Those two set off alarms which in turn would force them to do a complete inventory to see what, if anything, was missing and of course the absence of Excalibur Transparency would be noted.

This would in turn mean that they would have to audit for anything else missing and see that the tomb was broken into and the cross was absent as well. She could only hope on that front that the two idiots were right and nobody had been in the tomb for centuries thus leading to an oversight on the cross' disappearance.

Unfortunately, this would still more than likely mean that they would check all their other caches of powerful weapons and objects leading to them noticing the absence of Excalibur's Rapidly and Nightmare as well.

"Vlakas" she cursed aloud. Realizing that Nico and Jason hadn't released her yet she raised an eyebrow at them and they quickly complied.

"What exactly?" Nico asked stepping back from her.

It didn't take long to explain the situation to them and she saw their grimaces over the news.

"We need to move these swords tonight" she finished up with. "If the Church is going to find out about these weapons, we need to remove our presence from them as fast as possible. That means we need to get to Japan tonight instead of tomorrow Nico. I'm sorry."

And she meant it. She knew how much it took for him to shadow travel and he had already used his power to travel to Italy and back today. Normally one international trip a day was his limit but the longer they had these swords the worst the situation could be.

Nico's grimace grew worse if that was even possible but he nodded all the same.

"We'll have to use Mrs. O'Leary to travel to Camp Jupiter first. I don't have the energy to transport all three of us and those three swords directly to Japan. Not without dying at least. Even still I'm probably going to collapse when we get there so you two will be on your own."

Annabeth's mind tried to factor that scenario in and nodded. In her mind though she felt a brief thrill of excitement.

That happening might actually be really good for Annabeth. She would be stuck in Japan with no way home until Nico recovered. And that meant she could find Percy. She might even be able to persuade Nico to give up his address so she could take him there to recover.

Yes, Nico passing out after moving them to Japan would be a best-case scenario for Annabeth.

Outwardly, she looked saddened by this but nodded in reluctant acceptance. Jason did too and reached out to squeeze his shoulder in comfort.

"Alright" she said to summarize the plan. "We travel to Japan tonight to make contact with the Fallen Angels and hand over the swords. I will deal with our contact and Jason will make sure nothing bad happens to Nico after he passes out. After that we will return when Nico's feeling better."

Seeing no better way both of them nodded in agreement.

"Then let's get packed and ready for travel. Nico, drink some Nectar and eat some Ambrosia and try and get whatever rest you can in the next hour; Jason, please make sure all the swords are packed securely so nothing happens to them or us. I have a call to make to ensure everything is up to speed and inform my mother of the change."

Making sure both of them understood the plan, she nodded once to herself and walked out the door ready to explain to her mother of the change.

Jason watched as Annabeth walked away feeling unsure about things. Her getting angry at the Stolls was completely justified; he too was furious that they would potentially put demigod lives at risk for a trophy. But she only seemed to get angry about how it might impact her chances with Percy.

Which should be zero at this point.

His friend had made it clear that they weren't getting back together if the whole goodbye at Camp Jupiter was any indication and he was pretty sure he'd heard a few of the gods whisper about his betrothed already. He hadn't heard much more about it other than she was considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Jason didn't dare mention this to Annabeth though; especially after seeing what she did to those Devils in California.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a clearing of the throat from Nico.

"You'd best get those swords all set like she said Jason. She's right about how powerful they are. It was tough for me to bring back just one of them along with the Stolls from Italy and now there are three of them. I am going to pass out when we get there from exhaustion. I would have suggested only using Mrs. O'Leary but I doubt she'd have the energy for a straight jump to Japan and she's already done a one too many more shadow travels than she should have today. Just having her take us to Camp Jupiter is pushing her limits."

Jason nodded absently and grabbed a leather clothe from the corner ready to store the weapons away.

It was silent as he worked. Nico was sitting down in his chair munching on some ambrosia, both of them completely lost in thought.

Watching how Annabeth looked with each of those swords, Jason realized just how powerful they really were. His eyes could barely follow her when she swung Excalibur Rapidly and her movements blurred together too fast. He thought he could probably defend against it for a time but at some point, he would grow fatigued and be unable to keep up.

Her assessment on Excalibur Transparency wasn't entire accurate though. She was right about there being no obvious sign of her presence when she disappeared. No smell emitted from her and her movements were completely silent. However, she didn't realize that when she moved, she displaced all the air around her still. Because of that Jason was able to follow her around just as well as if she was wearing her invisibility cap.

The truly menacing moment came when she held Excalibur Nightmare though. He was reminded of her manic cackling and the eerie glow in her eyes as she tortured those Devils in California when she stared into that reflective sword. He had no desire to let that weapon fall into the wrong hands which was why he had reservations about this whole plan in the first place.

"Jason" Nico said when he had finished preparing the swords. Jason turned toward him and saw that he seemed to struggling internally with something before deciding to just come out with it. "Listen to me close alright?"

Jason nodded choosing to remain silent.

"I don't trust Annabeth with this mission"

The son of Jupiter opened his mouth to protest but before he could utter even one sound Nico raised his hand and cut him off.

"I know, I know. Annabeth is your friend and wouldn't jeopardize the mission. I agree with that for the most part. But you also know how smart she is. I have no doubts she's got a hundred different plans running through her head to help make her come out on top. And yes, I mean her specifically and not the mission. The mission's success will factor into this as I have no doubts should anything go wrong, we would all be held responsible but I think she's planning something more. I just don't know what specifically" he trailed off.

He stared at Nico for a minute trying to decide what to think. He felt similar reservations about Annabeth and her recent behavior was not reassuring. Then again, she was getting results which was important for the war effort.

"What do you think she wants then?" he asked Nico at last trying to figure it out. He had a guess but didn't want to voice it first.

Nico snorted and raised an eyebrow. Jason supposed they were on the same page after all.

"Percy" they answer simultaneously.

Jason sighed heavily. Maybe he could convince Piper to talk with her and try and get her to move on with her life. Percy certainly seemed to be.

"What I'm about to tell you remains between us alright?" Nico whispered leaning forward in his chair. He looked around the room a few times in paranoia and didn't seem to care how crazy that made him look.

Jason quickly agreed.

"Percy lives in a city called Kuoh Town. If anything goes bad with this deal tonight, I want you to head straight there. Get Annabeth on a plane first if possible and remind her that her mother and Zeus don't want her in Japan any longer than she has to be. She'll probably be upset but you saw how she was; she'd probably try and chain him to the bed and never let him leave. We can't let that happen."

Surely, she hasn't gone that far yet Jason thought to himself. But when he looked into those cold, dark eyes of Nico he realized that the son of Hades was serious. And the more Jason thought about it the harder it was for him to think otherwise too.

He nodded.

Nico let out a big sigh and leaned back. He grabbed a canteen of Nectar from his pockets and gave it a swig before nodding.

"You should go and say goodbye to Piper and the other's" Nico said. "I have no doubts Annabeth will want to leave as soon as possible and you don't want to leave without saying farewell."

Jason agreed and quickly left the room leaving Nico and the wrapped-up Excalibur pieces behind.

It was a beautiful day earlier and it seemed to have only gotten better as it progressed. Coming close to noon in New York now, the atmosphere was completely devoid of clouds as birds and pegasi flew all over the skies in joy. He briefly wondered what it would be like to talk to the birds but then he reminded himself of the problems Percy had to deal with when talking to sea creatures and he felt grateful he couldn't.

He strolled from the Big House determined to find his girlfriend. The few full-time campers he passed sent him greetings and salutations in their own special ways. The Hermes campers cheered him as he passed while listening to Travis and Connor no doubt embellish their trip to Vatican City. Even the Ares campers seemed happy to see him with their usual offers for sparring when he had the time.

He had to pass the Arts and Crafts cabin, the Strawberry fields, and the Arena before he found his beautiful girlfriend on her way to the Pavilion for lunch. She looked more gorgeous than ever with her dark tan Native American skin and the Eagle feather she always kept braided in her hair.

Jason remembered vividly when she asked him for one to represent her relationship with him. There had only ever been a few other times he'd been as happy.

She eschewed the normal Camp Half-Blood orange t-shirt in favor of a colorful tie-dye one mixed with all different greens and blues and yellows and purples as she talked with another girl from the Aphrodite cabin. Lacey if he remembered correctly. He only remembered because she was the only Aphrodite camper to wear braces.

He did silently thank the Gods that Drew wasn't here yet as most of the other campers weren't scheduled to come for a few more weeks. He doubted he could stomach her presence today after everything that's happened and is still yet to happen.

"Piper!" he yelled waving a hand to her. She looked around for a quick second before she saw him and gave him a smile.

Gods did he love that smile.

"Hey Sparky" she said walking up to him. Lacey had continued onto to the Pavilion which was probably for the best because Jason wasted no time in kissing her.

"Mhmmm" Piper moaned pleasantly and Jason felt a surge of satisfaction at the noise. There was just something about pleasing a daughter of the Love Goddess that boosted a man's ego.

Breaking away after a few seconds, Jason leaned his forehead down onto hers and watched as her eyes fluttered momentarily in happiness; an emotion he returned.

"What was that for?" she asked regaining her bearings, "and wipe that smirk of your face!"

Jason couldn't help but laugh not even realizing he had smirked.

"I just love you" he told her.

Piper smiled back with those kaleidoscope eyes of her. Every time he looked at her, he felt like she was reading into his soul with those eyes. She was the only one who could read every emotion from him no matter how hard he covered it up and somehow that made it all the more special.

"I love you too" she said. "Now what's all this about?"

And then he remembered just how frustrating it was how she could read his every emotion. Still, he smiled back.

"We just got back from the mission not long ago. Everything was going perfectly until the Stolls' decided that it might be a good idea to take a few extra items and set off the alarms. Now we're going to have to push up the meeting with the Fallen Angels to today and I'll be leaving very shortly again."

Piper let out a huff of frustration. Not that Jason could blame her. They had planned on going out on a date today.

"Idiots" she mumbled though he obviously heard her. Something told him that there was a good chance that Travis and Connor might just be making a fool of themselves at the campfire tonight thanks to a little Charmspeaking.

"When do you leave?" she asked.

Jason looked at his wristwatch and sighed. "In about the next 25 minutes or so."

Piper nodded obviously feeling just as disheartened as he was.

Deciding to make the most of their time left, Jason grabbed her hands and started pulling her away from the Pavilion and towards the amphitheater. He hadn't seen anyone there when he passed it by earlier and he hoped for some privacy with this next part.

She could clearly tell something was wrong with him as she raised an eyebrow in his direction but she didn't say anything. He was grateful for that considering he wanted to talk about Annabeth.

"So, there's something I'd like you to do when you have some time in the next few days if you can" he said awkwardly.

Piper didn't hesitate to nod. "Okay?"

He took a deep breath. "Have you noticed anything strange with Annabeth the best few months? Like her behavior specifically?"

Taking a seat on one of the limestone benches, Piper just looked at him for a minute. Normally she was so expressive but for a few brief seconds she just stared at him like he had three heads.

"Yes, I have" she said at last, "but can you really blame her? She made a mistake when she broke up with Percy and now, he's being forced to marry some woman who he doesn't even know. She's obviously trying to save him from an unsatisfying marriage. Not to mention he's been turned into a monster against his will. Do you really blame her for that?"

Jason winced. He could already tell this conversation was not going the way he hoped it would.

"No, no, of course not" he tried to backpedal. Unsuccessfully by her facial expression. "But I mean, it is kind of her fault."

Yup, definitely wrong thing to say he thought as she gave him an affronted look before glaring fiercely.

"Her Fault!" she all but yelled. "She made a mistake Jason! One that we both made ourselves or don't you remember our little mist-induced relationship thanks to Hera?" Above them thunder rolled across the sky. "And now Percy's stuck in Japan after being forced to become a monster. None of that was Annabeth's fault!"

"I'm just saying that I don't really think this is healthy for her" he tried to reason. "Percy might be a monster now but from what I've heard from the gods he seems pretty happy over there still. He's moved on. Don't you think that she should do the same?"

Luckily, his words must have made it through as her face and tone softened.

"That's really sweet of you Jason. But I've talked about this with her a few times now and she's really determined to help him and make him a demigod again if she can. She felt awful about the breakup and in a lot of ways she blames herself for everything that's happened. But even if she can't I know she still loves him. I swear I've never felt love so strong before."

This time he managed to hold the wince in. It was kind of insulting to their relationship but he doubted she meant it that way.

"It's just…" he tried to think of the right words without hurting their relationship. He knew that Annabeth was Piper's best friend. "Alright look," he finally said, "Nico mentioned a few things when he was still able to talk to Percy a few weeks ago and I've heard more whispers from the gods. I really think Percy's already found someone else. This Gabriel person, I think. And I saw how much love Annabeth had for Percy when she slaughtered those Devil's in California. This really isn't healthy for her Piper."

Piper blew him off though. "She told me all about that already Jason. Unlike a certain boyfriend I might add" she eyed him angrily. "She knew she went a bit overboard but she got a lot of information out of it and seemed confident she could get Percy. Why are you being so adamant about this whole situation? I thought Annabeth was your friend?"

"She is." He confirmed. "But so is Percy. I don't want either of them to get hurt because of the other. What's going to happen if they finally meet up and Percy is already in another relationship? You heard the stories about what Annabeth did to keep the other girls away from him when they were younger. Does that sound like a solid foundation for a relationship to you? There's a good chance she might actually kill whoever he's with"

"Well isn't that a good thing then?" Piper responded. "I mean, we are about to be at war with the Christians. One less enemy would only help us out."

Jason could hardly believe his ears. Piper, his girlfriend, his amazingly coolheaded girlfriend who was the designated diplomat between the Greeks and Romans, was actually advocating that Annabeth kill Percy's girlfriend or wife-to-be? His face must have shown his shock because she answered his unasked questions.

"Jason, please listen to me ok?"

He nodded still in shock.

"I meant what I said about Annabeth and Percy earlier. She loves him more than anything. It is truly one of the most powerful emotions I've ever experienced from someone and I support her in trying to win Percy back. What do you think is going to happen after the war? Percy's going to stay married to this woman? I seriously doubt that and I know you do too. You should really support this too."

"This isn't just simple love Piper!" Jason said forcefully. "I watched as she methodically tortured those Devils and let Zeke run loose to cause whatever kind of pain he wanted. She was covered in blood when she was done! That sounds more like obsession than love to me"

Piper frowned as she registered that but it didn't seem to overly bother her.

"I'll admit that does sound a bit extreme but she did explain it to me. I haven't seen anything in her emotions that would go to beyond normal love though. You couldn't really tell me you wouldn't kill anyone for information if I was taken away from you?

"C'mon Piper! It's not the same and you know it!" he said frustrated. He couldn't understand why Piper wouldn't see reason here.

"It's exactly the same!" she retorted back just as upset. "I know if anything happened to me there isn't anything in this world that would stop you from saving me. Annabeth feels the same for Percy. Don't you remember a year ago? She practically ran herself ragged trying to find Percy when he was switched with you. And then after Tartarus? They were practically inseparable for those first few weeks."

For every argument Piper made in support of Annabeth, Jason could only see the negatives. Annabeth had killed and tortured to find out anything about Percy. She had run herself to the point of exhaustion many times in her quest to find Percy after his disappearance. And Tartarus wasn't exactly a health spa for demigods either. Nobody really knew what happened down there but those two were very dependent on each other until their breakup. Even afterwards there was still the sense that they needed each other.

Or at least Annabeth needed Percy. Jason remembered that Annabeth either hung around Piper closely in the aftermath of their breakup or had taken to completely secluding herself away from everyone. Other than speaking when she was spoken to or performing her duties as cabin counselor, she pretty locked herself away doing whatever it was daughters of Athena did.

It definitely wasn't healthy and it definitely wasn't good.

But it seemed there was no convincing of Piper of that right now so he did the only thing a man could in these circumstances.

"I'm sorry. You're right. Can you forgive me?" he repeated every man's mantra.

He knew he had lost this argument for now. There would be another time that he could have this conversation with her and he wanted their parting to be on a happy note.

Given Nico's ominous warning earlier and Annabeth's latest behavior he couldn't help thinking something wrong was going to happen. It might be some time before he saw Piper again and he couldn't live with himself if they ended things here on a sour note.

He seemed to have said the right thing though because her glaring lessened and she gave him gave him a small smile.

"I do forgive you Sparky. I know you're just trying to be a good friend but we should really stay out of it. Annabeth and Percy's relationship is between them. All we can do is be there for them, help them out whenever they ask it, and support their relationship. It will all work out, you'll see. I'm not the daughter of Aphrodite for nothing, am I?" he mused.

Jason leaned forward and captured her lips in another soft kiss. He was really going to miss these.

"I hope you're right Pipes" he said pulling away. He couldn't find it in himself to say anything more so he me just pulled her against him and let the afternoon sun shine down upon them.

It wasn't meant to last though.

"Jason!" Nico called out.

Slowly prying himself away from his girlfriend, Jason turned and saw Nico, Annabeth, and Mrs. O'Leary waiting at the edge of the Amphitheater. It seemed it was time to leave.

"Guess you're heading out now" Piper said beside him. He turned and gave her a small peck before walking towards the others.

"I'll be back later Pipes" he said. "We'll go on our date tomorrow."

"I'm going to hold you to that" she chuckled. "Come back soon Sparky. And stay safe! I don't want to have to come to your rescue anytime soon" she teased him.

He laughed and nodded accepting the good jibe for what it was.

Making his way over to the others, everyone was ready to head out. Nico looked to be bursting with energy from all the Ambrosia and Nectar he consumed. Annabeth had a grim soft of expression and had the Excalibur fragments slung over her back. Mrs. O'Leary seemed tired but willing to help them as she gave Jason a lick from her rough tongue.

"Ready?" Annabeth asked.

Jason confirmed and she handed him the bag of swords. He silently admitted to himself he was glad to be the one to carry the weapons.

"Let's head out then. It's just after noon here so it will be just after one in the morning in Japan. My mother said our contact will meet us just outside a city called Kuoh Town. Apparently, the Fallen Angels weren't prepared for the change in plans so we're going to meet up with someone other than the initial contact so be on your guard. I don't know who it is other than a description but it should be quick and then we can leave. Any questions?"

Only a thousand Jason thought but shook his head no all the same. The gods only told them what they needed to know and something told Jason Annabeth wasn't going to reveal much more than she had.

He made eye contact briefly with Nico and the son of Hades seemed to be in agreement. They'd both watch out for Annabeth just in case.

Seeing that everyone was ready, they all got on Mrs. O'Leary and prepared to travel to Japan.

It was dark out. Complete opposite from where they just left. The night came on suddenly with a rush of wind and Jason took a deep breath of fresh air as he, Annabeth and Nico came out of the last Shadow Travel.

Shadow Travel. It was such a convenient way to move but it never settled with Jason all that well. From conversations with Percy they were in agreement. While both loved the exhilaration from the travel itself, neither could ever really feel safe as they moved through the realm of their uncle; who was always more than willing to kill sons of Zeus/Jupiter and Poseidon/Neptune in the past.

Nico immediately stumbled as he completed their journey. His body was failing already, just as he predicted it would, and it would only be a minute or just slightly more before the exhaustion overwhelmed him.

Jason took a look around and saw that they were on the edge of a forest with a road running perpendicular to their position. Down below was a very large town that was mostly black. It was eerie with the absence of life aside from the lit lampposts but then Jason remembered that it was past one in the morning. The only people up at this hour were those up to no good and monsters.

Annabeth clucked her tongue as she looked up and down the road. Her fidgeting increased until at last they heard a gentle rumbling grow steadily louder and louder and a single headlight appeared.

"Wait" Nico struggled to say as his eyelids dropped. "I… know… that… soundddd…" he managed to get out before trailing off into soft snores.

His body had finally caught up to his expended energy and if Jason hadn't reached out and grabbed hold of him then he had no doubts Nico would have faceplanted on the asphalt without even waking up.

Annabeth turned around and looked at Nico with confusion before snapping out of it. Jason didn't know what he meant either but if anything, he was now more than ready for whatever was driving their way.

"Quick," Annabeth said to Jason, "let's move him into the cover of the trees. I don't know exactly who's coming but we don't want them to look down upon us with a passed-out member of the team."

Jason wanted to argue with her but she had already grabbed his legs and lifted him up and started dragging him. If he didn't help then Nico was going to wake up with scrapes all over his neck and back and the son of Jupiter didn't really feel like being on the opposite end of one of his temper tantrums. Nico had a bad habit of cracking open the earth whenever he got upset.

In no time at all, Jason and Annabeth managed to get Nico into the cover of the forest and covered him up with some loose branches. It was lucky that he was wearing black clothes as he was able to be shrouded much more safely than if he wasn't.

Getting back out into the street, the two watched as the light got closer and closer until it became obvious that it was a motorcycle driving right at them. Jason shielded his eyes against the brightness of the headlight until the figure finally slowed down and turned off the bike. The engines rumbling died out creating silence between them but the rider left the light on.

Jason took a step back as the mysterious figure finally removed the helmet he wore and revealed the face of somebody who looked slightly crazed with a disturbing smile. His red eyes flashed between Annabeth and Jason and his smile grew wider as he introduced himself.

"Freed Sellzen, my dear" he said grabbing Annabeth's hand in a courteous manner. He made to kiss the back of her hand but Annabeth ripped it out of his looking at him with disgust. Jason didn't blame her.

"Ahh" Freed continued "feisty. I always did enjoy the ladies who had a backbone." His eyes bore deeply into Annabeth then as he took a deep breath. "And you smell absolutely… divine."

Jason wasted no time in getting in front of Annabeth although she didn't look scared of the man. It was probably her pride that prevented her from backing away from Freed but even Jason could admit that this guy didn't look normal. Or even safe for that matter.

To avoid Freed from overhearing that conversation, Jason switched to his basic understanding of Greek. He wasn't great as his mind was geared more towards Latin but with Piper's help and his ancestry, he was able to hold small conversations. Annabeth was an expert so she'd get what he was trying to say and talk at his level.

"Annabeth, is this wise?" he said indicating the bundle of swords on his back.

"No choice" was her answer. He knew it was true but giving these weapons to this guy was absolutely the last thing Jason wanted to do right now.

For his part, Freed looked back and forth between the two in surprise. That, however, quickly gave way to anger.

"I've heard that before" he hissed upset. "Who are you two!? More flaming homosexuals like those two faggots I dealt with a few weeks ago!"

Jason and Annabeth looked at each other quickly before turning back to Freed. Neither wanted to take their eyes off of this guy and it looked like he was going to explode any second.

"Well!" he roared. "Answer ME!"

This time Jason couldn't help but take a step back. He reached his hand down to his waist where his gladius was sheathed and placed his hand on it ready to draw on a second's notice.

Annabeth, on the other hand, took a step forward and answered.

"Neither of us are gay, although why that even matters is irrelevant. Are you the delegate from the Fallen Angels?"

Freed eyed her suspiciously. "All faggots need to burn in the pits of hell" he said passionately. "No gay little fucks deserve to even breath the same air as us and need to be put down immediately. The last time I heard words like that I had to fight two queers; one with midnight black hair and another with sunshiny blonde. I was unable to send them to God for judgement for their sins but I will get them when I next see them."

Jason didn't make any outward acknowledgments but it seemed pretty obvious who this guy was talking about. Two boys, who were obviously in a relationship together, with black and blond hair and spoke Greek? It didn't take a child of Athena to put two and two together.

Said child of Athena obviously had put it together but seemed to push the conversation along and obfuscate things.

"I'm not sure who you're talking about" Annabeth said, "but as for us, we were talking in Greek. It was once quite prominent and the Orthodox church still promotes it with the scripture."

The son of Jupiter had no idea if that was true but nodded in agreement to help sell the story. Pretending they came from another branch of the Church instead of being demigods seemed the wiser course of action here as it would keep the Gods in the dark just a little bit longer.

Freed too must have sensed some truth in her words being he nodded.

"Yes, I had heard the Greek Orthodox still had some outdated and ignorant practices. They should have converted to the righteous path of the Catholics and Rome long ago. Nevertheless, yes, I am the contact."

Annabeth nodded. "Good. I am Sophia Mackenzie and this is Roman Dard, my associate."

"A pleasure" Freed said finally letting his earlier outburst go. He returned to his creepy self and now more than ever Jason didn't want to give up these swords. "Let's continue with the transaction hmm?"

"Yes. Lets. Roman, give Freed the pack" Annabeth said in Jason's direction. It took him a minute to register her name for him but he decided that it was much better than giving his true name.

Hesitantly, Jason undid the leather wrapping from his back and brought it forward to Freed. The man's eyes grew wide with lust as he grabbed the leather from Jason and undid the straps revealing the swords to the world once again.

Freed looked as giddy as a school boy and grabbed each of the swords one at a time marveling at their beauty. Even Jason couldn't help but marvel. At least until his thoughts ended abruptly with the maniacal laughing of Freed.

"Oh yes!" Freed said between laughs. "Yes, with these I can do it all. Valper is going to be so pleased! Now no devils will be able to stand in our way. I will kill them all and bathe the world in their blood!"

He's a mad man Jason thought. He knew this was a bad idea. He knew it the second he picked up Excalibur Nightmare from the church in Turkey that nothing good was going to come from this. He regretted taking part in this mission all together.

Without another word, Freed jumped back on his motorcycle, ignited the engine, and screeched away from Jason and Annabeth leaving them all alone on the deserted street.

Jason tried to reach out and stop him but the man was already too far away for Jason to do anything by the time he reacted.

"Fuck!" he cursed. Jason rarely cursed but he felt this was definitely one of those acceptable times to do so. Whipping around on Annabeth he just saw her smiling happily. "What the Hades are you smiling for?!" he yelled. "We just gave some extremely powerful weapons to a lunatic!"

Annabeth seemed to come out of her thoughts at his words although the smile never disappeared.

"We completed the mission Jason. The agreement between the Gods and the Fallen Angels was clear. We get the swords and transport them over to one of their contacts here and in return their leader will wage war and kill the devils for us. We upheld our end of the bargain and now it's their turn."

"Annabeth!" he screamed unable to calm down. He felt the wind whip around him in agitation but he couldn't find it in himself to stop. "That guy was crazy! You saw him! He doesn't care about anything and is going to probably kill everyone and anyone who gets in his way. And we just enabled him to do it!"

The son of Jupiter could hardly believe everything. Annabeth looked pleased about what he just said.

"I have no doubts that guy will kill every devil he comes across and I'll be glad when he does. It will only make the war all that much better for us."

His eyes bulged. Was every demigoddess he talked to today going off the deep end? Jason was Roman; he knew the value of duty and obedience but this whole situation was completely and utterly wrong. Percy had specifically come here to prevent a war and while Jason agreed with the gods that it was probably prudent to knock some of the devils around for killing Percy and then turning him into one of their own, that didn't mean he wanted innocent people to get caught in the crosshairs. And that Freed Sellzen guy looked like he would kill anyone who got in his way on his quest to kill every devil.

"And what about Percy?" he asked her. "He's a devil now too. Freed isn't going to hold back on him because you ask him not to."

At that Annabeth's smile turned into a harsh scowl. Jason found himself stepping back from the intimidating look.

"Nobody touches Percy" she growled out softly. "He's my boyfriend and anyone who wants him will have to go through me"

It was silent after her threat. Jason didn't know what to say to that. He didn't understand how Piper couldn't recognize this as being unhealthy but he also knew Annabeth wasn't somebody to take lightly either. He doubted she'd listen to reason any more than Piper did.

"Come on" he said at last. He turned away to get Nico free and head to the hotel they booked for the night before they'd head back to the camps tomorrow.

It wasn't until he had crouched down to get the last few sticks off of Nico that he realized Annabeth hadn't moved to assist him. He glanced up at her and saw her grey eyes look at him fiercely; the gears in her head obviously working overtime at the moment.

"Annabeth?" he questioned. "I need your help with Nico. Come over here and give me a hand."

Annabeth didn't acknowledge him for another minute before she finally shook her head.

Jason felt a deep pit settle in his stomach at that. A natural gust of wind blew between the three demigods then, whipping their clothes and hair all over the place. They were on opposite sides of the road and Jason knew he had to keep an eye out for Nico which put him at a disadvantage.

"Annabeth?" he said somberly. Nico's earlier warning flitted through his head.

"I'm sorry Jason but I'm not going back with you." She said at last. Her eyes seemed to change right then as the darkness of night made their grey a hollow black.

"Don't do this Annabeth" he said softly, "you know your mother and the other gods don't want you here. It's not good for the mission. Help me with Nico and then we'll head on to the airport and hop the next flight home."

Annabeth smiled at that. It was extremely disconcerting for Jason.

"Don't you see though Jason? I am home. Percy… he's here in Japan somewhere. He's my home. And I know he needs me. I won't leave him to this fate anymore. I will guide him and keep him protected and safe."

With each passing word Jason knew that Annabeth had lost it. Percy was one of the strongest and most powerful demigods he knew. Easily as powerful as Jason himself was even if he had died and was resurrected. Annabeth might have helped keep them alive on their quests but Percy had proven time and time again he could do just as well on his own. This was just delusion to the highest extreme talking.

"Percy will be alright Annabeth" he tried to reason. "He's been working hard for the gods and this is exactly where they want him. We need to get back to camp as you know that where the gods need you." He hoped playing up on her hubris might help.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have the opposite effect.

"I am needed here!" she said angrily. "Percy's been turned into a monster Jason! One of those filthy devils corrupted my sweet Seaweed Brain. I will not let that stand just as I know the gods and Percy won't either! I will find him and we will be united at last and then we will take our revenge against those scum!"

Annabeth grew steadily worse with her speech. Her glare intensified and she was jabbing a pointed finger at Jason as if lecturing him. Her hair grew wild with the natural breezes that blew. Yet through it all, all Jason could look at were her dark grey, almost black eyes. That manic quality she had when she tortured those devils returned and Jason knew there was only one way to stop her right now.

"You leave me no choice then Annabeth. I'm sorry it's come to this" he said. He gently rested the sleeping Nico on the ground and stood up only to be met with Annabeth's drakon-bone sword on this throat. He didn't even have time to draw his own gladius.

"No Jason. I'm the one who's sorry. I'm sorry it came to this point. I can't have you getting in my way now. Return to Camp and inform them that I've remained behind. I need to save my Percy and nobody is going to stop me now."

"Annabeth plea-"

He didn't even get a chance to say anything else before he felt her sword hilt slam into his head and he faded to darkness.

Jason woke to his body shaking. His head throbbed in agony and his back flared in pain from sleeping on something hard.

"Get up sleeping beauty. I see last night didn't go as planned." A voice said sarcastically beside him.

"Shut up" he slurred out struggling to open his eyes. The sun shone down and managed to hit his face just right to be an annoyance.

"Come on Jason, we need to get out of here."

Finally managing to open his eyes, he sat up to see the face of Nico looking down on him stoically. They were in a forest just off a street with cars flying by.

"What happened?" he asked groggily.

"I was hoping you might be able to answer me that" Nico said giving him a hand up. Jason's body was sore but it felt good to stretch his muscles.

Jason struggled for a minute trying to think about what happened.

They had arrived and then Nico passed out just as a motorcycle was about to pull up. They hid him in the trees before talking to this guy who turned out to be absolutely bonkers. Jason went and got Nico ready to head to the hotel before…

"Oh shit" he said finding himself cursing again. Nico looked at him curiously.

"We need to find Percy" Jason said grimacing. He was not looking forward to that conversation.

"We have a serious problem."

AN: Hello everyone! I know it's been a while but life has been busy. Finished buying a house, had to deal with internet issues, helped family move, and then I came into my busy season at work and didn't have time. But I'm back with the next chapter. An interlude chapter so no Percy this time but I think you'll still find this enjoyable.

Now a couple of points with regards to this chapter. First, somebody PMed me claiming that I had serious problems with gay people because of how I portrayed Freed a couple of chapters back. Rest assured I don't have a single care what anyone's sexual orientation is. This is just Freed's character and I think is a fairly decent portrayal of dxd canon. It's obviously not perfect and I've changed some things but he didn't have an actual gay character like Nico and Will in DxD so I like to think what I wrote would at least be in line with something he might do.

Next, I actually like Jason and Piper. Both as individual characters and as a couple. They're not Percabeth by any means but I'm not like a lot of others who just hate the relationship on principle. With Jason's POVs you're obviously going to get his happy relationship with Piper in there and I found myself enjoying writing it. By no means will he overtake the story. But I think his POV will be one I write again in the future along with Percy, Rias, and Annabeth. Maybe not so much Nico's but I haven't decided that.

And lastly, Annabeth. Annabeth finally has a chance to find Percy and she's going to take it 10/10 times. If she spent weeks/months trying to figure out where Percy disappeared to for HoO then I figure she's going to do the same thing here. Only with the delusion that she is the only thing that can help/save Percy. I tried to take events in PJO canon to support it (i.e. Annabeth stalking him in SoM and finding him in school before heading to camp, scaring other girls away from dating him so he'd finally ask her out - PJO bronze dragon, Annabeth getting all pissy about Rachel & later Reyna trying to get all up on him) and twist it to something some might consider to be stalkerish/unhealthy. Her yandere tendencies are becoming more obvious for others to see now - cough Nico & Jason cough - but not everyone realizes it yet. Piper, being the daughter of love, only sees how much Annabeth loves Percy, not the completely crazy methods she uses to achieve it. And Piper hasn't seen Percy since he's said goodbye where he was still conflicted about his feelings for Annabeth (between love & hate) so her supporting her friend's desire for a relationship seemed logical.

So how was the chapter? Good? Awful? I'm a terrible person who needs to write better? How were Annabeth and Jason and Nico? Tell me your thoughts in a review if you have the time. I'd love to hear from you all and see how things have progressed.

Thank you all for reading and I hope to hear from you in a review.

Stormwreckin