Alistair removed his helmet gingerly, taking deep breaths as he brushed his fringe out of his eyes. Turning his head, he noticed that the man beside him had no such troubles, looking like he had just strolled out of a magazine.

Well, if that magazine happened to be an armour catalogue.

Alistair shook his head. They had just taken on hundreds of monsters, in African heat and humidity, and Percy wasn't even out of breath. It is just plain ridiculous. As if just noticing his companion, Percy removed his own helmet and turned to face Alistair, grinning.

"Really? You're tired after that?" Alistair rolled his eyes. There wasn't even a bead of sweat on the son of Poseidon.

"Ha ha very funny. Some of us are only half human y'know."

"Aw don't give me that shit Alistair. We're biologically the same, just one of us is more of a pussy than the other."

"You should be a fuckin' comedian Perce." Alistair paused to spit into the dirt. "When was the last time you even had a fair fight?" Percy smiled faintly, his eyes clouding as he remembered back to last month.

"Not that long ago actually."

Flashback: Last month

Percy spat out the blood that had filled his mouth as he eyed his opponent. He had taken a beating at James' hands, but he had given some back. The Australian's left eye was surrounded by nasty bruising and there was a trail of dried blood leading down from his bottom lip. Less noticeably to the untrained eye, James' weight was placed ever so slightly more on his right leg and he had stopped kicking with his left ever since the last round. Percy would've been more proud of his work if his own ears weren't ringing and if his chest didn't feel like a boulder was pressing down on it. Just in the nick of time, the bell sounded, prompting both men to lower their hands and walk past each other to their respective corners. While James had a crew, Percy had to make do on his own, and went to work cleaning his cuts and quickly downing half of his fourth bottle of water. He knew he couldn't go for much longer, and if he didn't end this now, the fight would end in a tie, something that nobody wanted.

As the final round began, both men shot each other a grudging look of respect before raising their fists and approaching each other again. They locked eyes, both daring the other to falter. Percy could tell James knew he was going to win if the fight was left to a judge's decision. The blonde boy was hanging back slightly, not taking any risks, and his attacks were less aggressive.

Fuck it, Percy thought, It's all in or nothing.

Advancing slowly, Percy watched for the left hand that he was sure would be coming his way. Sure enough, once he was within reach, James' left fist shot out to jab at his head, but Percy was quick, having anticipated the move. He ducked and weaved so he was outside the punch, and quickly struck back with his own right hook before James could raise his guard again. As the Australian went reeling, Percy followed up with a flurry of quick strikes, using his superior strength to his advantage. James may have been quicker and more agile, but that was of no use when he was reeling from constant powerful hits. Percy's knee collided with his opponent's jaw, followed by a powerful elbow to the temple that had James stumbling. Seizing the advantage, Percy brought his right fist down in his signature hammer blow, knocking the smaller man out as he crumpled beneath the blow. Backing away, the son of Poseidon realized that this had been his most taxing fight yet, and the only one that left him requiring medical attention.

Flashback end

"Yo! Perce? Ground control to major Jackson!" Percy snapped out of his trace to find Alistair clicking his fingers impatiently in front of him. Sighing, he tucked his helmet under his arm.

"Get a cleanup crew down here, you know the drill Alis. I'm gonna go report back to Hunter." Alistair raised an eyebrow. Noticing this, Percy turned back to face him.

"What?" he asked, confused. The blonde man crossed his arms expectantly.

"Come on boss, you don't think I forgot?" Percy's brow furrowed.

"Forgot what?"

"Today's your last day remember? You said you were gonna take an 'extended break' whatever that means." Percy's eyes lit up. He remembered now. He was leaving the business for a while to go and be with the Hunt. Oh how he had missed Artemis and Thalia. It wouldn't be long now before he would be seeing them again.

"You're right, I totally forgot." Alistair snorted.

"Typical. Take it easy man, go home. I'll send the report to Hunter."

"You sure?" Clearing his fringe from his eyes, Alistair glared at his raven-haired partner.

"Yes I'm fucking sure. Go Perce. Take a break. You deserve it." Smiling, the two men embraced before Percy disappeared in a flash of light.

A little while later...

Artemis groaned frustratedly. She had been in a really bad mood. Ever since she had awoken this morning, she had felt her... craving for a certain green-eyed male to be almost overpowering. For some reason, however, none of her Iris Messages were going through. She let out a huff of annoyance as for the billionth time, a calm voice told her that "The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later. Sorry."

"Stupid Iris messages. Stupid Percy. Stupid me. Agh!" Her annoyance was really seeping in now, and she closed her eyes as she felt an anger begin to course through her veins.

"Calm down," she said aloud to herself, "he's probably just in the middle of something important. He'll call back. He will." She nearly jumped as a voice interrupted her moment of solitude.

"Or," came the voice from behind her, "he might just come and visit you because he's missed you so much." Whirling around, she found herself faced with a very pleasant surprise. Perseus himself emerged into the clearing, carrying with him a few duffel bags that looked quite heavy, yet appeared to cause him no strain whatsoever. He grinned devilishly as he approached her, and she felt her heart rate begin to skyrocket.

"Miss me?" With that, she almost threw herself into his arms, but just about kept herself composed.

"And who said I was talking about you?" The broad smile vanished, replaced with a look of hurt.

"Artemis, are you... are you saying you were calling another male friend of yours? Jeez, here I was thinking I was lucky to be the only one, but no, it looks like you've made other, betterfriends." He paused in the middle of his overdramatic mini monologue to sniffle. "I see how it is." His shoulders slumped as he took on a dejected look. Artemis couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing, nearly in tears at his expression. Seeing her amused, Percy dropped his act and his crooked grin returned.

"Yes, I did miss you, you idiot" she managed to reply as she drew herself together. Taking the opportunity to properly look at him, she allowed her eyes to wander over the white T-shirt that looked comfortable, yet still managed to outline his muscular build, and then upwards to his sparkling eyes and chiseled jaw, sitting beneath his perfectly tousled black hair. Returning her attention to him, she mentally high-fived herself at the speed with which she had taken in his features. It was almost scary at how good she was getting at doing that.

"I missed you too my lady. I'll explain everything later to everyone, as I'm sure you all will be curious as to where I've been. I suppose I should go meet the other girls first?" Artemis took hold of his sleeve and tugged him towards her tent.

"Yes, but first I have something to show you, and I expect to hear everything first." With a smile, He allowed himself to be dragged along, duffel bags and all, with a smile that nearly split his face in two.

"As you wish my lady, as you wish."

Artemis led Percy into her tent, where she dragged him to her desk, upon which lay stacks and stacks of paper. Grabbing a handful, Artemis began shuffling through them, reading aloud as she did so.

"London, sightings of hellhounds near Piccadilly Circus. Disappeared in 12 hours. Zimbabwe, multiple dracaena spotted in Harare. Disappeared in 18 hours. Massachusetts, Laistrygonian giants seen in Cambridge. Disappeared in 14 hours." She paused looking up at Percy. "I checked with camp, and with every God or Goddess I could get a hold of, as well as all living demigods that we have records of. None of them are responsible for these cases, or any of the many others. It definitely wasn't my girls. I'm assuming this is your doing?" Percy smiled sheepishly.

"Well... not entirely." He quickly explained to her how he'd set up an international demigod-run business to deal with monster sightings around the world, giving other demigods a purpose while keeping mortals and their world safe. To say the moon Goddess was shocked would be an understatement. At this point, she was seriously debating whether there were any imperfections to the man that stood before her. It seemed as though there was little he couldn't do.

"Wow, that's... certainly amazing." Artemis took a deep breath before grinning. "But you totally ripped off my hunters, just admit it." Percy's arms crossed defensively.

"No I didn't!" Artemis giggled and shoved him lightly.

"You definitely did." The son of Poseidon scowled.

"Whatever." Artemis shot him a triumphant wink.

"Well we both know you both did it because we're the best and most efficient group in the world." Percy smiled and stepped closer.

"If only I could copy their phenomenal leader. Shame she's one of a kind." Artemis blushed and felt her heart hammer against her ribcage.

"Uh... I..." Percy laughed at her inability to form words. Turning, he walked out of her tent, shooting her his best imitation of her wink over his shoulder.

"I'll come back later when you remember how to talk, okay Arty? Don't stress too hard." She spluttered indignantly, causing him to laugh harder as he walked off to find the rest of the hunters.

What the fuck just happened? she thought, fanning herself in an attempt to calm her flustered nerves.

Meanwhile...

Percy heard curses coming from the lake, and went over to investigate, frowning. He found a girl with her back to him to be the source of the cursing, and he quickly realised that the laundry in her hands was the cause of her irritation. Taking pity on her, he silently approached her and used his power over the water to cause the clothes in the water to untangle and dry. Startled, the girl turned around and jumped slightly at the sight of him. As she closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself down, Percy noted that it was Tanya who he had been doing the laundry. A month or so ago, he may have been angered or saddened at the sight of the girl before him, but the two had sorted their differences out.

Flashback: Last month

Percy smiled as a mob of girls swarmed him as he entered his room, excitedly clamouring for his attention. He had invited the hunters to see the fight as he hoped it might give them a basis to start over, and he was glad to see he had been right. He spent the next couple of hours talking and bonding with them, modestly dismissing their awe and praise of his fight. Noticing Tanya in the corner of the room, standing awkwardly alone, he made his way over, excusing himself from Phoebe's barrage of questions as to how he learned how to fight with such power and speed.

"Hey," he said cautiously. As she glanced up, Percy saw a mixture of emotions flash through her eyes, none of which were particularly good. "Are you okay?"

"I..I..." she stuttered. Percy frowned.

"What's up Tanya? Is something wrong?" There was no hostility or resentment in his voice, just genuine concern, only serving to worsen her mood.

"I just... I feel really guilty about how I treated you... especially since my lady vouched for you, and I just wasn't expecting you to invite me or any of the others here. I want to be surprised that you don't hold any grudge or anger against us but I'm honestly not, and that's the worst part, because that means I know how good a person you are, but I still treated you like shit, and-" Percy interrupted her.

"Hey, hey. No. None of that. What happened is in the past, there's no point dwelling on it. Besides, I invited you girls here so we could start over, so I hope we can at least be friends after tonight?" Tanya smiled gratefully.

"Absolutely."

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it! I'm so so sorry this took so long guys