Interlude I

Daniel Sloan had been president for eight months, two weeks, six days, and fourteen hours when the nation's capital was attacked by an 'interdimensional army led by a being we've been told was the Titan Atlas from ancient mythology.' His polls had never been higher, especially since the Argonauts—and God, what a pretentious name—had assembled in the capital to defeat the threat. But the fact that he needed his polls to be higher troubled him.

Even worse was the fact that he had met one of the heroes long before they were known to the world—Percy Jackson had been classmates with his son, and Matt had never liked the boy. That dislike had become more pronounced when the truth of him was revealed. Personally, Daniel had never understood it, but kids these days were different from his own generation.

It wasn't until he watched Jackson summon a storm using that golden fork of his that he became worried. The capitol had never been hit with a storm of that magnitude in its long history, and the fact that it was controlled so precisely made many of his top generals both nervous and excited. There had been exactly one attempt to recruit Jackson that Daniel knew of, three days after he returned to his home, and the refusal had been simple and concise.

His exact words had been 'Fuck off.'

Which was why he found himself meeting with those same top generals and admirals, as well as a few other national security advisors. Within a day of the Incident, China and Russia had found and either recruited or conscripted a team of Metahumans into their military. That gave them an advantage the United States could not allow. If the Argonauts wouldn't step up, they could find others who would.

They just…needed to find them. It turned out that his predecessor had been steadfast in not performing tests or conducting investigations into possible metahumans, so there wasn't a lot to go on. Those who were well known were, well, the Argonauts, and any others had done a good job at avoiding the spotlight. The fact that they could only confirm the identity of two out of nearly a hundred metahumans in the United States was troubling.

"As simple as it may sound, Mister President," one of the generals was telling him, "simple advertisements asking patriotic metahumans to enlist may get the desired results. If we offer extra benefits depending on their abilities, create a new classification for them, and place them in Metahuman exclusive units, it may be easier for them to accept."

"We can create a more detailed plan, of course," another officer jumped in, "but my colleague has the right idea, Mister President."

"Then let's get it done," Daniel nodded. "I'd prefer if we had it on the air at the end of the month, if possible. I want metahumans in the military by Christmas."

"We'll do our best, sir," the general promised, "now there's the matter of Solace Enterprises funding the construction of a facility for the Argonauts. It's privately owned, so we can't do anything, but there's some worry about what might happen inside the facility."

"I'll dig deeper, see what we can do," Daniel promised. "Anything else?"

XXXMXXX

"You're doing what?" Percy had crossed his arms, glaring right at Ghost, who didn't back down, despite the Atlantean towering over him by nearly a foot. He had asked Reyna to come with him to see Percy, and she had agreed. His idea was a good one, and she thought it would be good for Percy too.

"Look, like it or not, we've become a public organisation because of Washington," Ghost said slowly. Reyna had a feeling he wasn't as happy about the decision either. "If we maintain the appearance that we're still working together, trying to solve threats, then chances are any major government and non-government organisations will let us be. We don't have to have weekly meetings discussing finances or whether or not we're making a positive impact, but so long as we look like we're working together, then there's no problem. This keeps the government off my back, off your back, and off everyone else's back. Sound good?"

"I already told them to leave me alone," Percy snapped. He had been more irritable recently, and she had a decent idea as to why.

"It's not a bad idea, Percy," she offered, "if anything it will allow us to ensure that there's no overlap in any operations conducted."

She had spent enough time watching both Artemis and Chiron wrangle Percy to know how to talk to him. It worked, because he let out a deep sigh, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then nodded.

"Fine, I'll do it. Have you spoken to Praetor and the others?"

"Praetor agreed immediately, and the others will now that you have," Ghost said, "you don't realise how influential you are among metas, Jackson. You were the first of us to be public."

"There were others operating before I was revealed," Percy shook his head. "You were one of them."

"No, I wasn't," Ghost replied quietly. "There was another Ghost before me. I took the role on from them after the police dropped a bomb on the building they were in."

"I'm sorry, for what it's worth," Percy placed a hand on Ghost's shoulder. "This existence took my mother. It almost took me."

"I'm aware," Ghost said. "What do you plan to do with those mercenaries you recruited?"

"I don't know yet," Percy shrugged, "I'll figure it out."

"Excuse me, mercenaries?"

"Oh yeah, some guy I went to school with was hired to kidnap me," Percy explained as he turned, "I incapacitated them and then recruited them when he told me to kill them and save him the money. I dunno what to do about them, but like I said, I'll figure it out."

"Well, this new facility will need security, will it not?" Reyna suggested, "have them protect it."

"That's…not a bad idea, actually. I was planning on paying them a stupid amount of money, anyway."

"What, by selling the lighthouse?" Ghost scoffed.

"I can name six shipwrecks that would make me richer than your benefactor each," Percy grinned. "Together? I could probably buy South America."

"Which country?"

"No, the continent."

"Ah." Ghost cocked his head. "That would make you the richest man alive, then?"

"Only if I want to be," Percy shrugged. "I'm hungry. There's a decent diner ten minutes away. Either of you want to join me?"

"I would like that," Reyna smiled at him.

"I'm fine," Ghost replied. "I need to be back in Detroit."

"Have fun, kiddo," Percy laughed. "Come on."

"Like this?" She frowned, indicating to their armour. Percy just winked at her.

Well, if they were going to make a statement, they might as well make a big one.

MMXX

This is a short and dirty interlude. It's really just to set up Book Two, so it's nothing special. It's more two one shots than a coherent chapter, but it suits this purpose. Again, now that I've finished Book One, I'm going to turn my focus back to Filii Deorum (which you should read if you haven't!) and finish that story up. Then I'll come back to this one. Or maybe work on another project. :)

Cheers, CombatTombat