Author's Note: Percabeth may have made up, but the story isn't over. Thanks to everyone who's still with this story, despite my horrible updating schedule.

Chapter Thirteen

Friday, May 19

Rachel's office 10:00 AM

"I got your message," announced Reyna, as she entered Rachel's office. "And I've got some news, too."

"Okay, you can go after Nico. He'll explain what he found out when everyone else shows up," Rachel replied. She sat cross-legged on her desk, sipping her coffee. "All I'm gonna say for now is that it just makes things even more complicated."

Reyna sighed. "Well, I guess that's what we get for making a living off of killing people, huh?"

"What are you saying?" Rachel wanted to know.

"Nothing. I just hate this job sometimes. But we're all in too deep, it's not like we have a choice anymore."

Rachel wanted to ask more, but she decided that Reyna probably wouldn't appreciate her probing the issue. Luckily, the others arrived soon after that. Nico was the last to make his way into the office.

"Everyone here?" asked Rachel. "Okay, now let's get started." She poked her head out the doorway to make sure no one else was there, then closed the door and locked it.

"So what happened?" asked Travis Stoll. "This isn't about who tweaked the plumbing system so that there's blue dye in all the water in the building, is it? Because I swear, Connor and I had nothing to-"

"No," cut in Reyna, "But that is interesting. Perhaps you and Connor could explain that later."

"Dude, you almost blew our cover!" hissed Connor from behind Frank's back.

Nico slowly stood and went to the front of the room. "This is all going to sound confusing, but you have to remember that it's top secret and if it gets out, the consequences would be horrible for me and for whoever let it out.

"Do you all remember how the company got started? How there was originally a weapons company, and they had hired people to demonstrate the uses of the weapons to potential customers, and eventually the demonstrators became hired assassins? And then the assassins, for whatever reason, broke away to form this agency?

"Well, apparently, after the assassins broke away, there was a split between them, and I guess they ended up forming Atlantis, while some stayed in Skyward. This was all years ago, during World War I. I don't know the details of the split, but now I have reason to believe that it was something trivial.

"So what's the point of all this, Nico?" asked Beckendorf.

"I'm getting there," Nico assured him. "Anyway, the point is the original weapons company. The reason that the assassins broke away from them to begin with was because, having been trained as assassins, they found out more than the other employees. It turns out that the original company had been involved with illegal weapon trafficking, and they tried to make the assassins help them out with it. But the assassins refused, and that's why they left."

"This doesn't make sense, though," Silena pointed out. "Why would people who kill for a living suddenly get all moral when it came to illegal weapon trafficking?"

Nico shrugged. "You're an assassin, too. Would you help sell weapons to terrorists?"

"No," she admitted. "But we kill criminals. Some of the ones who refused belonged to Skyward. And Skyward will take any case, whether the person's guilty or not."

"Yeah," added Hazel. "This doesn't add up, Nico."

"Exactly, Hazel. It shouldn't. Why would Skyward assassins be willing to kill just anyone if they refused to sell weapons to terrorists? The thing is, they aren't. Skyward wasn't the group that took all our unapproved cases. And I don't think they deliberately started a conflict with us. I suspect that the war we have with them now, with Percy being kidnapped and the others getting attacked and all, is just the result of a series of misunderstandings gone out of control."

The others looked at each other, unsure of what to believe. Then one of the Stolls spoke up. "Actually, Nico might be right. Remember when Connor and I went to investigate Percy's house after he disappeared, and we ran into those Skyward assassins and put a tracking/listening device on them? Before they destroyed it, we listened in on their conversations for a bit, and all they talked about was how Annabeth had been kidnapped. From the way they talked, it sounded like they thought Percy had kidnapped her."

There was a pause as the others digested this information. "I have to admit, it does make sense," said Hazel at last. "But if Skyward isn't the one making the unapproved missions, then who is?"

"I was getting to that," explained Nico. "See, the original company continued running after the assassins left. It was run by a man who was only known to others as Othrys.

"Othrys was the one who pushed all the illegal weapons trafficking schemes. When he died, there was an argument over who would run the company. Eventually, his three sons agreed to split it up. They stopped all the illegal trafficking and made the business more respectable. Now, his grandchildren are in charge. But the company still has a reputation for underhandedness, particularly among Othrys's more radical descendants."

"What do you mean, more radical?" asked Frank.

"Angry, power-hungry, arrogant, bloodthirsty-You get the picture."

"So, are you saying that they're the ones who've been making the missions that we refused?" asked Reyna. She had her poker face on, so everyone knew that she was thinking something extremely important.

Nico nodded.

"And we're totally wrong about Skyward being out to get us? Our war against them is really just a simple misunderstanding blown way out of proportion?"

"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but that's what all the facts seem to suggest at this point."

"And Percy Jackson vanishing- what was that? Were they kidnapped by this other agency, Othrys or something?"

"I don't think so, but I'm also sure that it wasn't Skyward. What's the problem, Reyna?"

She had turned slightly paler than usual, and had an uncharacteristically guilty look on her face. "I really wish I had known all this before I'd managed to capture a few of them."

..~0~..

The first thing Jason was conscious of when he woke was the feeling of something cutting into his wrists. His eyes flickered open, and he saw that his hands were encased in chains. Instinctively, he tried to pull his hands away, but the chains were attached to a metal wall of a cell.

The clanking noise caused the others to stir. Piper sat up slowly, blinking in surprise at her surroundings. Leo groaned and rolled over, tangling himself in the chains. "What's going on?" he mumbled, looking around in confusion.

"We've been captured by Atlantis, that's what," answered Jason grimly.

"What? How?" asked Piper. "The last thing I remember is... Wait a minute! It was that girl, wasn't it?"

"See! I told you she didn't look like a bartender!" exclaimed Leo.

..~0~..

"I think we should be safe here," said Percy, pulling into the parking lot of a small and empty looking diner.

They had been driving for hours, and were hungry, tired, and would have been completely miserable if it hadn't been for the fact that they were finally together, and working on the same side.

Annabeth glanced around the parking lot. "Yeah, I think the coast is clear."

They got out of the car and walked as casually as possible into the diner, and seated themselves strategically in a booth where they could see through the window, but could hide behind a large decorative plant if necessary.

"So, where are we?" asked Percy.

"Last time I checked, Michigan. Where did we last see them?"

"I don't know. Nebraska, maybe? Like I said, I think we're okay for now."

Annabeth wasn't too sure about that, but she couldn't keep talking about it, or she'd end up a crazy, paranoid mess. It was hard not to go a little nuts when you and your husband were being chased across the country by a bunch of guys in ninja suits. They thought that they had left them in Vegas, but they kept popping up every few hours, effectively driving their nerves to the breaking point.

Neither Percy nor Annabeth had any idea who they were, or why exactly they wanted them dead, but something told Annabeth that it was important to find out.

But neither of them was in the mood for more thoughts of doom and gloom, so for the sake of keeping them both sane, they tried to relax. They chatted about random things. They debated whether their neighbors, the Kilternans, secretly hated them. They made fun of reality shows. They watched as a couple walked in with their two young sons, who promptly began screaming at each other over who was cooler, Batman or Superman. They even laughed when the waitress began screaming at the busboy and dumped iced tea down his shirt.

They were still laughing when a black van pulled into the parking lot, and three men in black got out.

"Not again," groaned Percy. "Couldn't they at least have waited until-" He was cut off by the sounds of gunshots.

Annabeth grimaced. "Come on, let's get out of here."