Chapter 24: The Diner

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

A pair of talks with a pair of assholes~

-x-X-x-

In the face of Luke’s curiosity, Percy shrugs.

“Like Annabeth said, we’re as alright as can be considered. But what’s this about unfortunate issues with the campers? What’s going on over there at the Camp?”

As Percy changes the subject and turns the question back on Luke, he can feel the eyes of the others on him, perhaps questioning why he hadn’t asked Luke for his help. But the truth was… how could the Hermes Cabin Leader help them to begin with? They’d called because they were hoping to speak to Chiron. Luke shouldn’t have much experience with Nereids, so in the end it was best not to overly worry the other boy.

Plus, Percy was curious. What WAS going on back at Camp Half-Blood? With Hestia away, were the other demigods acting up?

Through the spray of water, Luke’s visage shimmers and then he sighs as his shoulders slump.

“Things are getting rather dire here, you guys. We don’t know how, but everyone has found out that Zeus and Poseidon are currently engaged in a bit of a standoff. Whichever asshole summoned that hellhound probably also leaked the info, I guess.”

Oh. Well shit. Percy throws a glance at Annabeth and Clarisse, trying to gauge how bad this might be. From the pale looks on their faces, pretty damn bad. And without Hestia there…

“Chiron can keep things under control though, right?”

Luke smiles weakly but shakes his head.

“He’s trying. That’s why he’s not here right now, he went down a little while ago to break up another fight. Don’t get me wrong, Chiron has the respect of every person here in Camp Half-Blood. But respect only goes so far when you get a bunch of young adults together and tell them that their divine parents might be about to start another war.”

Percy’s eyes widen at that.

“War?! Surely not!”

Shrugging, Luke glances off to the side, running a hand through his hair.

“… Yeah, hope not. But it’s definitely shaping up into something not so pretty. Like the Trojan War all over again. Everyone is taking sides right now. You’ve got Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo backing Poseidon while Athena is backing Zeus. And their children and thus their cabins are expected to follow.”

Percy’s mouth goes dry at that. To his credit, Luke seems to realize what he’s just said and who he’s just said it in the presence of a moment later. His face scrunches up into an expression of pure apology directed at Percy, even as his eyes dart to first Annabeth and then Clarisse standing just behind and on either side of him. Quite suddenly, Percy can feel the weight of them both at his back.

“Oh, but none of you should let that distract you from your quest, you hear me? Don’t worry about what’s going on here at Camp Half-Blood! Just focus on your Quest! Get back the Master Bolt, asap! In fact-!”

All of the sudden, a car pulls up with its radio turned to maximum volume, blasting so much bass into the air that Percy couldn’t even begin to tell you what genre of music it is. Not with how distracted he is. But also… it makes for the perfect excuse.

“What- what is that noise?”

“Sound of our time running out I’m afraid! Talk to you later, Luke!”

“What- but Percy I-!”

Before Luke can finish what he was going to say, Percy takes the nozzle from Grover and shuts it off, moving hurriedly. He can’t say for certain why he feels the need to shut Luke up so suddenly… well no, that’s not quite true. He feels the need to shut Luke up because the other man might have just dropped a fucking hand grenade into the dynamics of Percy’s party. Slowly turning around to regard the girls, Percy looks at Clarisse and Annabeth, trying to gauge their reactions to Luke’s news.

He almost wishes he hadn’t asked the man what was going on at camp. He could have told Luke about their adventures and maybe the fact that the campers were taking sides would never have come up. Maybe the fact that Athena was siding with Zeus against Percy’s father could have stayed a secret.

“Annabeth…”

Jolting from a moment of quiet contemplation, the Daughter of Athena straightens up, looking Percy in the eye with a slight flush to her face.

“It… it makes sense. My mother… she’s Zeus’ favorite daughter. One of his closest advisors too…”

She bites her lower lip for a moment, dropping back into her own thoughts before jerking upwards again and looking at him.

“It doesn’t matter, Percy.”

Doesn’t it? Obviously he wants to trust her. No, he DOES trust her. He and Annabeth might have only known each other for less than two weeks now, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t trust and care for her. Still, to ask her to go against her mother… her mother who is a Goddess of War…

“I’m serious. It doesn’t matter. Athena and Poseidon have been at each other’s throats for longer than any living human has walked this Earth. And I still chose you. Not to mention… I’m already going to owe my mother an explanation for what we did with Medusa when all is said and done.”

Percy winces. He hadn’t thought about it like that but Annabeth is sort of right. Flipping her blonde locks back over her shoulder, Annabeth huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

“In the end, none of this matters so long as we succeed. The Quest comes first, always. And if we get Zeus’ Master Bolt back, if we find out who really stole it and can clear your father’s name, then there will be no war for our parents or us to be on opposite sides of. Alright?”

Letting out an explosive breath, Percy nods and forces a smile onto his face.

“Right. Alright. You’re right of course. As always, Wise Girl.”

Coloring slightly at the nickname, Annabeth huffs and rolls her eyes. But she can’t quite keep the smile off her face either as she looks at him with no small amount of affection.

“Seaweed Brain.”

There’s a beat of silence between them. Clarisse stands off to the side, quiet as a mouse. One might consider that rather uncharacteristic of her, but if anything she looks slightly vindicated. After all, HER loyalty isn’t in question at the moment. It doesn’t matter if they fail and things do turn into a war, because Luke just made it clear that her father was on Percy’s father’s side in all of this, leaving there no question of where she and Percy stood with one another.

Grover on the other hand…

“Okay but what do we do now? We missed our chance to ask Chiron about the Nereid and whether it was worth going to the ocean or not. Didn’t even bother asking Luke for his opinion! So what do we do next?!”

Looking at his friend, Percy can tell Grover is getting a little frazzled. At the same time, Percy himself is exhausted. But more than exhausted… he’s hungry. And they still had money in their pockets from ‘Aunty Em’. That said…

“Let’s get some dinner, yeah? Then we’ll decide our next move.”

No one has any objections to that, in the end. Mostly because they’re all just as hungry as Percy is.

-x-X-x-

The diner they find nearby is stereotypical to a T, Percy notes. Gleaming and chrome and filled to the brim with families eating cheeseburgers and fries while drinking fizzy, bubbly soda. Once they’re all sat down in a booth, a waitress comes over and takes their order and then leaves them be. Which is a bit awkward, because Percy doesn’t actually know what to do or say to fill the silence. Nor does anyone else. But… it should be filled, he realizes. Best not to leave the others in their own heads. Or himself for that matter.

However, just as he’s getting ready to speak up and say… something witty hopefully, a rumble sounds out that’s powerful enough to shake the entire building. For a brief moment, Percy worries that Zeus is flinging another lightning bolt… but then, outside of the diner through the window, he clocks a motorcycle pulling up into the parking lot.

The thing is massive and its owner doesn’t bother with a parking spot. He just goes right up to the diner’s curb, shuts the motorcycle down, and hops off. As the glaring red headlight dims to nothing, everyone in the diner has turned to stare, Percy notices. But to be fair, Percy is staring as well. He’s just not sure whether to stare at the bike or the biker.

The bike has literal flames painted on it, but while those would just be somewhat humorous by themselves, the shotgun holsters on either side of the bike with shotguns loaded in them gave the flames a bit more of an… unsettling feel.

Meanwhile, the biker is a mountain of a man, hulking and huge in a way Percy has never seen anyone be before. He’s dressed in red and black, with the red being a shirt and the black being black jeans and a black leather duster. Percy WOULD say the guy was trying too hard, but he pulled it off in a way that a lot of people couldn’t. He was the goal that those who actually were trying too hard were trying and failing to meet, Percy found himself thinking.

“Father…”

Percy blinks and his head whips back to the table. Clarisse is staring at the Biker with wide eyes, her hands trembling above the table for a moment before she shoves them down into her lap. The Daughter of Ares looks truly shaken and even with her hands hidden… Percy realizes she’s trembling. Is it fear? Anticipation? Either way, she’s already revealed the truth, be it intentionally or otherwise.

Ares steps into the diner and everyone except for their table stands up as if in a trance or something. But the God of War dismisses them with a simple wave of his hand, sneering as he walks over to their table, his boots impacting the ground again and again. Finally, he sits down at their table, forcing Clarisse, Annabeth, and Grover all to scrunch up around the table’s bend.

His sneer transforms into a grin… at least partially. Percy gets the impression that the God of War is still sneering under that grin, even as he steals some of Grover’s fries, dips them in Annabeth’s milkshake, and eats them like a pug, chowing down like it’s no one’s business but his own. Then again, maybe it isn’t. He is a God, after all.

“Hello cousin.”

He’s looking right at Percy. Doesn’t even spare a glance to Clarisse his daughter or Annabeth, his rival’s daughter. He certainly pays no mind to Grover. Percy… Percy feels a slight spike of anger on their behalf. Especially on Clarisse’s. This was Ares, her father… and he was ignoring her. It was frustrating. Irritating. Ares’ attitude was the whole reason Clarisse was the way she was at the end of the day.

Even knowing he’s facing down a God, even knowing that he’s so out of his depth it isn’t even funny… Percy’s hands curl into fists laid out on the diner table as he finds himself glaring at Ares in anger.

“Ares. What do you want?”

The sharp inhales from Annabeth, Clarisse, and Grover are completely overshadowed by Ares letting out a bark of laughter in response.

“Hah! You know exactly who I am, but you’re still that uppity. I like that. I like a punk. So long as you remember who’s in charge.”

Not Ares, Percy wants to say. But then, he can’t exactly claim that to be true when the God of War reaches over, grabs half of his daughter’s cheeseburger off her plate, and begins chowing down on it without Clarisse giving a single word of complaint. The God of War continues to eat like a pig, chewing sloppily and letting grease dribble down his chin. Then, he points the burger at Percy.

“Need you to do something for me, cousin. A favor for a God.”

Percy realizes suddenly that Ares wants him mad. He wants him angry. He wants this to be a fight… because that’s where the God of War excels. In battle. Percy needs to change things up. Letting out a shaky breath, he uncurls his fingers and tilts his head to the side.

“Yeah? What’s in it for me?”

He can feel the others all staring at him like he’s nuts. Even Ares goes still for a moment mid-chew. Finally though, the God of War finishes chewing and swallows before wagging Clarisse’s stolen cheeseburger at Percy.

“Cocky, cousin. Very, very cocky. You like making deals, don’t you?”

It takes every fiber of Percy’s being not to glance over at Clarisse as their little wager regarding Capture the Flag comes to his mind. Does Ares know? If he doesn’t, Percy certainly isn’t going to be the one to tell him.

“Fine! A deal it’ll be! Favor for a favor! I left my shield at an abandoned water park. And you’re in luck, because that water park is right here in this very town! Me and my girl were on a little date you see, and we got… interrupted. So I had to leave the shield behind. You’ll go and fetch it for me.”

There are a ton of questions on the tip of his tongue. Things like ‘who the fuck is stupid enough to date you’ or ‘why don’t you just go and get it yourself’. But Percy holds them all back and keeps his eye on the prize, so to speak.

“And in return?”

Ares’ eyes burn with the fires of war. Percy hadn’t noticed that before, but he’s noticing it now as the god peers at him.

“In return… I’ll give you all a lift West. That’s where you have to go, isn’t it? For your little quest? Only… time ain’t on your side, cousin. But with a God to help you out, you could get there so, so much faster…”

Well fuck. He was right. They needed to go West, but they had less than a week left before everything went to shit. The prophecy hadn’t exactly been clear about how far West they needed to go, but Percy would be lying if he said he wasn’t concerned about their chances after all the setbacks they’d had so far. And there was still the Nereid’s request too.

But now Ares, God of War, was giving them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Percy wasn’t an idiot. He knew how bad of an idea it would be to say no to this deal. The only question he had to answer was… would it be an even worse idea to say yes, in the long run?

[ ] Reject Ares' deal - 23%

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