Rushing to Adventure

The moment he got back to shore he had an immense moment of relief at the sight of Blackjack still stood there, having apparently spent the best part of the night just waiting for him to emerge. "Hey Blackjack!" He called out as he once again rid himself of all the water weighing down his clothes, flinging it back into the ocean. "I need a ride, and urgently."

Sure thing Boss! You sure you don't want to wait though? You were down there hours. The Pegasus was as reliable as eve, crouching just a little so that Percy could sling himself onto his back, even as he voiced his concerns.

"Nah. Fell asleep down there. Now we need to hurry. Once we get in the air I can tell you where we are headed." He said, tightening his grip around the Pegasus. He would be riding without a saddle and so was putting all of his faith in his grip and in Blackjack's skill that he wasn't going to end up plummeting to his **** any time soon. The Pegasus was not one to disappoint though, and soon they were flying high up into the air, Percy's eyes scanning for any sign of the Camp van.

They were almost at the outskirts of New York before they spotted it. It was a very good thing we were in winter and so there was some low hanging cloud cover, because a daytime jaunt through downtown on the back of a Pegasus was a one way trip to causing chaos amongst the mortals down below, and he wasn't going to dare flying higher for fear of what Zeus would do. He was on a Horse, and so technically still in Poseidon's domain, but pushing his luck with Mr Trigger Happy Mc ZapZap was never going to be a smart move.

It was the holidays, so traffic was slow, and they were actually able to make good time and get ahead of the van, landing near the roof of the Chrysler building to give Blackjack a rest while we waited for the van to make it through the streams of cars in their way. We passed the time with some idle chit chat, before the van turned off towards the Lincoln tunnel. "Alright, let's go." I said, grabbing hold tightly again, but our take off was prohibited by the sudden appearance of vines wrapping up all around the Pegasus' hooves, binding him to the roof.

"Going somewhere?" He heard from behind, and turned to see the Camp Director leaned casually against the side of the building, his feet on open air despite the roofing only a foot below him.

"Mr D. What do you want?" He went on, trying to keep as calm as possible and not piss off the god who liked to make dolphins out of the people who pissed him off. Percy liked fish sure, but that didn't mean in any way that he wanted to become one.

"Oh? What do I want? Whatever could the all-knowing, all-powerful and lets not forget immortal director of your little Camp want with one of his charges who goes gallivanting off without permission. What indeed." His purple eyes flickered like fire, and he could see in them the will of the god who could drive men to madness. "I should throw you off the side of this building, minus the flying horse. Let's see how heroic you are as a piece of contemporary art on the pavement."

"Why?" He bit out before he could hold himself back. He knew he should keep his mouth shut, but if the God was about to kill him or haul him back to Camp in disgrace then he was going to fucking know why. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to you?"

"You're a Hero, boy, and you were born. I don't need any other reasons beyond that." The god tightened his fist, and the vines binding around Blackjack crept up until they were wrapped like vices around his legs.

"I have to go on this quest! I need to help Artemis! To help my friends! That is something you wouldn't understand!"

"Curious you mention Artemis before that little girl you are so infatuated with." Dionysus mused, his eyes boring holes into him as he stared down the Hero. "Have you ever heard the tale of Ariadne? The beautiful princess of Crete who assisted the Hero Theseus, a son of Poseidon just like you. She was the only reason he ever survived the Labyrinth, let alone the Minotaur contained within, and all she was promised in return was his hand in marriage. Do you know what happened next?"

There was no way in the entire world that Percy could at all care less right now. But the faster this story finished, the faster he could find out if he was going to die today or not. "They got married, happily ever after, all that good stuff?"

Dionysus sneered back at him like gunk he had just trodden in and ruined his shoes. "Not quite. When Theseus sailed back for Athens, he took her with him. But they stopped at Naxos on the way, and while there he - what is that word you mortals use these days? - he dumped her. He left her behind, alone on an island, having betrayed her father and the entire life she had known for man. And then he tossed her aside like a crisp packet with all its contents consumed. And that's where I found her. Alone. Crying. Heartbroken."

"I'll be the first to admit that was wrong. But what has that got to do with me? It was thousands of years ago."

The God's gaze remained cold as the winter morning. Maybe even colder by a few degrees. "I fell in love with Ariadne. I healed her broken heart. And when she died, I made her into my Immortal wife. She waits for me even now. When this century of infernal punishment is done, I shall return to Olympus and her awaiting arms."

"But weren't you punished for trying to-"

"My point is that no matter the time, you heroes are all the same. You accuse us gods of being vain, but never take a moment to look at your own actions, and see they are just the same. You take what you want, use whoever you have to, and once their purposes are served you betray everyone around you. So I think my hatred for Heroes is well justified. You are all selfish, and ungrateful. You only need speak to Ariadne about that. Or Medea. Or even ask Zoe Nightshade for that matter."

"What do you mean ask Zoe?"

"Go. Follow your friends." He said, and with another wave of his hands the vines that had been encircling him and Blackjack faded away back into the stone of the building. "The prophecy says two of you shall die. Maybe I'll get lucky. But mark my words, you will prove me right by the end of it."

And with his final words given, the God vanished, leaving only the scent of grapes to taint the cool morning air. And Percy couldn't help the feeling, that despite how much he despise Dionysus and everything he said, that perhaps he had already proved him right.

Zoe drove south like a mad woman, and though she stopped for a moment at a service station where he set down to buy Blackjack a snack, they were soon back in the air and following the Van drive all the way down to Washington. He got close for a bit while they were stopped while under Annabeth's invisibility cap, so that she could try to listen in on what they were saying.

They weren't getting on well, Thalia and Zoe butting heads already, and Grover was just trying his best to make his tracking magic work while also playing peace maker between the other two. Bianca, bless her heart, was trying her best, but it was clear that she was already beginning to be overwhelmed by everything she was being exposed to, and she just ended up shying away and speaking only in support of Grover when he stepped in between the other two.

He'd almost gone forwards to claim Zoe right then and there, but with Mr D's words weighing on him he hesitated just long enough for them to speed off without him again. He tossed Blackjack a few donuts, and they were off following the van once again. Still, now he realised that Zoe was a lot older than he first had thought. At least 200 years old for certain.

After hours of flight with a grown demigod on his back, Blackjack was of course beginning to flag and tire. The simple fact was that he just couldn't continue, no matter how much he professed that he was perfectly fine and could go on until the end of time. Fortunately, the group they were following was soon coming to a stop in central Washington, and Percy had Blackjack set him down just close to the Washington Monument. "Head back to Camp. I'll be fine from here on. Just get some rest."

He would have immediately set off after the group on foot after his horse finally left, but he stopped dead at the sight of a face he recognised and really wished he hadn't seen. Dr Thorn. The Manticore teacher who had swept Annabeth off of a cliff during the mission to recruit Bianca and Nico to camp.

What followed, could only adequately be described, as a bit of a disaster. On all sides honestly. The voice from his dreams turned out to be someone very big and intimidating, and apparently in charge of everything going on right now on Kronos' side. Thorn got a right talking down to for the frankly fucking terrible work he had done stopping them getting Bianca and Nico, though apparently his real target was to get Thalia separated from the rest of them, something else he had proved incompetent at. Luke had shown up and was apparently big and spinally challenged's top second in command now. And Percy got a first hand course on how to create evil Skeletons to kill your friends, so he considered that a nice bit of knowledge for the future. For now though, he was running for his life.

His escape attempt ended as abruptly as possible. Mainly in the fact that he slammed right into Thalia so hard that the both of them tumbled a few feet head over heels, ending with him laid out on top of her. "Percy!?!" She cried in alarm as she looked up at him mounted atop her, and the sound of a bowstring being drawn back let him know that Zoe was very clearly aware he was here now too.

"Luke's here!" He cried trying to not get impaled from one of two ends as he jumped back to his feet. "And we have incoming. 12 very angry looking dragon tooth skeletons and something bigger that they were sending right after you guys."

"Thou should not be here!" Zoe cried angrily, but after a moment she relented and lowered her bow. "What did you see?" The group got a quick run down of all of the bad guys activities occurring in the next building over. "It cannot be the General. It isn't possible."

"Well it is what they were all calling him, and right now we have bigger problems."

"Indeed. If they are indeed Dragon Tooth Warriors, then we should leave immediately. They are particularly relentless." Zoe grimaced. Apparently she knew exactly what they could expect from those things, and it wasn't good.

"I'm right behind you." He replied.

"Oh no thou art not! I was not including thee boy. You are not a part of this quest."

"She's right. You shouldn't have come Percy." Thalia joined her for the moment, before turning around against Zoe. "But he is here now. Come on."

"That is not your decision to make!"

"I'd prefer Percy to come along actually." Bianca spoke up for the first time, and all heads swivelled around to her. Grover's head swiftly began to swing back and forth, nodding like he had suddenly become the words most prolific random headbanger.

"Seems like you have been outvoted." Thalia said smugly as she looked Zoe dead in the eyes. "You're not the boss here. I don't care how old you are Zoe, you are still just a conceited little brat. And the longer we stand here, the closer those monsters are going to get here."

"You never had any wisdom when it came to boys. You could never bear to leave them behind like you should." Zoe growled out beneath her breath, though she still relented enough to swing her bow back over her shoulder and brushed right past him to lead the way back towards the van.

But that was not to be, because a humongous roar ripped through the entire building. There were screams, shouts, and one cute little kid crying "kitty!" somewhere behind us, and we all had just enough time to turn before a fuck huge Lion pounced right into the lobby. It had huge golden glistening fur, and silver claws that tore through the stone of the floor.

"The Nemean Lion." Thalia whispered beside him. "Don't move a muscle."

The Lion's jaws parted again and let loose another huge roar, its fangs shining like stainless steel. When its jaws clapped shut with a resounding snap, we found its fierce eyes locked right onto our group, and slowly its tongue lashed out and across its lips.

"Yeah. Great plan that." He snarked back.

It lunged.