An Interesting Alliance (ON HOLD)

Chapter XIII

Percy

"Doesn't your car have flamethrowers?" demanded the little shit called Apollo, "Lasers? At least some Hephaestian bumper blades? What sort of cheap economy vehicle is this?"

  I glanced in the rearview mirror trying to stay calm and not kill the stupid god sitting in the backseat of my car. Trying to change the subject and make him stop whining:

"You have rides like that on Mount Olympus?"

"We don't have traffic jams", He said, glaring at the cars ahead wishing to launch a fireball and melt the cars to make way with his none existent powers, "That I can promise you."

 Cue to trying not to kill him. I idly noticed Meg tugging at her crescent moon rings. Or were they scythes? She turned and gazed out the rear windshield, probably checking for any shiny blobs pursuing us.

"At least we're not being _" she started.

"Don't say it", I warned.

She huffed. "You don't know what I was going to_"

"You were going to say, 'At least we're not being followed'," I interrupted, rubbing my forehead from the blooming headache, "that'll jinx us. Immediately we'll notice that we are being followed. Then we'll end up in a big battle that totals my car and probably destroys the whole freeway. Then we have to run all the way to camp." And how am I going to explain to Nick when he sees that I destroyed something... again?

Meg's eyes widened. "You can tell the future?"

"Don't need to." Oh look, an empty space. I changed the lanes so we were now crawling less slowly, "I've just done this a lot." I mean seriously, two wars veteran, demigod daughter of one of the Big Three, and an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. And let's not forget that my godfather is Nick Fury.

"Besides", I continued, shooting an accusing glance at Apollo, "from what I've heard from Annabeth, nobody can tell the future anymore. The Oracle isn't spewing prophecies anymore or seeing anything for that matter."

"What Oracle?" asked Meg curiously. I didn't say a thing and neither did Apollo. I glanced at him from the rearview, I can see the surprise etched on his face. He didn't know?

"It still isn't working?" he asked in a small voice. I try not let my frustration show.

"You didn't know?" I asked, "I mean, sure, you've been out of it for five months, but this happened on your watch."

I looked once more at the rearview. I could see him gulp with a terrified look in his eyes.

"I just... I assumed_ I hoped this would be taken care of now", he stuttered. For fucking sake! Does he even think? Does he even know that what he just said is STUPID!

"You mean by demigods," I said through gritted teeth, "going on a big quest to reclaim the Oracle of Delphi?"

"Exactly!" he cried, relieved, "I suppose Chiron just forgot. I'll remind him when we get to camp, and he can dispatch some of your talented fodder... I mean heroes..."

My knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. I controlled some of my emotions and my face go blank. When I look back at the mirror, I nearly flinched at the suppressed rage hidden in my eyes.

"Well, here's the thing," I said in a caustic tone, "to go on a quest, we need a prophecy, right? Those are the rules. If there's no Oracle, there are no prophecies, so we're stuck in an..."

"A Catch-88", he sighed. Gods, it's like talking to a five-year-old. Scratch that, a five-year-old would have more brain cells than him.

Meg threw a piece of lint at him. "It's Catch-22" she said.

"No" he said, "This is a Catch-88, which is four times as bad." I rolled my eyes. A beautiful Apollo-not-talking pause until...

"Hey, you two." Meg hit us both with pieces of lint. I scowled at her. Where was she finding this lint?

"Yes, sorry, Meg", Apollo said, "you see, the Oracle of Delphi is an ancient..."

"I don't care about that", she interrupted, annoyed at Apollo, (well you're not the only one) "There are three shiny blobs now."

"Where?" I asked.

She pointed behind us. "Look".

Weaving through the traffic, closing on us rapidly, were three glittery, vaguely humanoid apparitions, like billowing plumes from smoke grenades touched by King Midas.

Oh come on! Seriously! Just my luck.

"Just once I'd like an easy commute", I grumbled, "Everybody, hold on. We're going cross-country".

I shot down to the nearest exit ramp, not caring about the honking of the cars and cursing. I wove across the parking lot of a shopping mall, then blasted through the drive-through of a Mexican restaurant. I swerved the car into an industrial area of dilapidated warehouses, the smoking apparitions still closing behind us.

"Is your plan to avoid a fight by dying in a traffic accident?" Apollo demanded while holding on for dear life.

"Ha-ha" I yanked the wheel violently to the right and sped north, the warehouses giving way to a hodgepodge of apartment buildings and abandoned strip malls.

"I'm getting us to the beach. I fight better near water."

"Because of Poseidon?" Meg asked, steadying herself against the door handle.

"Yep", I agreed. "That pretty much describes my entire life: Because Poseidon."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This is a you-know-the-rest-if-you-read-the-book-and-I'm-lazy line-break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the battle of the butt-naked automaton that suspiciously looked like a certain god, a certain prophecy, and a talking grove, the return of Leo Valdez with Calypso in tow and the disappearance of Meg and sending the body parts of the statue to my father. I was ready to go home and crash on my bed. But my holiday was coming to an end and it's time to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha is currently in an undercover mission under the alias of Natalie Rushman. She's posing as an eye-candy to the billionaire Tony Stark. And Reyna is with Clint Barton in a mission in New Mexico, something about a missing hammer.

Something tells me this year is going to be more interesting than usual...

Tell me what you think...