--------------Percy's POV:------------
gods, I shouldn't have done that. I can't get romantically involved if I'm a villain. What if I were to be found out? Wally would be put in danger, and who knows the kinda damage that would cause.
I mean they could use him as a hostage, they could try and use him as leverage to get me to do stuff and honestly, I'm not too sure I wouldn't do just about anything.
Thoughts ran through my head as I walked down the dark and grimy alleys, the streetlights barely illuminating anything as I walked through a small neighborhood of tents and small campfires, my black hair blew in the wind and my hand was tightly clutched around the wad of cash in my pocket.
The people in this area didn't mind me, not any more at least. I'd helped more than a few of them out when they needed food or other supplies and this seemed to buy their silence from telling the cops where I was.
Sure, maybe getting info on locations and other underground businesses from children on the streets wasn't a good idea, but these kids knew what they were talking about. They've yet to tell me about a truthful business. For that they earned my respect.
I pushed the thoughts of Wally and my earlier kiss down as I turned into an especially dark alley, a bunch of milk crates were piled up and led to an open apartment window. A window that belonged to an "abandoned" building.
Truthfully, it wasn't all that abandoned, with kids from all over coming here to smoke, and basically do everything their parents told them not to. But if you shuffled through these children you would find the ones who belonged to families who did advise that, the children who knew their stuff.
I looked behind me once more before turning back to the window. With a quick sprint I ran forwards, jumping up to land on top of the milk crates with a satisfying creak. I quickly ducked into the window, the dark shrouding around me almost like a cloak.
"Who goes there?" A dark voice asked from out in the distance, echoing around me, almost as if multiple people were calling out.
"Orca, I come with $5,000" Almost instantly lights flickered on and all around me the room seemed to sprout into color as LED's turned on, kids of all ages sat everywhere, with some of the older ones leaning on the walls and going back to talking, the younger ones bursting into sprint as they ran towards me.
I smiled as I leaned down, the kids wrapping their arms around me as they giggled childishly.
"Orccaa!" A small boy yelled as he tried to squeeze my leg to death. I could only chuckle as I ruffled his hair.
"How have you all been?" I asked. The kids all took steps back, their mouths going a thousand miles a minute as they all tried to tell me different stories at once. I couldn't help but try and listen to them all as they blabbered.
Once they finished I pulled my hand out of my pocket. "Here, make sure to give these to your mommies and daddies" I started to hand out 100 dollar bills to them, making sure they hide them in their shoes or in their hair if curly enough. Anything to make sure some scum bag doesn't rob them silly.
Once everyone got an even share I stood up. I'd tried handing out cash to the older kids but they usually tried to take the rest of it as well. We'd come up with a silent treaty in that whatever I don't use I'd leave behind, they'd divide it evenly amongst themselves.
As the little kids ran off to continue their games I walked over to a side room that was covered in green and yellow. In the corner was a kid with shaggy brown hair, his eyes were focused on the phone in front of him but I knew he knew I was there.
"Jax, you have anything for me?" I asked, my voice was much colder than earlier with the smaller toddlers. The kid looked up at me, his cold eyes seemed to bore into my soul.
"Dunno, you got the cash?" I pulled out the remaining 4,000.
"Do I?" Jax let out a frustrated sigh.
"I guess I have some info that pertains to you, get over here so that no one over hears." I walked over, my footsteps echoing around the room as I leaned down so that we were face to face.
"So whatcha got for me?"
Jax paused, his ears perking up slightly before he looked up to me. Suddenly his goat ears popped out of brown hair, twitching slightly as they listened for any outside watchers. When he was satisfied he pulled himself up, his goat legs stretching out from underneath him.
Jax was a saytr, one that often resided at camp half-blood, but after I'd rescued him on his day off we've managed to come to an agreement to meet every other week or so.
"Well, there's a child of Ares residing in a building nearby and from the sounds of it monsters are rolling in tight in that area, but I think that comes second to some pretty important street talk."
I raised an eyebrow as usually street talk wasn't the normal topic of discussion.
"Apparently some clowns been out looking for you, something about joining a league" I paused, my eyebrows furrowing.
"A clown?"
"Yeah, a pretty notorious one at that. Supposedly he's the boss to the parents of a lotta kids 'round here. You've never heard of the Joker have you?" The name itself held no real value to me, course I've heard it mentioned. I'd have to be deaf to have ignored the name entirely. From what I did know he was some super villain, rivaled other heroes in a different city. Though I'd never heard of him messing around in keystone.
"Sure I've heard of him. So the Joker's been looking for me?" I asked.
"I don't know, has he?" I groaned as I handed Jax 1,500. He smiled down at the cash in his hands before looking back up to me.
"Yeah, the word is that he wants you to join his little rag tag group of super villains in an up and coming scheme. Something about stealing a diamond to eliminate all annoyances from the world." I took a deep breath. Thinking for a minute.
"So he's looking to meet me?"
"Yeah, in fact for a good ol' bag of tin cans I may be able to hook you up with a time and date" I groaned but nodded.
"Fine, next meet up I'll bring around all the tin cans I can find. Tell him to meet me in south park, in four days, preferably at night."
"You also want the address to the girl's house?" I nodded and he quickly handed me a small slip of paper. "I'd recommend getting to her soon if you know what I mean. "
"Thanks Jax, leave it to you to get all the good info." Jax sneered before turning back to his phone. That was when I realized. Jax's never had a phone before, it was too dangerous.
Jax seemed to notice my staring. " The phone? It's the latest and greatest tech from camp half-blood. Made completely outta monster proof materials."
I nodded.
"Give me a bag of car parts and you'll have it on your next visit." I narrowed my eyes but nodded. A phone could be a huge asset.
"Fine, I gotta go. Nice doing business with you." and with that I left the satyr in the green and yellow room. Guess I gotta dinner plans with a psycho.
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1307 words