Percy Jackson and The Game

Chapter 54

Chapter 54:

Percy sat in the back row of the class with Thalia to his right and Michael to his left. The three were in a world of their own ignoring everyone else.

"So what's this class called again?" Thalia asked as she chewed on a piece of gum.

"World history," Percy supplied.

"Wow, world history, so interesting," Michael rolled his eyes, the sarcasm was obvious.

"You know Michael it could actually be an interesting subject," Percy told his friend, "I mean maybe we might find out something we didn't know before."

"Oh please Percy, like that will ever happen," Michael shook his head, "I mean how do we even know that the stuff being taught is what really happened?"

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked.

"History is written by the winners," Percy answered, "that's what I think Michael means."

The son of Apollo nodded, "yeah. And as a son of the God of truth I would like it if I wasn't feed bullshit on a regular basis."

Percy rolled his eyes while Thalia groaned in annoyance. "You know Michael if you're really interested in knowing the truth you could just ask one of the Gods," Percy said as he took out a notebook and a pen, "they probably lived through history, I'm sure they would know both sides to any war."

"That they weren't directly involved in," Thalia added, "because then they would obviously be partial one way or another."

Micheal scratched his chin, "hmm, yeah, that does sound like a good idea, but neah! Who has the time for that?"

Percy shrugged, he had to agree on that front. He was personally more concerned about the future than the past, after all what reason does Percy have to be look back? He's not going that way, plus he can't change it. It was just a fruitless effort.

Just then the door to the class opened and a young woman walked in halting the chattering and causing every guy in there, Percy included, to stop and stare.

She had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail reaching her lower back and a small stack of books pressed up against her chest. Her eyes were green like emeralds with specks of gold near the center. She wore a very tight white blouse that emphasized her massive bust and a form fitting black pencil skirt that showed off her wide hips.

She closed the door behind her, giving everyone there a clear view of her toned ass. She walked elegantly across the room and stood in front of the teacher's chair causing everyone to start to chatter amongst themselves, wondering if she was their new teacher.

Percy looked at her name;

Tanya Jameson, Real life Lara Croft

Lv- 21

Michael whistled, "okay, since when did Aphrodite start attending our school?"

Thalia looked at Percy, "you're drooling."

Percy blinked as he drew his eyes away from the woman, "n-no I'm not!"

Thalia narrowed her eyes as electricity sparked between her fingers, "don't even think about it Percy."

"A-about what?" Percy asked gulping.

"That massive rack of hers," Thalia growled as she shot the still silent woman a jealous look.

"Well now that you mention it...." Percy immediately ducked down avoiding a thunderbolt from Thalia. The lighting hit Michael in the ear causing the son of Apollo to help in pain.

"Yep!" he jumped out of his seat causing everyone to turn and look at him. Michael blushed at the attention, "ah... a bee bit me."

The woman in the front smiled, "really Mr. Yew? Then maybe it would be best if you went to the nurse's office and have that seen too."

"Ah, nah, it's cool, it doesn't really hurt," he rubbed the spot Thalia hit sending a side glare at said demigoddess.

Percy chuckled as he turned to Thalia, "missed me sweetie."

"You are so going to get it from me today," Thalia promised as they turned out the mysterious new woman.

"Now then, I suppose it would be best to introduce myself," the woman suddenly had a piece of chalk in hand, Percy didn't even see her obtain it. She turned and wrote down her name on the board, "my name is Mrs. Tanya Jameson, but please call me Mrs. J, I prefer it. And I am your new history teacher."

The class immediately went into whispers as they began talking about they had just learnt. The boys were talking about how hot their new teacher looked while the girls mostly grumbled about how the boys acted like horny little dogs.

Percy turned to Thalia and whispered, "her title is 'Real life Lara Croft' so I think she might actually be good at this."

The daughter of thunder grumbled, "yeah I sure. And I'm also sure that the title has nothing to do with the fact that she has a body type similar to Lara Croft." Percy blushed but said nothing, Thalia was right, this woman did have a very similar body to the tomb raider.

"Now," Mrs. J began to speak shutting everyone up, "I will be taking world history for you all, as you might have guessed if you had more than a few brain cells." The class laughed and the teacher smiled.

"Let's begin with a roll call," she opened her student registry and quickly began to call out everyone's names. Percy noticed that the woman had a strange accent buried deep within. He couldn't put his finger on it but it sounded vaguely familiar.

Finally Mrs. J was done with the roll call as she started pacing in front of the call, "I believe it would be best to.....start with a little introduction first, yes?" The boys nodded eagerly, "well I'll go first. I was born in Rome, my father was an archeologist from America and my mother was an artist in Rome. They meet fell in love, and 9 months later I showed up.

"I spent most of my life traveling the world with my father and mother searching through old archeological sites and ruins. I grew a passion for history during those formative years. And as I grew older I realised I had a fondness for the stories of the old kings and queens of the world. I turned my passion into a career, I spent the better half of a decade searching the world for buried secrets and now I'm here."

The class was silent, and Percy understood why. She was a real life Indian Jone, with boobs. Guess that's why her title was real life Lara Croft.

"Ma'am," Tyler spoke up sitting in the first row staring at Mrs. J's tits, "d-do you ah, well are you married?"

"That's what the term 'Mrs.' denotes you idiot," Percy called out causing everyone in class to laugh. Tyler blushed in embarrassment even Mrs. J held back a laugh.

"And what is your name young man?" the teacher asked looking at Tyler.

"Tyler ma'am," Tyler spoke up, his confidence restored now that a beautiful woman was taking interest in him.

"Well Tyler to answer your question, yes, I am married, like the young man with the sea green eyes mentioned, that is why I use the term Mrs. instead of Ms.," Tyler looked deflated as even the teacher started to pull his leg.

The class laughed again before another student asked something else, this time it was a girl, "ma'am what is your favorite time in history?"

Mrs. J smiled, "hm, I would have to say it would during the second World War."

"Why is that ma'am?" another student asked.

"Because that was a time in history where a majority of the world came together to fight for something they believed in."

"But what they believed in was a war," Percy spoke up, "why is that a good thing?"

Mrs. J looked at Percy and smiled, "what's your name?"

"Percy, Percy Jackson," Percy smiled, "hi."

"Hello Percy, and yes, you are correct, it was a time of war, not peace. But the result of that war was the unification of the world. Steps were taken by the countries to ensure that a battle of that scale never happened again. Yes, there was bloodshed, but it resulted in the formation of the UNO, the first every symbol of unity this world has ever seen."

"But don't they fail like all the time?" Thalia argued, "they aren't really all that good."

"True," Mrs. J nodded, "but you see the reason they fail is because the countries under them refuse to listen to them."

"So it's a failed concept," Thalia shot back, "I mean if a water bottle has a hole in it it's a shitty water bottle."

"Again correct, but you see this isn't as simple as a water bottle. It's an entire world, hundreds of countries trying to work together. The UNO does achieve quite a few things, don't let the media fool you. They do make a difference, and in this case it's better to make some changes, then none at all."

"So wouldn't the better thing to do be to create an organisation that actually worked?" Thalia asked, "I mean, one that is better that the UNO?"

Mrs. J nodded, "yes, true. Maybe one day there will be one," her emerald eyes turned to Percy meeting his sea green ones, "maybe one day one of you will create a program to protect the world, ending all wars and conflicts. Maybe one of you can change the world."

The class was silent,Mrs. J's words struck a chord in them that most didn't realise they had. And then Tyler had to break this moment by opening his mouth, "pft, yeah right. I don't know if you didn't realise who we are ma'am, but we are Yancy academy, we don't change the world. It's a great thing if we just manage to pass school without getting expelled."

The students chuckled nervously at the joke, most agreed, they had lost hope. But the rest...they felt defeated, confined to their own fates, to be a failure, a criminal. The stigma of Yancy academy was stuck on them, and they knew it wouldn't go away.

"Yeah right," Percy scoffed drawing attention to him, "look Tyler you might want to restrict yourself to a life of being basic, thinking you won't ever be more than an annoying ass, but I'm not you. I know for a fact I can be better, and I will. So keep you stupid pessimistic views to yourself, or better yet shove them up your a-"

"-Mr. Jackson!" Mrs. J hissed, "that will be enough out of you! Honestly have some self control, I'll admit I don't really mind you swearing, but this is a class and as such you will behave."

Percy sighed, "right ma'am, sorry ma'am."

The teacher nodded, "right, oh and Tyler," she turned to the boy, "do keep your opinions to yourself. It really is annoying hearing you sound like a such a downer."

Tyler gasped as he started blank eyed at the teacher the students began to whisper amongst themselves, 'did a teacher really just insult a student?'

"Now," Mrs. J ignored all the chatter walking to the board, "let's begin our first lesson, 'Ancient civilizations and their contributions to the Modern world'." The student's groaned.

"I know I know," Mrs. J turned to the board as she started to write about the various civilizations, "but I promise I'll try to make it fun," she smiled as suddenly her emerald green eyes flashed sulphuric yellow.

After the class ended for the day Percy and the other demigods quickly went out for lunch. They spent a good deal of the time finding Clarisse, who had quickly found friends of her own in her class.

The group of four now sat down on a table away from the rest of the students, clearly they had their own things to talk about.

"So how did you guys like your first day here?" Percy asked as he munched on his mystery meat casserole.

"It's was okay," Thalia shrugged, "although I could do without you flirting with Mrs. J."

"Well can you blame him," Michael yawned.

"I'm sorry Mrs. J?" Clarisse asked confused.

Percy and the others quickly explained to her, and when they were done Clarisse immediately hit Micheal up the head.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Michael rubbed his head.

"For perving on the teacher."

"Why do you think I perved on her?!"

"I'm your girlfriend, I know everything," Clarisse said wiggling her eyebrows. Michael grumbled but said nothing.

Percy chuckled as he turned to Thalia, "do you also possess the same supernatural sixth sense?"

Thalia smiled, "yeah, I think I do. But," she looked down at her serving of mystery meat, "for the life of me I can't seem to figure out what the hell this thing is made off."

"Oh, that shouldn't be too hard," Percy said as he turned to his plate. He had honestly never bothered to check what it is he was eating, which may have been stupid, but it wasn't like he was going to get poisoned in school or anything.

But now Percy was cursion, just what was the 'mystery meat' in the mystery meat casserole? Percy narrowed his eyes and Observed the food.

Immediately Percy's eyebrows rose up comically, "oh Hades no!"

Thalia turned to him, "what? What happened?"

"No, no, no, that is disgusting!" Percy grabbed his plate along with his friends, "you guys do not want to eat this!"

"What is it Percy? Why are you freaking out?" Clarisse asked, she tried to stop him, but Percy was too fast. One moment he was next to her and the next he stood over the cafeteria trash can dumping their food into it.

"You don't want to know what was in that Clarisse," Percy looked green, "belive me. I regret even trying to know."

"Dude you're starting to freak me out," Michael said, "what was in that meat?"

"Dude.....you don't want to know," Percy sat back down, "seriously, don't."

"Percy stop being dramatic," Thalia rolled her eyes, "this is just like that time your favorite character in that book series died. You know, Ned something."

"Ned Stark, and no Thalia, this is much worse," Percy said with a serious look that scared Thalia a little.

"Okay now I have to know, what was in that meat?!" Michael yelled.

"Yeah Percy, why are you acting so weird?"

"No," Percy stood his ground, "I won't tell you. Not because of arrogance or to promote a sense of my own self importance," Percy stood up striking a pose, "I do this because I care for you. None shall carry this burden that I no do. None, I shall be the own who will hold up the weight of this truth, and in doing so I spare thee, my friends."

Thalia grumbled, "drama queen."

"I don't know, I kind of liked it," a new voice said. The table of turned and there standing before them was a red haired girl with dark freckles across her pale skin. She had long curly hair that symbolised her free spirt. The young woman was beautiful, and while she might dress like a tomboy she carried herself with a grace not seen in most grown women.

Percy stared as his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, "N-Nancy?"

The girl smiled, "hey Percy, long time no see."

"Yeah, you changed," Percy noted as he walked to her.

"I can say the same to you," Nancy chuckled, "I didn't even recognize you at first."

"Yeah, I kind of grew up," Percy chuckled.

"I'll say," Nancy smiled as she checked out the muscles on Percy's arms, "and in all the right places as well."

Percy blushed, "t-thanks."

"You know it's not nice checking out a boy if you don't know whether he has a girlfriend or not," Thalia spoke as she got up and approached Nancy glaring at the girl.

"Really? And who might you be?" Nancy asked as she tried to stare Thalia down.

"Thalia Grace," the demigoddess replied, "you?"

"Nancy Bobofit," the redhead huffed, "I'm Percy's...... friend."

"Well Nancy, I'm his girlfriend," Thalia smirked causing the redhead to stare with wide eyes.

Nancy turned to Percy, "is this true."

'I am so screwed. Like I have never been more screwed in my entire life than I am right now,' Percy gulped as sweat started to fall down his face, 'I'm so dead.'

Percy gulped, "y-yeah."

"So....this is awkward," Micheal supplied from the sidelines as he and Clarisse watched the two women stare each other down.

"Michael, dude, you are so not helping," Percy grumbled.

Michael shrugged, "who said I wanted to help?"

Percy rolled his eyes but didn't reply. Nancy spoke first, "you know after that day in the fair I figured we were pretty much dating Percy."

"Why because you kissed him?" Thalia asked. Nancy raised an eyebrow at that while the daughter of Zeus smirked, "oh yeah, he told me about that."

Nancy growled as he turned to Percy. Her feature immediately turned soft, "Percy, I thought you....I thought you cared for me."

"I do Nancy, but....but we can't be together, it's...it's not possible," Percy sighed, his stomach felt like it was kicking him over and over. He was feeling bad, right now he felt like a bigger ass than Tyler, or Argo. Well maybe not Argo....

"I don't understand what you mean!" Nancy snapped, "what do you mean we can't be together?! Am I not pretty enough?!"

"It's not that-"

"Is it because I don't look like her?" She pointed her finger at Thalia, "because if you want I can colour my hair!"

"Nancy it's because we live in different worlds," Percy sighed, "you remember that time in the fair? Remember....remember how that thing tried to eat us?"

"Y-yeah, so? What does that have to do with us not being able to be together?"

"Well, everything. Nancy you can't...you can't do the things I can. You would be in danger constantly."

"And?"

"Nancy you don't understand-"

"I understand I love you Percy Jackson," tears fell down her cheeks, "and I thought you felt the same."

"Nancy-" Percy began but the gild was already gone. Percy wanted to follow but Thalia stopped him. He turned to his girlfriend, "Thalia I know how this looks but she's my friend, she's is owed at the least an explanation."

"I know," Thalia nodded, "but not from you. She hates you right now, let me do it."

"Ah no offence Thalia, but I'm pretty sure she hates you more," Michael said as he and Clarisse munched on a pair of sandwiches Clarisse had bought, in case of an emergency.

"No, she doesn't hate me, she just hates that I'm dating Percy," Thalia said walking towards where Nancy ran off, "let me talk to her, I'll explain it to her Percy, don't worry."

"I'll come with you," Percy said but Thalia pushed him back again, "Thalia she's my friend and my responsibility."

"I know, but you can't help her. Don't hurt others just to satisfy your own guilt Percy. She needs to understand, and right now only I can do that," and without another word Thalia let the group running to catch up with Nancy.

"Damn, your ex is currently going to track down your female mortal best friend," Clarisse chuckled, "I do not want to be in your shoes Jackson."

"And I don't want to be in yours Clarisse, or else I'll have to go through the torment of having to kiss Michael on a regular basis."

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm a great kisser!" Michael yelled.

"Yeah, sure," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Yes I am! Tell him babe," Michael turned to Clarisse.

"I'll admit, he did have a little trouble at first, but with my help and a little experience he's actually pretty good at it," Clarisse stated with a satisfied smile.

"Ha! See!"

Percy shrugged, "whatever, I still don't want to kiss you."

"Okay now you're just begging for it!" Michael jumped up and ran towards Percy, "you're getting a big sloppy kiss Jackson!"

"Hell no!" Percy turned and ran as Michael chased him around the campus.

"Don't deny it Jackson, you're totally gay for me!"

"Fuck off Michael! You can never catch me and you know it!"

"I don't' have to! You'll slow down, because deep down you want this!"

Clarisse sighed as she rubbed her temples. Some days dating Michael was the easiest thing in the world, other days....well those days were the reason junk food was invented.

With Thalia;

The daughter of Zeus quickly found Nancy sitting under a set of stairs as she bawled her eyes out into her shirt sleeve.

"Go away!" Nact yelled out the moment she saw Thalia approach.

"No, we need to talk."

"I don't want to listen to anything you have to say!"

Thalia sighed as she sat down in front of Nancy. The girl ignored her as she went back to weeping.

"I get it," Thalia began, "I understand how you feel."

"What do you know?!" Nancy snapped, "you didn't have to loose him! I did!"

"That's not true," Thalia leaned back as she remembered all the times she thought Percy died. Alaska, Argo, in another world, "I almost lost him so many times over the summer it isn't even funny."

"But he always came back to you didn't he?" Nancy's tears were big, her eyes red, "he came back to you, not to me. You stole him from me!"

"He's not something to steal," Thalia snapped, "and I didn't steal him."

"Yeah you did," Nancy sniffed, "you just blinked those pretty little eyes of yours and he fell for you, you, you whore!"

Thalia wanted to blast Nancy in the face with a bolt of lighting, but she knew how much the girl meant to Percy. She was his first proper friend after all. Thalia reached into her pocket and took out her flip phone, "you know what fine, look at this."

Nancy looked and displayed on the phone was a picture of Thalia standing next to several beautiful girls. Thalia was pretty, but these girls all looked like supermodels that don't need any photoshop.

"This is basically a group of kids in our camp we call the 'Aphrodite' kids," Thalia lied, "they are the prettiest group of people you will ever meet. They are basically the children of Aphrodite."

Nancy glared at Thalia, "yeah? And?"

"And I'm saying Percy spent an entire summer living with these people, we both did. And believe me when I say quite a few of them wouldn't mind being with him. But he didn't go after them, he didn't even look at them. He didn't pick me because I'm pretty, he picked me because.....because he believed in me."

Thalia sighed as she put away the phone, "in truth, I don't know why he picked me. I never questioned, it, I never.....I didn't want to do anything that would make him go away. He's....he's amazing, he's like this, this..."

"The sun," Nancy supplied, "he's like the sun."

Thalia smiled, "yeah....he is. Every time he's with me I just feel so warm, so safe"

"He makes the troubles to go away."

"And he does that all without even realising it," Thalia chuckled, "he just comes in, throws your life on it's head and then leaves with that stupid smile on his face."

Nancy smiled, "yeah....I remember the first time we talked. He literally dragged me out for ice cream, and back then I as such a bitch to him....I don't even know why he cared so much for me. I figured it was because he liked me."

"No, Percy's not like that," Thalia said, "he probably just did it because....well because he's Percy."

Nancy sighed, "yeah....stupid idiot."

Thalia got up, "look I get it, you don't like me and that's fine. I don't like you as well. But Percy...Percy would feel horrible."

"No, he wouldn't," Nancy sniffed, "I'm not important to him."

"No, you are," Thalia replied, "he told me about you. He considers you his first proper friend, the first one he ever felt close to."

"No, that's Grover," Nancy huffed.

Thalia chuckled, "yeah, but Grover wanted to be Percy's friend, he didn't really have to work for it. But you were the first person he ever tired to be friends with, you helped him become a better person Nancy, and if you didn't speak to him anymore Percy would be hurt. And as his girlfriend it's my job to make sure he isn't hurt."

Thalia extended a hand, Nancy looked at it and sighed, "I don't think I stand seeing him with someone other than me."

"I get that, and you don't have to. But I have a feeling you wouldn't want leave him just like that, Percy isn't the kind of person you just walk away from, you would regret it, I know you would."

Nancy looked at the offered hand, "I.....you're right. I...I would regret it."

Nancy took the offered hand as Thalia pulled her up. "He was right you know, you and him wouldn't have worked out. We live in different worlds."

"You keep saying that, but I don't understand what you mean," Nancy huffed.

"It's a long story."

"I have nothing but time."

Thalia smiled, "well why not," the girls walked back to the cafeteria, "tell me Nancy, what do you know about the Greek Gods?"

Friday Night;

After an awkward reunion with Nancy, Percy and her had restarted their friendship. Though now it was a little bit more strained.

The week soon passed before anyone noticed and the next thing he knew Percy had to be in New York in five minutes for his first ever day as a police intern.

If he was anyone else Percy would have been royally screwed, but luckily Percy had super speed and the ability to create an time dilation ID. He had made it to the 12th precinct just in time.

As Percy walked into the police department he looked around observing all that was happening. It was just as he remembered it, everyone was busy, detectives were working on white boards putting up their cases in order to gain the opinion of others.

Percy smiled as he walked around getting a feel of the place. It was very hectic and fast paced, but Percy didn't really care, he was used to this kind of lifestyle. He quickly walked into the break room where most of the cops when to grab a cup of coffee before heading back to their desks.

The room looked pretty ordinary, except for various boards and pamphlets pinned up across the wall. There was a lot to read, mostly just bulletins regarding safety issues or other miscellaneous items. But one board stuck out to Percy beyond anything else.

It was white with a simple graph slowly increasing in a steep curve. The X axis showed the time passed for the graph, while the Y axis showed the amount of crime. It seemed ever since this June crime had risen by a steady rate.

Percy frowned, he remembered hearing about this in the news back in the yacht to Alaska. Back then he and Thalia suspected this wave of crime was due to Kronos being revived, since he was the Titan of evil it would make sense that his presence caused this new wave of terror.

"Yeah, things are bad, but it's nothing we can't handle," a man spoke up behind Percy.

The demigod turned and there standing behind him was an older man that came from Latino descent. He looked tough, judging from the military haircut and the muscles underneath his skin tight shirt Percy wagered he was possibly some kind of veteran. Percy looked at his name;

Javier Esposito, Cop

Lv- 19

Percy was impressed, his level was pretty high for a human.

"You must be Esposito," Percy said with a smile.

The man nodded, "yeah, how did you know?"

"Castle mentioned you," Percy recalled the dinner he had in Castle's place a few night's ago, "he gave me a good enough description of you. How did you know me?"

"I was there when you found those kidnapped siblings," the cop answered, "I helped bring them to the hospital. Nice work by the way, you solved that case in what, an afternoon?"

Percy blushed, "w-well yeah."

"So....Kate tells me you're some kind of genius," Esposito turned to the white board with the crime rate graph written on it, "tell me genius, why do you think crime has suddenly picked up?"

"Well....." 'maybe it's because the Titan of evil has risen up?' Percy wanted to say, but obviously that was off the table, "maybe it's because someone is causing it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well....if it happens every summer then yeah, it's just a coincidence. But it hasn't happened before, right?" Percy turned to Esposito who nodded, "then that means it's not something that happens naturally. So that means someone is causing it, someone from the shadows."

Percy meant Kronos, but he knew Esposito thought he meant a kingpin of crime of something, which was kind of what he was going for.

"Not a bad theory kid," Esposito nodded, "in fact it's the same conclusion many of us here in the present have come to. We even gave this person a nick name."

"What is it?"

"'The Master Hand'."

"Really? 'The Master Hand'?"

"What? No good?"

"No, it's awesome, it's just.....well why would you give him such a cool name?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is a bad guy right?" the cop nodded, "well why would you give this guy a cool name? That's would just encourage him. You should give him something stupid or silly. Like... 'The Cotton Candy Man'."

"Do you know how stupid that would be? Every time we speak about him or file a report case about him we would have to call him by that nickname. Can you imagine this entire precinct yelled out, 'where the hell is The Cotton Candy Man?!'"

Percy laughed, "yeah, I guess it would be silly."

Esposito nodded, "yeah...well anyway, time to get you started."

"Wait, where's Beckett and Castle?" Percy asked, "I thought they were going to be here."

"Yeah no, they have an active case, those two are the best team we have on the force right now and so they rarely have free time to spare."

"So wait, does that mean I'm under you?"

"Well....sort off. Think of it like a big brother program, basically I'm in charge of your activities here, meaning you do what I say when I say. Got it?"

"Sir yes sir," Percy mocked saluted causing Esposito to smile.

"How did you figure out I was a soldier?"

"The hair, plus the scars and muscles. It was either a soldier or just a really traumatised dude."

This time the officer did laugh, "you're pretty funny kid, I'll give you that. Well alright funny guy, follow me."

Percy followed the man as he lead him towards the back of the precinct. In front of them was a steel door Esposito went to the digital pad on the side and punched in a code.

The door swung open and the two walked in. They entered a room with no windows and only one entrance. The steel door shut behind them as Percy looked around. There were stacks and stacks of boxes each filled in with what looked like old case files. From what Percy could see everything was in a state of disarray, the dates were mixed up, the names were mismatched. It was a mess.

"This is our archives," Esposito said as he turned on the internal ventilation system, "basically your job will be to go through each and every box in this room and arrange them properly."

"Shit," Percy cursed, "there are enough boxes in here to fill up a library!"

Esposito nodded, "yeah. Well....get to it."

"Wait, I'm guessing this is supposed to keep me busy for a few days right?" Percy asked. Esposito nodded and Percy continued, "what if I finished sooner than that?"

The cop smiled, "well that's impossible. It would take an army to sort through all of this."

"Humor me boss."

" Fine, if you manage to arrange them all sooner then I suppose I would be forced to figure some other job for you. Maybe I could introduce you to the forensics department, most of the real detective work starts there you know."

"I see.....can I hold you to that?"

"Always."

"Then I suppose you better get that little trip ready Esposito. I'll be done with this by the end of the day."

The cop laughed, "sure kid, sure. You get on that. Anyway the code to the door is 2233456, don't forget it, I don't want to keep coming here because you forgot the code."

Percy nodded as he took off his jacket putting it on a nearby chair. He cracked his knuckles and neck, "well, time to get to work."

Esposito smiled and walked out shutting the steel door behind him. He figured the kid would take at least the weekend to complete the job. So that meant the cop had three days time to figure out something for the kid.

Inside the sealed records room a small tornado was brewing. Percy had gone into super speed mode. He couldn't think in super speed, but he could move in it. That plus his advanced reading skills and large processing speed helped Percy to catalog and put away every single file, folder and box in that room.

He didn't even notice the time fly by. There wasn't any windows in the room and once Percy was focused on something nothing could distract him.

That night;

Esposito yawned as he walked towards the records room. Today had been a stressful day for the cop, but it wasn't over. He still had to check up on Percy in the records room. He unlocked the steel door and walked in. He looked around and his jaw dropped.

Everything was arranged properly, the room looked revived. No files were misplaced, no boxes out of their proper place. The latino cop turned to Percy who was currently looking through a case file with several others stacked on the desk in front of him.

"Percy!" Esposito shouted, "what the hell is going on?!"

Percy lowered the file he was reading, "ah....I was just reading up on some old cold cases, hope you didn't mind."

"No, not that! I mean this!" He pointed at the room.

"What? Did you want me to catalog them as well?" Percy asked, "because that might take some time."

"No! I mean how are you already done?! This should have taken you days! At the least the whole weekend!"

Percy shrugged, "I'm a fast worker."

"Kid, this isn't just fast, it's impossible!" Esposito went over to a random shelf and looked over the files. And sure enough every single one was arranged according to their case number, there was even a little tag in each shelf explaining what numbers they contained.

"Well I guess I'm just talented then," Percy waved his hands manipulating the Mist to a minor degree;

Mist Control, Lv-3 (60%)

The user can control the mist to create illusions.

Can be used on- Mortals

Range- 30 meters

Slowly Esposito's mind started to fog up. His thoughts began to jumble up. What was he worrying about? He wanted the job done and now it was done. He shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"R-right," Esposito shook his head, "right, good job Percy, this is amazing work."

"Thanks," Percy smiled, "anyway, I kind of got bored after all that and took a sneak peak into some of the cold files you guys had laying around, I hope you don't mind."

"Neah, not a problem, just don't take them out of this room," Esposito warned.

"Got it boss."

The cop nodded before smiling again, "wow, I got to say Percy this is amazing, I honestly didn't expect you to finish so soon." Percy readied his Mist Control skill, just in case he had to use it again, "hell I don't even know what I should do with you now!"

Percy smiled, guess the illusion worked after all. "Well you did mention something about a trip down to the forensics lab?"

The cop nodded, "yeah...yeah...I'll have to make a few calls, but it should be possible. Anyway, it's time for you to leave Percy, it's getting late."

"Right," Percy grabbed his jacket and closed the files he was reading up, he would pick up where he left off tomorrow.

The two men walked out of the records room as Esposito walked Percy out, "so your staying with your mom while in New York?"

Percy nodded, "yeah. I go to a school in the country, but whenever I come to NY I stay with my mom."

"Right, well I'm guessing you know your way around this city then?" they exited the building walking towards the car park across the road.

"Yeah, I was born and brought up here detective, I can handle myself," Percy chuckled.

"Good to know kid," Esposito stopped in front of a Honda civic, he unlocked it and turned to Percy, "oh and call me Espo, everyone does."

Percy nodded, "got it Espo, see you tomorrow." And with that the two went their separate ways. As soon as Percy was far enough he opened up his inventory and pulled out an orange case file he had smuggled out of the records room.

He slipped into his time ID and walked back into the now empty precinct and sat down on one of the random desks in there.

This was a folder that was tucked in the very edges of the records room. From what Percy could tell it was one of the oldest unsolved cases in this place.

30 years ago a man was found butchered in the middle of Central park. Three days after that another body showed up, this time it was a woman. Three days after that came a boy and three days after that a little girl at the age of 12.

Each murder was unique. The man was beheaded, the woman rapped and ripped limb from limb. The boy was.....was torn apart from the inside. Percy didn't even want to think about how a human could have possibly do such a thing. And the last little girl.....she died of internal bleeding. They found semen in her, but it wasn't enough to identify the killer.

Percy was seething, who ever this monster was he killed, raped and was now freely running about this city. The only piece of evidence the killer left behind was the semen and a white piece of cloth that seemed to belong to his shirt.

Percy closed the file and sighed, when he started this he just assumed his gaming powers would help him out and solve the crimes for him, but now he realised how foolish those thoughts were.

But he wasn't going to give up, he couldn't let this go. It may have been 30 years ago, but Percy knew that the criminal, this monster, was still free. And he couldn't let that stand. Not when he could possibly stop him.

The first thing Percy did was walk back into the records room. He had to break down the door, since you know, no electricity inside an ID, meaning no digital lock. Once inside Percy searched through the files, which were identical to the ones in the real world, and found the ones about the victim's personal lives and notes compiled by the cops on the case.

Percy quickly read through them all and was honestly baffled. The victims had no connections at all. None. The man was a doctor, the woman a housewife, the boy a teenage student in highschool and the girl....well she was just that, a girl.

The only reason the police even connected them all to the same killer was because of how close in time the bodies appeared and the fact that all of their left pinkie toes were cut off using a pair of, what seemed to be, garden clippers.

Percy quickly began looking through the detective's notes. From what he gathered they were onto something, something big. There were two officers, one Richard Parkins and one Robert Lamp. Lamp was the more enthusiastic of the two while Parkins just seemed like he was doing his job. And now Lamp was dead while Parkins lived.

They had one lead, an older man named Travis Deliver, but they didn't' get enough on him to make it stick. But ether way that didn't matter. If Travis was an old man back then, he was probably dead by now.

Regrettably Percy closed the files and put them away. He still kept the main one in his inventory, maybe he could look it over some other time and it could jog his memories, but for now this was one cold case Percy couldn't solve.

Percy wished he could, he wished for a way, but it wasn't to be.

Percy moved on to another case file, this time it was about a killer that killed one woman by stuffing her into a drainage pipe. Percy didn't even want to think how he had managed to do that.

Then there was one about the 'Red Tape' killer, struck in the 80's, tied a red tape around each of his victim's neck. Total know murders, 12, no leads and no evidence.

The more Percy looked through the more horrified he got. All these people dead, all of them brutalised, and their attackers were still lose. They were out there, and no one was looking for them, no one except Percy. He remembered, he wouldn't forget, he didn't allow himself to forget. Maybe this information would be useful in the days to come, maybe, just maybe, he would catch these people.

The Next Day;

Percy was lead to the basement of the 12th Precinct by Espo. He had arrived early in the morning and spent what free time he had looking over old case files. When Espo found him Percy was practically buried under a mountain of old paper pouring through each and every one of them.

Eventually Espo managed to drag Percy out and they were now heading to the forensics lab. They quickly entered it and immediately Percy was hit with the smell of chemicals, mostly embalming fluid and the like.

Standing before them was a corpse laid out on a flat operating table. It was an older man with white hair on his chest, and what else?... Oh yes, he also had his chest cavity open exposing his internal organs.

Percy figured that the sight of a dead body might disturb him, but it didn't. Gamer's mind didn't even have to activate, Percy had seen so much horrible shit that a dissected dead body didn't even phase him now.

"Your early," a woman walked out of the back room of the lab wearing white gloves stained with blood and a blue nurses uniform. She had dark skin with a curvy figure and curly black hair. Percy figured she was the medical examiner/forensic specialist.

"Hey Lanie," Espos smiled as they walked to Lanie.

"So you just going to drop him off with me for the day?"

"Well I figured you could use the extra set of hands," Espo shrugged.

"Really? Is that what this is? It isn't you handing me your problem for the day?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me Lanie this kid is a miracle worker, he organized the entire records room in a day," Espo said in a tone of disbelief, "a day Lanie!"

The medical examiner rolled her eyes, "yeah yeah. So, this is the boy genius Kate and Castle have been raving about huh?" Lanie looked down at Percy giving him a smile, "I'm Lanie by the way, Lanie Parish."

"Percy, Percy Jackson," Percy offered his hand but then stopped looking down at Lanie's blood and gore covered gloves, "ah, on second thought maybe we should just wave."

Lanie chuckled, "nice. Anyway I hope you have a good stomach kid, because the stuff you'll see here....well let's just say it's not for the faint of heart."

Percy nodded, "it's cool. I have a pretty good stomach."

Lanie shrugged, "fine, don't say I didn't warn you. Now, what do you know about the human body?"

Percy recalled all he knew. It wasn't much, it barely warranted it's own branch in his knowledge skill set. "Not much, but I'm a very fast learner. Like give me a book and I can have it memorized."

Lanie raised an eyebrow, "okay....." she turned to Espo, "you owe me."

"I know, thanks babe!" Espo turned to Percy, "and you, behave."

"What could I possibly do?" Percy asked.

"I spoke to Kate last night, she told me how you went behind her back and basically interfered with an ongoing investigation."

"Well in my defence I didn't really go behind her back, that would mean I was her partner or something. I was just a third party individual that just happened to have the skill set to save lives," Percy gave Espo a shit eating grin.

The ex-soldier laughed, "yeah yeah kid, just don't go out and try to solve crimes on your own or something. See you tomorrow!" And with that the cop left.

"Here," Lanie said as she handed Percy a large text book that dealt with the basics of the human body, "go sit in a corner and go through this."

"Wow," Percy grabbed the book. It was huge, easily going up to 2 thousand pages, and the print was small, like font 4 size small. "I somehow get the feeling you don't want me here."

"It's not you sweety, it's the job," Lanie pointed at a desk, presumably hers, and it was filled with folders, "I've just been backlogged for a long time. I can't afford to waste time on a trainee, no matter how cute he is."

Percy smiled at the last comment, "well maybe if I learn this fast enough I could help you."

Lanie smiled, "that would be nice. Now go and study, we can talk about it over lunch."

And with that Percy went and sat in Lanie's desk, she wasn't using it, so might as well right? Percy opened the book and quickly began to look through it.

Whenever Lanie got a moment to spar she would look over to her desk and spot Percy sitting there reading the book. She was surprised at the speed at which he read, his eyes didn't last for more than a few seconds on each page. She doubted he could actually memorize all of that, but even if he only had a vague understanding of the human body then it would be good enough for her.

Some time later:

Lanie had just come back from finishing her lunch, she had offered to take Percy out but the boy was far too distracted. He insisted that he wasn't hungry, which made sense considering he spent the first hours of the day looking at dead bodies and reading about the 'miracles' of the human body.

But when Lanie entered her office once more Percy wasn't at her desk pouring over a book, no, he was currently over the corpse she was performing a medical examination on with the corpse file open in his hands.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lanie asked.

"He died because of mercury poisoning," Percy stated as he turned to the medical examiner, "the way the nerves are rected and the blue lines running across the victim's body indicates as such."

Lanie blinked, "wow, that's pretty good. But that isn't the cause of death."

Percy blinked, "what?"

"The mercury poisoning was there, but it didn't kill him, something else got to him first. If you notice the mercury hasn't spread too far, so something else happened that killed him."

Percy formed as he glared at the body like it had offended him in some way. He stayed silent for a few minutes, his eyes constantly shifting from one organ to another, before finally he smiled.

"Kidney failure," Percy claimed, "he died because of a kidney failure."

This time Lanie was genuinely surprised, "what?" she put on a pair of gloves and looked over the corpse. She hadn't noticed the discoloration of the kidney's underside, it wasn't normally the first thing anyone looks for.

The female forensic analyst turned to Percy, "how did you know that?"

Percy grinned, "I have a good eye."

Human Body, Percentage known- 65%

You knowlegde about the human body and how it is affected by various substances. It is currently above average than the normal person, on par with physicians.

This new skill helped Percy individually analyse the victim's corpse and find out what was wrong. Now that he actually knew what all those complicated terms meant he had a much easier time knowing what to do.

Organ: Liver,

A large lobed glandular organ in the abdomen of vertebrates, involved in many metabolic processes.

Status: Liver failure (Death)

The medical examiner whistled, "damn....okay I'll take it back. Espo just might have given me the best birthday gift ever."

"Oh, it's your birthday?"

"Figure of speech honey," Lanie smiled as she grabbed an extra set of gloves, "now put these on. Let's see if we can use that genius head of yours and that sharp eye to find out just what the hell happened with these people."

"Yes ma'am," Percy grinned as he took the gloves and stood behind Lanie. She slowly began to pour over the body, dictating aloud everything she was doing. Percy stood there taking mental note of all that she said. It payed to have an intelligence level of over 100 points.

By the end of the day Lanie had finished over half the of the ongoing cases she had piled up. Percy had been a machine, moving from one file to the next. And often times his predictions were spot on, of course he often times needed help, he was doing this for the first time ever, but it was almost supernatural the way he knew exactly what was wrong with the dead bodies.

"I have to say Percy, I'm very impressed, were you lying when you said you had no prior experience with this kind of stuff?" Lanie asked as she sat back on her desk enjoying a hot cup of coffee.

Percy smiled,"no Lanie, I wasn't. I told you, I'm a quick study."

"Well you better be, or else I just might think you were an angel sent by God or something," Lanie smiled as she drank the brown bitter drink.

"Wrong religion," Percy muttered.

"I'm sorry what?"

"Nothing!" Percy smiled.

Just then the doors to the medical lab were thrown open as Castle and Kate walked in. Percy smiled, "hey guys!"

"Hello Percy, Lanie," Kate smiled at her friend, "you seem pretty relaxed."

"I am," the dark skinned woman smiled.

"Weren't you just complaining this morning about how much work you had to go through?" Castle asked as he and Percy shared a hug.

"I was, and now I'm not. And it's all thanks to this miracle boy over there," Lanie pointed at Percy who blushed.

"It was nothing."

"Yeah, sure," Lanie rolled her eyes, "I honestly don't know what's going on here Becket. I gave him a medical journal to read, and in a few hours he was done. I then asked him to help out, and the next thing I know half off my work pile is finished and I'm sitting here drinking coffee, thanks for that Castle."

"Don't mention it," Castle turned to see Percy's confused look, "I bought them a new coffee machine a few years ago," he explained causing Percy to nodd.

"So when were you guys going to tell me you two adopted a genius?" Lanie asked looking at Castle and Kate.

"Really? A genius?" Kate asked.

"Well he did learn in one afternoon what I learnt in over three months. Sure it's not perfect, he needs a lot of experience, but damn if that still isn't impressive!"

Kate turned to Percy, "you know Espo told me a similar story, one about you filing and arranging the entire records room in a single day."

Percy chuckled, "I told you I was awesome."

"The king of video Game and menial tasks," Castle patted Percy on the shoulder, "you my young friend are very impressive."

"Thanks Castle," Percy smiled.

"Now why are you two here?" Lanie asked, "I assume it's not just to check up on the boy genius over here."

"Did you get the body we found in Central park?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, I was just about to go over it after my break," Lanie went to the morgue, "Percy pick up the 'John Doe' case file please."

"Got it," Percy grabbed the file as the small group of people moved to the wall containing all the bodies. Lanie opened up one of the refrigerated compartments and pulled the table out. The body on the slab was off a 25 year old male, no tattoos, no marking of any kind. The police and Lanie had no idea who he was. But Percy....well Percy had a different problem.

Adam Lohus, Lawyer

Lv- 14

HP: 0/0 (Dead)

MP: 0/0 (Dead)

Race- Human

Str- 0

Vit- 0

Dex- 0

Int- 0

Wis- 0

Luc- 0

The corpse of one Adam Lohus. In life he was a successful defense lawyer for the criminal underworld. He was unmarried and has no one close to him.

Likes: Golf, Money, Sex

Dislikes: African Americans, Dodgers.

He doesn't know Percy

In life he was a great lawyer and excelled in thinking up airtight defence arguments.

He doesn't have any feelings, he's dead

Percy knew exactly who this man was, and he couldn't figure out how he could tell Castle and Kate how he knew this.

As Lanie was explaining to Castle and Kate what all she found while operating on the body Percy looked over the body. The man died from strangulation, there were rope marks around his neck. But it wasn't a suicide, the dozen stab wounds on his sternum suggests otherwise.

Adam here was a lawyer, and that meant his prints must be in some system somewhere, but the killer must have already thought about that and Adam's fingers had been burnt with a torch. Lanie hoped that she could find something out using his dental records, but that wasn't really a promising lead.

Just then Percy noticed something, something he hadn't seen before. He didn't realise how he could have ever missed it, Adam's body as missing something, it's left pinky toe.

"No fucking way," Percy gasped, this was exactly like the bodies he was reading about last night.

"Got something for us Percy?" Kate asked looking at Percy's surprised face.

"Yeah....but even I don't' believe it," Percy didn't understand, just last night he was reading about this case, and today boom, a body with the exact marking of the killer he had wanted to find. Could he be that lucky? Wait...

Percy pulled up his stats and looked at his luck;

LUC-100

Unfortunately today wasn't Friday, so that meant he didn't get his luck day +25 bonus. But that still made it too farfetched, it was almost like Percy was....granted a wish... 'No, no, no!'

Percy quickly pulled up his perks and looked through them;

Wish- Make one wish a week. 40% chance of success, less the more ridiculous the wish is. (Used. Waiting time- 6 days and counting.)

'Great, just great. The first time this thing actually worked and it did so to provide me with a dead body.' Percy was worried, did he cause this man to die? Did he doom this man because of his wish? Or was the wish simply easy to grant and that's why it was the only one that worked?

"Percy," Castle questioned in a concerned tone, "are you okay?"

Percy snapped his head up, "y-yeah. Lanie, when did this body die?"

"Ah, from what I can tell the 'John Doe' died sometime around 5 in the evening last night. At least that's what the decomposition tells me."

Percy sighed, 'good, that means he died before I made the wish. Meaning the only reason my wish was granted was because it was easy to grant. But that begs the question if I never asked for it, would I be standing here right now with the opportunity to solve this case?'

The implications were mind boggling for Percy, just as he was about to think about the ability for him to affect the actions of the world around him Kate spoke up, "Percy are you okay? You seem very distracted."

"I'm fine," Percy pushed the thoughts away to the back of his mind, "I need a few minutes."

Kate and Castle nodded and Percy quickly ran out. As he left he could here Lanie speaking, "I don't' understand why he reacted like that. He's been here all day, he's seen way worse things."

Percy however didn't care, he quickly ran to the bathroom and checked it. Once he was sure he was alone he opened his inventory and pulled out the file he nicked the day before. This was the case file they needed, with this Castle and Kate could track down the killer.

Percy was tempted, very very tempted to just run off on his own right now and get this man. All he would have to do is wait, if this killer followed the same pattern then another body would show up somewhere in central park tonight.

But at the same time Percy knew the difference between justice and vengeance. If it was Percy's mom who was killed, and he couldn't find the killer, then he would want justice for the crime. He wouldn't want some random third party to take care of the killer, Percy would want to do it himself. And the family of the victims...they deserved that.

So Percy sighed and walked out of the toilet. He walked back to the morgue, "here, you guys will need this."

Castle took the file and quickly poured over it with Kate reading over his shoulder Castle finished first as he looked at Percy, "where did you get this Percy?"

"Yesterday while in the Record's room I looked over a couple of cold cases," Percy explained, "a few stuck out to me, this was one of them."

"So you think the same person who killed these four people is back?" Kate asked as she passed the file to Lanie who went over the corner reports of the bodies.

"Yeah, well either that or a copy cat," Percy pointed at the missing pinkie toe, "that is a very specific trophy. It has to be one of those two."

"Well then maybe we are looking at a copycat," Castle offered, "after all it can't be the original killer, he must be what? 80 something by now?"

"No, it's not a copycat," Lanie spoke up, "this reports match exactly up with what I'm seeing over here. The angle of the cut, the missing bones in the pinkie that were removed after the cut. It's way too close to be a coincidence."

"So maybe the new guy knows the old killer," Percy supplied, "maybe the older killer wanted to leave behind a legacy."

"We need to track down the officers that were in charge of this case," Kate said, "from what I can see we only have one lead, Parkins."

"What about that travis guy?" Castle asked.

"Dead," Percy supplied, "I know, I checked last night. Do you guys have Parkinson's address in the database?"

"If he's getting his pension from the department then yes," Kate took out her phone and dialed in a number, "this is detective Beckett, I need the address of one retired police officer..."

While Kate arranged for that Percy turned to Castle, "I'm coming with."

"Yeah, no can do," Castle shook his head, "it's way too dangerous for you."

"You came in here with nothing Castle, I'm the one who gave you not just a clue, but a lead. Without me you would have had to pile through the entire records room, which I remind you I arranged and catalogue just the other day. You would have had to look through all of them, by the time you did that the killer would have struck again."

"...If I didn't know you were Sally's son before I sure do now," Castle sighed, "look it's not up to me."

"It's up to me," Kate walked to them as she put away her phone, "I got the address, come on Castle."

"I'm coming with," Percy grabbed his coat.

"No you're not," Kate argued back.

"Kate if you don't let me come with you I will go behind your back and I will find this man on my own. If you don't think I will, then you don't know me at all."

"Percy I'm grateful for your help, I am. But any interference from a non department individual and any case we make against this guy won't stick."

"And why is Castle allowed to go?"

"Because' he's a consultant," Kate glared, "you are not coming, that's final."

"Fine....but if one more body appears tomorrow and you two aren't any closer to finding the killer I'm stepping in."

"You know it's almost cute when you behave like that," Castle chuckled, "it's like seeing a mini me."

"Expect more handsome," Percy turned back, "now go, before I change my mind."

The couple rolled their eyes and quickly turned away. They waved goodbye to Lanie and walked out of the morgue.

Ping!

Quest Alert!

Find and Stop the serial killer!

Rewards:

+10,000 Exp

?

Failure:

3 more people will die

Do you accept?

YES/NO?

Percy pressed yes without hesitation.

He walked to the phone on Lanie's desk and picked up the receiver dialing up the central database. Cleared his throat deepening his voice, "hello, this is detective Esposito, badge number 2232D, I need the present address of one Rickard Parkins."

Lanie's eyes went wide as Percy took down the offered address. He put the phone down and tucked the piece of paper with Parkin's address away.

"When did you get Esposito's number?" Lanie asked.

"I got a glance of his badge yesterday," Percy shrugged, "figured he wouldn't mind."

"You realise you are going to be in big trouble right?"

"Are you going to try and stop me?"

"No, frankly I think Kate was being a little dense by not bringing you along," Lanie admitted earning a couple of brownie points in Percy's book, "but she did have a point. If you interfere with a police investigation then you are risking letting this guy walk free."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Percy promised as he walked out the door, "don't wait up!"

The demigod quickly walked out of the present and into an alleyway. The address he got was pretty far way in Queens. Castle and Kate were taking their car, meaning they were going to be delayed by traffic. So Percy already had a head start on them.

He slipped into his Time dilaton ID and ran across the city. He crossed the bridge from the island and into Queens. He approached a sub urban area in the very edge of the area, it was the kind of place where every building looked like every other building, the kind Percy hated.

He quickly reached the address of the retired cop and slipped out of his ID. the house was an independent building with two stories and an unkempt front lawn. Percy looked around, he couldn't see anyone inside, and his mana wave only worked on people with magical abilities. Mortals most often don't have any magic to detect.

The best thing for Percy to do right now would be to wait for Castle and Kate....neah.

He quickly thought off a couple of ways to talk to the man and find out what he would need to know. Since he was old and retired now the man would have a lot of free time. Percy could just walk up to the man and ask about his case, he was a policeman though, and those guys wouldn't talk about cases unless there was a reason to.

Percy quickly formed a plan, the direct approach would be the best.

He walked up to the front door and knocked on the door. He waited for a few moment before the door swung open revealing a thin elderly man standing up with a cane. He smiled, "yes, can I help you?"

Percy opened his mouth and was about to answer, but his voice got caught the moment he saw the man's title;

Richard Parkins, Serial Killer

Lv- 17

Percy couldn't believe it, he had found him. This guy was the killer, no, that couldn't be, he needed to be sure. So Percy Observed him;

Richard Parkins, Serial Killer

Lv- 17

HP: 300/300 (-400 due to old age)

MP: 0/0

Race- Human

Str- 4 (-13 due to old age)

Vit- 5 (-12 due to old age)

Dex- 6 (-10 due to old age)

Int- 15

Wis- 19

Luc- 21

Parkins is a retired police officer that now lives with his son, Jared. He served the department for over 30 years and was a decent cop, however he used his time there to get away with murder as Parkins often was struck with the tendency to kill people. He so far hasn't gotten caught

Likes: Killing, women, TV

Dislikes: Beautiful women, Old age, his son

He is aroused by Percy' face

He is a smart killer that knows how to cover his tracks.

He is feeling aroused and excited

Percy couldn't believe it. It wasn't solid proof, this just said he was a killer, not the killer. He didn't know for sure if this was the man he was looking for. But Percy had a way to make sure.

Immediately Percy brought his hand up and began manipulating the Mist. Parkins' eyes began dazed, his older age and dull mind made it easier for Percy to manipulate him.

"Did you kill those four people 30 years ago?" Percy asked.

"What? No," the man answered. Percy couldn't make the man tell him the truth, but he could confuse him, make him less jumpy to the questions asked.

Lie Detected!

Percy frowned, "where did you keep them?"

"I don't' have to tell you," the old man was slowly breaking out of his dazed state, but Percy held on.

"If I search your house will I find evidence to convict you of those murders so many years ago?"

"No."

Lie Detected!

Percy didn't have much time, the man was slowly fighting back, he needed to end this now. He snapped his fingers wiping away the past five minutes from the man's memories, replacing it with a memory of sitting in his living room watching TV.

Ping!

You have leveled up a skill!

Mist Control, Lv-4 (20%)

The user can control the mist to create illusions and effect the perception of reality of victims.

Can be used on- Mortals

Percy quickly slammed down and prayed to his dad that his 80% believability rate on his acting skills would be enough for what he was going to do.

The old man shook his head, the false memories were setting in. He looked up at Percy, "who are you?"

"Hi, I'm new to the neighborhood and just thought I should introduce myself," Percy smiled as he extended a hand.

"I see, well I'm Richard Parkins," the man smiled as he shook Percy's hand. The demigod could feel the lust roll off the man's body, he was sick in the head, but not the kind that Carol was, no, he couldn't be healed. He actively looked for victims and used his job to cover his tracks. He needed to answer for his crimes.

"Well I'll see you soon Mr. Parkins," Percy turned to leave.

"Oh please, don't leave, come in," Parkins stepped aside inviting Percy inside, "I'll get you something to drink."

'Yeah, sure so that you can roofie me I'm sure,' Percy didn't let his smile falter, "please I don't want to be a bother. Plus my parents want me to come home right now."

Lie succeeded!

"I see..." the old man scanned Percy for any sign of deceit, but found none. "Well where do you stay?"

"A few streets down. The house with the red roof," Percy recalled passing the house when running here.

Lie succeeded!

"I see, well don't' be a stranger, come and visit when you wish,"and with that the man closed the door.

Percy walked away, he looked over his handler and saw Parkins looking at him through his window curtains. Percy smiled and waved, the man waved back. Percy turned the street corner and stopped, he needed to tell Castle and Kate this.

A few minutes later:

Their car pulled up and he two partners walked out. They waked towards Parkin's house when Percy spotted them.

"Pst!" Percy hissed. He managed to get Castle's attention who looked surprised to see Percy there. Percy waved him over, Castle tapped Kate's shoulder and pointed at Percy. Her jaw dropped, and Percy just waved them towards him.

Percy stood away from the line of sight from the Parkin's house, he didn't want to risk the old man seeing him.

Kate reached him first, "how the hell did you get here before us?"

"Train, plus you guys drove here on a Saturday afternoon, it's like you wanted to get caught in traffic," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I'm not even going to question this," Castle sighed, "fine, I assume you already interrogated our one lead?"

"No," Percy replied, "I pretended to be a new neighbor that popped in to say hello, and...." Percy had spent his free time thinking of how to tell the two that the old man was the killer, "and I think this guy was the killer."

"What?!" Kate had a look of complete disbelief on her face, "why?"

"Well for one he was checking me out," Percy shivered.

"So that would make him a pedofile, not a killer," Castle argued.

"Yeah, look I can't describe it okay, when I looked at im I saw the eyes of a killer. And believe me when I say I know a killer when I see one."

"Really?" Kate asked, "why is that? Because your a cop with years and years of experience? Percy you can't just throw around accusations like that."

"Look Kate I get it, but trust me, please, he's the man we are looking for. And the evidence you need will be found in his house, I promise you."

Kate and Castle shared a look before turning to Percy. "Go back to the Precinct Percy," Kate told him, "we'll talk when we get back."

Percy sighed, "fine. But please, trust me Kate. That man isn't a nice guy, he's hurt people."

"Percy he's a cop, we have seen a lot in our time serving," Kate's eyes became unfocused as if she was recalling a darker time, "we all have."

"Yeah, but yours isn't filled with bloodlust, his is," Percy sighed, "fine, do what you want. I'll see you later."

Percy turned and walked away. Castle looked at Kate, "what do you think?"

"I don't know Castle.....your thoughts?"

"I've seen Percy do some pretty amazing things, and that's not including his amazing video gaming skills," Castle chuckled, "he tracked down two missing kids in less that 12 hours Kate with nothing more than a gang name and a single witness. And then...and then there are times when he seems so much older than he is. There's this whole other part of him and Sally that we have never gotten to see....I think we should at least consider Parkins a suspect."

Kate sighed, "damn it, if you're saying it....fine. Let's go."

With Percy;

Perc couldn't go back to the Precinct yet, if he arrived too early then the timings wouldn't match up and Kate would get suspicious. After all there was no way a kid could go from Queens to NY in a few seconds.

So Percy did what any good wannabe crime fighter would do, he went to the scene of the crime.

The place where the body was found was a few feet away from a runner's track on the South side of the park. Yellow tape was still up, Percy couldn't get too close, so he slipped into his ID.

Since everything in the real world was copied into the ID world all the crime scene was also done so. That meant Percy had the entire scene for himself.

He slowly levitated himself into the air, there wasn't any use, the officers who came to take the body probably already messed up any tracks, but at least Percy won't be adding to the damage.

Percy then began to abuse the shit out off his Observation skills. He scanned the entire area and found nothing, any evidence of anything of importance found here was probably already at the precinct.

Percy was about to leave when he had a thought, how did an old man, walking with a cane no less, manage to carry a 130 pound health man all the way into Central Park? And that too without being noticed?

Realisation dawned on Percy as he immediately slipped out of his ID and began running through Central Park. He pulled out his cell phone and called up Kate.

"Hello?"

"Kate! There's two of them!" Percy yelled into the phone, "there are two killers! He couldn't have done it himself! He's too weak!"

"Percy what are you-" something happened, she stopped speaking, Percy heard mumbling on the other side of the phone. Suddenly Kate's voice was heard again, "Percy, I need to go. Something came up."

"Kate wait!"

"Percy!" Kate snapped, "me and Rick have to go and meet Sally, you remember Sally right? That old woman with the bad leg and her son? Well you see the son kind of got into trouble over the week in his school and she wants me to talk to him, give him the old 'if you keep going down this path you'll end up in jail' talk. Understand?"

Percy blinked, "ah, yeah."

"Great. I'll call you soon, oh and when you come home bring Espo and rest."

Percy nodded, "yeah, got it." The phone cut off. Percy understood what was going on.

Kate was in trouble. Percy remembered reading about the man's son, Jared, he must be the one helping the old man out. Carrying on the family tradition. The old man and his son must have them at gunpoint or something. Kate dropped far too many hints for it not to be the case.

Percy dialed up Esposito's number quickly, "hello? Detective Esposito?"

"Who is this? Percy?"

"Yeah it's me, listen Kate and Castle are in trouble and they need our help, now."

"Wait what? What happened?!"

"They were going to talk to a suspect when they got jumped, I managed to call Kate beforehand and she indicated that she was being kidnapped. I'll text you the address, get there as soon as you can."

"Wait where are you now?!"

"I'm a few blocks away from them," Percy lied as he began to run out of Central Park, "I'll see you guys there."

"Percy don't try to-" Percy cut him off. He quickly texted Espo Parkin's address and put the phone away. The demigod slipped into a shady part of the park and took off in a blur.

He reached the same creepy ass street in a few seconds. Kate's and Castle's car was outside, meaning they must still be here. The old man didn't have a car, not one Percy could see, so he would have had to take theirs.

He immediately slipped into his ID and ran into the house. He tore down the door and began to search the place, Parkins had to be keeping Castle and Kate here, people would notice if he walked out two cops with a gun pointed at their heads.

Percy quickly found a secret backdoor in the laundry room. He tore down the door with his super strength and walked down.

Inside was a dungeon of sorts. It gave Percy flashbacks to his time with Carol. There was a single steel cage in the center of the room with a metal table in the side. A tray of torture tools were lined up next to it. Percy didn't have to be a genius to guess what the old man was about to do.

The demigod immediately slipped out of his ID and the real world fell into place. Parkins stood over the metal table with Castle strapped into it. Kate stood horrified in the steel cage as Parkins and a younger man with a big belly, presumably Jared, his son, had Castle knocked out.

"And now you'll scream," Parkins looked at Kate as he raised a dagger high into the air ready to plunge it into Castle's heart.

"Fuck no!" Percy roared as he charged. Jared turned and fired the gun in surprise at Percy' sudden appearance.

"Percy no!" Kate cried out. The bullet hit Percy in the chest, but instead of piercing his skin the lead ball bounced off Percy's jacket.

Percy didn't even slow down, he grabbed Jared by the throat and slammed him into the cage where Kate threw her hands between the bars and grabbed the man by the neck choking him.

Percy then turned to the old man, "it's over."

"How did you get here!" the man tried to move closer to Castle, he was going to threaten his life, but Percy was faster.

Percy caught the man's knife hand and pulled it up so fast it popped the old man's arm out of it's socket.

"ARGH!" the older man roared as he held his now useless arm in pain. Percy threw a punch clipping him in the jaw and knocking the man out. He also knocked out a couple of teeth, but considering that he wasn't dead Percy figured it was a job well done.

"Percy! A little help!" Kate called. Jared was struggling away from her grip as he tried to reach his gun a few inches away from him.

Percy sighed as he walked up to Jared, drew back his foot, and kneed him right between the legs sending the older man into shock.

"Thanks," Kate said as she let go of Jared's prone form, "can you open this?"

Percy nodded "one second," he bent in front of the lock hand covered it with his hands. He then began to move it, pretending to be working on it when in reality he slowly unlocked it using his ring of Alcyoneus to manipulate the metal lock.

The cage opened up with a click and Kate jumped out wrapping Percy in a hug, "thank God you came when you did."

"I would have been here sooner, but I was calling the cavalry."

"Where are they?"

"Probably still traveling from NY to Queens," Percy shrugged as he moved to unstrap Castle from the table he was on, "I didn't actually return back to the precinct, I stuck around, just in case."

Lie Successful!

"Right," Kate moved her hand to Percy's chest where the bullet hit him, "how are you walking right now?"

"My jacket isn't just for show detective," Percy smiled, "it's a new type of armour a friend of mine invented. Like kevlar, but better."

Lie Successful!

"Amazing," Kate felt the fabric, "where can I get one?"

'Well all you have to do is date the daughter of Zeus, and then you can get your very own!' Percy smiled, "unfortunately it's very expensive. My friend gave this because I saved his life."

"I see...fine, for now let's just get Castle upstairs," Kate went to pick up Castle but Percy grabbed the man carrying him fireman style, "you sure you can carry him?"

Percy rolled his eyes, 'woman I can deadlift buildings, I'm sure a slightly pudgy writer won't be a problem,' "I'll be fine. Anyway, tell me what happened."

"Well after you left Castle and I went to talk to the man. At first it was fine, he spoke about what he did during his case, who he talked to. But then Castle noticed something, the old man was softly insistent on the fact that this murder had nothing to do with the older ones.

"And then....and then I pushed, I realised you might be right, it was stupid of me, I know. But I started to question the man, treated him like a suspect, and he noticed. Then you called, I picked up and the next thing I know his son had a gun trailed on my head. Thank god you noticed something was wrong."

Percy nodded as they walked to the living room and put Castle on the couch, "right...I'll go down to check up on the two, you stay with Castle, here," Percy tossed Kate his phone, "call up Espo and Lanie, they must be worried sick."

Kate nodded as Percy tied Parkins and his son up with a rope he found in the dungeon. They wouldn't be able to run away any time soon.

The swat team arrived in the house five minutes later, truly amazing considering the traffic. Obviously this swat team was from another nearby percent, Espo and the rest only arrived after a good 20 minutes.

By the time everything was said and done Percy had gotten a new notification;

Quest Completed!

Find and Stop the serial killer!

Rewards:

+10,000 Exp

New title!

Congratulations! You unlocked a new title!

Junior Detective- While active you will gain + 2 INT and WIS. +10% bonus on rewards from all crime related quests!

Some time Later;

Percy and Castle stood side by side as they looked through the one way mirror in front of them. On the other side was Kate and Espo both currently interrogating Parkins. The old man had a giant bruise on his lower jaw with several missing teeth and a disjointed arm.

"Damnnn," Esposito whistled, "didn't know Percy was such a badass."

"He mentioned something about self defence classes," Kate smiled, "didn't think we would get such great results from them so soon."

"Well whatever, I'm just happy he's on our side, a kid that smart, I can't imagine how it would be if he turned on us," Espo shuddered.

"Yes, but he won't, he's one of us now, like you were Richard," Kate glared at Parkins. The old man had his head down, he didn't meet her eyes. "You were a cop, one of us, and you abused the power you were given."

"We found the trophies you kept in your basement," Esposito explained as he tossed a folder of pictures onto the interrogation table, "the left pinkie's of all your victims. You kept them in little jar of stuff I can't even begin to pronounce. But luckily you did such a good job at preserving them we were able to extract DNA from them and match it to the victims found 30 years ago."

The old man said nothing. Kate continued, "listen Richard, you are going away for life. You will die in prison, but it doesn't have to be alone in a jail cell."

The old man looked at Kate, "what do you want?"

"A list of all the cases you tampered with over your entire career."

"You want me to destroy my own legacy?"

"You already did that when you killed people," Espo cut in, "do this, and we can think about reducing your son's sentence by just a little bit."

The old man chuckled, "no detective, no. If I do this, I want you to send that useless brat away for life!"

Kate raised an eyebrow, "you would do that to your own son?"

"He isn't my son!" the man snapped, "he's an overweight disappointment! I want him dead, I would have done it myself, but then I would have no one to clean my shit."

Percy felt like puking, he was so glad Poseidon didn't treat him like that.

"Fine, we get your son more time in jail, sounds like a plan, you ready to play ball?" Espo asked.

The old man turned to Kate, he sighed as a look of confusion overtook him, "I was so careful. So many years without getting caught.....how...how did this happen?"

"You got cocky," Kate supplied.

"No, no I never get cocky. I'm not one of those killers that need to show how smart I am detective. I know how smart I am, I don't need to be recognized for it. No....maybe it was my old age, maybe..." the man looked like he was trying to remember something, something long since forgotten.

"Maybe you missed it," Espo rolled his eyes, "or maybe it's because you just got bored. Or maybe you finally grew a fuckign conscious and wanted to get caught."

"No...no I didn't want to get caught....I never wanted to get caught. I can't explain it....it was like...like something turned on in me. Something I thought I switched off."

"And when did this happen?" Kate asked curiously.

"Three months ago."

Percy's eyes widened as he gasped. Castle noticed as he looked at the boy, "what? What's wrong?"

"I-I....nothing, nothing," Percy replied.

"Percy come on, it's obvious something's gotten to you."

Percy waved his hands altering Castle's memories, "I'm fine Castle. Move on."

The writer looked dazed before nodding, "right...tell me if something's wrong." Percy sighed, it looks like he was going to have to use his Mist Control a lot more these days.

Percy turned his attention to the interrogation currently going on. Parkins was currently telling his sad story of how he was abused as a kid. How his father used to threaten to cut off his pinky toe if he didn't obey. In the end Parkins seemed to only kill when it suited him, he was careful, and very very methodical. The more Percy thought about it the more it seemed strange that such a man would just jump up one day and decided 'hey let's go kill someone!'

'Maybe it has to do with Kronos rising....he did say he started feeling the urge to kill around the same time Kronos got revived so....'

Percy looked at the man, he really looked. Before he was always distracted, he needed to read his info card or save Castle's life, but now Percy had more than enough time to look at the man.

The older man had many lines across his face, he lived a very sad life. But there, right in the middle of his forehead, Percy could see something. Something was there, but it was hidden, almost like.... Percy's eyes widened, 'like the Mist.'

Immediately Percy focused as he glared a hole into Parkin's forehead. His eyes kept gazing over the forehead, his mind unable to process what he was seeing, but Percy pushed on, he refused to look away.

And then like glass shattering, the illusion broke.

Suddenly a black crescent moon appeared on Parkin's forehead. Even now the black mark seemed to fade in and out of reality, there was some powerful magic in play here, the kind even Percy had trouble breaking.

Percy didn't know what it was, he couldn't even see it long enough to Observe it, he needed help. If this illusion was strong enough to muddle the sight of a demigod, then Percy would need the eyes of a God to help him. Fortunately he had one on call.

Percy turned to Castle, "hey Castle I'm going to hit the john, be back in a second."

"Right, I'll call you in case we have a runaway gorilla or something. You know, in case we need your help subduing it," Castle chuckled. Percy rolled his eyes and he walked out of the room. He quickly went outside the precinct and into a nearby alley.

He looked at the silver ring around his finger, the sma ring Artemis gave him. He never took it off, well most of the time. He focused on the ring, 'Artemis, I need you.'

Suddenly a silver circle appeared above the ring and Artemis's face appeared. It was similar to an Iris message but Artemis told Percy it was sort of her own personal method of communication, "Percy? What is it?"

"I need you help Arty, it's urgent and it won't take more than a few minutes."

"I see," the redhead looked around and talked to someone Percy couldn't see. She then turned to him, "alright, I assume you're in a place I can teleport to without any witnesses?"

"Yup."

"Then wait a few seconds." Artemis cut the call and the silver circle disappeared. The very next moment the goddess appeared in a flash before Percy dressed in her usual silver parka. Now however Artemis looked a bit older, 16, maybe 17, she also had her hair braided with just the hint of vanilla rolling of her scent.

"What's with the older look?" Percy asked.

"Why? Don't' like it?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Not at all, just curious," Percy waved it away.

"Well if you must know we had a new hunter who was a bit older. I thought that if I age myself up to her age it would help her adapt quicker."

Lie Detected!

Percy blinked, 'why is she lying?' Percy was curious, but it honestly didn't matter. "Right, well, anyway thank you for coming. I wouldn't have called if it wasn't urgent, but I really need your help."

"Sure Percy, what's the matter?" Artemis asked as he guided her into the police precinct.

"So yesterday I started my job here," Percy motioned to the police department, "and we ran across this serial killer that reemerged after over 30 years of silence."

"I see, and you caught him I presume?"

"Goddess please, who the Hades do you think you're talking to?" Percy grinned, "the old man didn't stand a chance."

"So what did he do."

"Well, he....he killed a bunch of people."

"How many?"

"Five that we know off. Two grown men, a woman, a teenage boy and.....and a little girl."

Artemis scowled at the last one, "did you hurt him?"

"I popped his arm out of his socket."

"Good. Now why do you need my help?"

"I noticed something when we were interrogating him. Something I didn't realise was even there. In all honestly it was pure luck that I even spotted it in the first place."

Percy lead Artemis into the room where Castle and he were looking at the interrogation from before. He waved his hands wrapping the Mist around Artemis rendering her invisible to Castle.

"Hey Percy, back so soon?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, what did he say?"

"Nothing important, just rambling on and one about what he did with them before....you know."

Percy nodded, he then altered the Mist around Castle blocking out his and Artemis's voice. "You're getting better at that," Artemis commented.

"Thanks, it's not a skill I'm proud off, but it's necessary," Percy sighed.

"So this is the man?" Artemis glared.

"Yeah, now, I want you to look at his forehead."

Artemis narrowed her eyes, "okay, what am I looking for?"

"A black mark on his forehead. It would be right in the middle of his forehead," Percy pointed, "it was a little difficult for me, so maybe-"

"Got it," Artemis cut in as he eyes glowed silver, "it looks like....like a" she gasped, "a black crescent moon."

"Yeah, any idea what that is?"

"Percy don't you realise what this is?!" Artemis snapped, "that's the mark of Kronos!"

Percy's eyes winded as he looked the man. His mind began to spin faster and faster. Random thoughts theories and ideas began to mix.

"Artemis come with me," Percy walked out with the Goddess following him.

They stood in the middle of the police station and Percy turned to Artemis, "how many of the people here have the mark?"

"I can see...." the Goddess looked around, "one, two.....ten.....twenty, easly."

"Do any of the police officers have it?"

"No, none of them have the mark. But most of the criminals behind bars do." Percy immediately turned and ran to the front. "Percy wait!"

The Goddess and demigod now stood outside. Percy turned to Artemis, "how many now?"

Artemis turned her silver gaze on the general populace. At least a hundred people were walking in front of them. It was Saturday night and people were out to party. Artemis began to count, and kept going and going and going.

She gasped when she was done, "h-half."

"What?"

"I said half," Artemis turned to Percy, "at least half of the people before us have the mark of Kronos."

"Artemis what exactly is the mark?"

"It's...it's a representation of Kronos's domain."

"Which one?" Percy asked but he already knew the answer.

"Evil, it's a mark of evil," Artemis turned to the people, "everyone with it become a part of Kronos's domain. They.....they power him. He's using them as a battery, drawing his energy from them."

Percy's eyes winded as realisation dawned on him, "three months."

"What was that?"

"The old man, the serial killer, he mentioned that around three months ago he felt something turn on in him, something that pushed him to return to his killing ways."

"You think the mark had something to do with it?"

Percy nodded, "yeah, but not just that. Ever since Kronos arrived crime has been slowly increasing, it's now at an all time high,even the mortals have noticed it. They believe that some kind of crime kingpin is responsible, but we know better."

"Kronos's influence on the world is affecting the people in it," Artemis quickly caught on, "meaning the more people become evil, the stronger he becomes."

"And if he has already infected half the population of New York alone...." Percy didn't want to think about how strong the Titan was.

"We need to notify Olympus now," Artemis warned.

Percy nodded, "right, give me a second." Percy quickly told Castle that he had to leave, he gave an excuse about his mom being worried. Artemis was waiting for him outside, she looked worried, and had good reason to be.

As Artemis flashed Percy to mount Olympus only one thought ran across Percy's mind, if half the people were infected, they why weren't they all killing?

Only one answer came up.

They weren't killing because they didn't want to. The mark turned a killer back into a killer, so it enforced the evil that was there already. But if an infected didn't want to hurt anyone then they wouldn't.

But that also meant that half the population was currently now a walking time bomb. One slip up, one moment of weakness and they would explode, maybe figuratively, maybe literally. But Percy knew one thing for sure, he had no idea how to stop this.