Chapter 561
She slowly reached up and grabbed onto Percy's hand. She got to her
feet which groaned as they finally were being used after two days of
stasis. She stood up straight, she fell, but Percy caught her. He held
her up until she could stand on her own, they looked into each other's
eyes and Angelina spoke, "thank you."
Percy smiled but said nothing. He moved towards Mark's cage and
opened it as well. He healed the boy, mostly just sexual exhaustion and
an overdose of viagra in his bloodstream. Percy grabbed a blanket he
found lying around and wrapped Mark in it. He then carried him
upstairs while Angelina walked in front of him, this way if she feel he
could catch her.
They walked into her apartment where Carol was still knocked
unconscious on the floor with Leo standing guard over her.
The moment Angelina saw Carol she ran behind Percy holding his
jacket like her life depended on it.
"It's okay," Percy told her, "she's knocked out, she can't hurt you
anymore."
"What about the-the dog?" Angelina stuttered out as she pointed at
Leo.
"That's Leo," Percy smiled, "he's the one who helped me find you."
Angelina stared at the dog who slowly approached her. Leo rubbed his
head up against her thighs and Angelina smiled bending down to pat
the dog.
Leo barked startling the girl, but she slowly recovered from her start
smiling at the dog. Percy watched the scene and couldn't' help but feel
happy, 'stupid dog is better at picking up chicks then me, and I'm a
human!'
Percy put Mark and Angelina in her old room, which Carol hadn't
touched. He then took out his phone and looked through his
messages, sure enough a text from his mom was there and attached to
it was detective Beckett's phone number.
Ring Ring!
Ring Ring!
Ring Ring!
"Hello?" Kate's voice on the other end came through loud and clear.
"Hey detective it's me Percy!" Percy cried out in a joyful tone.
"Percy? How do you have this number?"
"I asked my mom for it, no big deal."
"So why did you call? Did Sally not pick up or something?"
"No no, I don't want to talk to my mom, I need to talk to you."
"...okay….about what?"
Percy gulped, this was going to be the hard part, "you remember that
thing we talked about that I said I wouldn't do?"
"Thing? What thing?"
"You know…..me trying to solve the case on my own?"
"Percy….tell me you didn't go ahead and try to meddle in an active
police investigation. Please, just tell me that."
"Ah….sorry, no."
"Percy….what happened? Are you in some sort of trouble? Did you get
hurt? Did-"
"I found them," Percy caught her off, "I found them both." the line
remained silent for some time before Percy spoke again, "Kate?"
"Percy…...did you just say you found the siblings? Both of them?"
"Yeah, Angelina and Mark, and I also know who kidnapped them."
"Percy stay where you are, don't try to rescue them or do anything!
Don't eve-"
"-Yeah, sorry, to late, already did that," Percy cut in with a lazy tone,
"they're both safe and sound back in Angelina's place, though they
might need an Ambulance like right now."
"Stay right where you are, I'll be there as soon as I can. And don't do
anything else!" Kate cut the call and Percy smiled switching it off. Kate
could get like that sometimes, Percy still remembered the time in that
illusionary trial world where he lived with Kate and Castle, where he
became a part of their family. She kind of felt like a cool but scary aunt
at times while Castle was the loveable, childish uncle.
Percy put his phone away and turned to Carol who was still out for the
count. There was still the matter of what to do about her mental illness.
She needed to go to a mental hospital, that was for sure. If Percy
healed her now the chances of her going there were slim, and as much
as Percy hated this woman, she, like everyone else, deserved a fair
shot in life.
It wasn't her fault for being inflicted with the mental illness, she just
was. Percy didn't like the position he was in, he shouldn't have to make
such a choice, it wasn't his job. He's just supposed to save people but
now…...now he can't just claim ignorance. He knows now that there is
a way, it was his responsibility to see it through.
So he thought, and thought, and finally he made up his mind. He
pressed his hand up against her head and watched as it glowed gold.
Carol sighed as she moved but didn't wake up, she was still knocked
out.
Percy sighed, he prayed to his father that he made the right choice,
that he didn't just make the biggest mistake in his life.
Soon the apartment door was thrown open as a squad of police officer
ran in with bulletproof vests on and guns held up. At the head of the
small squad was Kate with Castle behind them all.
"Hey detective!" Percy waved, "could you please not aim that at me?"
"Ryan, Esposito, check the rooms," Kate motioned to the two cops with
her before she turned to Percy, "what the hell were you thinking
Percy?!"
"I was thinking I could solve this case in one afternoon, and I did,"
Percy shrugged, "oh and this is the kidnapper," Percy pointed at Carol,
"she's a, kind of crazy."
"Beckett!" one of the cops called out, "the kid's are here!"
"Understood," Kate took out her walkie talkie, "get EMT's in here now."
"Roger that detective," came the confirmation.
"How did you find them?" Castle asked as Kate moved to cuff the still
unconscious Carol.
"I went to see the biker gang you told me about," Percy said with a
shrug, "it seemes Mark is dating one of their members, that's why he
was talking with them. But Mark never did drugs, nor did they ever go
near this place. It seemed the girl he was with wanted to keep their
lives separate, meaning-"
"-Everything Carol told us was a lie," Kate completed the sentence,
"smart kid, but how did you know it was her?"
"Simple," Percy smirked, "Leo told me."
Castle and Kate looked at Percy like he was an idiot. "Ah...Leo told
you?" Castle repeated in confusion.
Percy nodded, "Leo told me there was somebody downstairs, he smelt
them. I went down and found it was locked, I picked it, and found them
inside. I helped them out and they told me it was Carol who did this to
them."
Lie Successful!
"But how did you know what Leo smelt? He could have just been
looking for food, or maybe he could have smelt some chemicals in the
air," Kaet asked curiously.
"Easy detective," Percy grinned, "Leo and I have a bond, not a real
one, he justs understands me is all. I told him to smell out people who
smelt like the Rebowl's and he did. Vola!"
Lie Successful!
Castle looked to Leo who smiled at the man, "you my friend are a good
dog."
Soon the CSI came and investigated the locked basement downstairs.
What they found...well Percy didn't really like to think about it. He was
glad that his fre ball offered him only a partial view of the room.
After they got enough evidence and a written statement from Angelina
Kate took Percy downtown and made him wait at the lobby of the 12th
precinct while she put Carol into the system. Angelina and Mark were
sent to the hospital where they meet their parents, who was brought
there by Sally.
Percy now sat watching the police department work with Leo by his
side. He looked around at them all, all the people in this room with him
were good people, the kind that risk their lives to save others. They
were heroes, all of them, and compared to what they do everyday,
Percy was nothing. Sure he fought monsters, but these guys have
saved more lives than he ever will.
Ping!
Find Angelina and Mark!
Rewards,
The Rebowl family will be indebted to you!
Skill disk Lv 10
Percy smirked, 'guesse that means Carol is finally put away.' A skill disk
appeared in thin air and Percy grabbed it before any of the mortal
policemen or women saw it floating in mid air.
Just then Kate came up to him with a smile on her face, "you certain
caused a stir in the department."
"Really? Why so?" Percy grinned as Kate sat down next to him.
"You saved their lives you know," she said, "medics say that if Angelina
was there for even a day more she would have died from blood lose.
And Mark would have gotten a heart attack big enough to kill him."
"I'm just glad they are going to be fine now," Percy told her as he
scratched Leo's ear, "but Leo's the real hero of this story, he's the one
who told me where to find them."
"I know, and I'll make sure to buy him a big bone for his help," Kate
patted Leo who barked in happiness, "but you know you really do have
a flare for detective work Percy. I can honestly say that I would have
taken much longer to solve it, though that might just be because I'm a
cop and I can't just go barging in anywhere I please."
Percy smiled, "yeah well when your me, doors are more like a locked
hallway, you just need to know how to get in."
"So do you have much experience with picking locks?" Kate asked, "I
saw the door to the basement and even the one for the…..cages. They
don't even look like they have been tampered with. They look like they
have been unlocked by an expert."
Percy shrugged, "I grew up in….a difficult environment. Mom made it
better but I still had to learn to protect myself," 'especially if you're me.'
"The captain was very impressed," Kate supplied, "and believe me she
isn't one to be easily impressed."
Percy smiled, "I tend to have that effect on people."
Kate rolled her eyes, "you know sometimes I think you might be
actually related to Castle. He often goes off on his own to solve cases,
endangers an ongoing investigation, wrecks crime scenes-"
"-Okay okay, I get it," Percy grumbled.
Kate nodded, "but you know, despite all that he still get's the job done.
Like you did today. So tell me Percy, how did it feel?" Kate leaned back
on her chair and looked at the room, "how did it feel to save their lives."
"I'm going to be honest with you detective," Percy grinned, "it was
awesome."
Kate nodded, "I know the feeling…..you know, if you're interested, the
precinct has started a new program recently to encourage young
students to join the police department after they graduate. It's nothing
big, just basic temp work, get the coffee, do the paperwork, fix this, do
that. But it would give you a chance to experience the way it's really
done. You could end up helping a lot of people Percy."
"A-are you offering me a job here?" Percy asked in wonder.
Kate nodded, "yeah. You'll have to work a minimum of three days a
week, I heard you are going to a boarding school outside the city, you
can probably work every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be tough,
probably not going to get much appreciation, but you will get
experience. I know you don't really know what you want be in in the
future so maybe…..maybe this could help you."
Percy looked at the detective and smiled, "so….where do I sign up?"
Chapter 562:
"So I'm starting the job right after school starts," Percy chewed and
swallowed his forkful of scrambled eggs.
"Excited?" Artemis asked as she sipped from her glass of milk.
"Very, I get to work with cops to bring down bad guys, who won't be
excited?" Percy smiled, "plus you know, maybe I can help solve crimes,
cold cases, thing's like that."
"Forgive my scepticism Percy, but I find it hard to believe that you
would ever willingly put yourself in a position where you have to obey
the law and answer to a superior officer," Artemis chuckled, "if I know
you, and I like to think I do, you are probably going to break every rule
in the book within the first month. The first week, if you don't like your
commanding officer."
"Well…...you're not wrong," Percy smiled, "yeah, being a desk jockey
isn't my style, but…..I don't know. If I have to I might just bite the bullet
and become a lackey."
"And you would be okay with that?"
"Not really, but I'll try," Percy laughed, "but your probably right about
how long I'll last before I lose it and start breaking the rules again."
Artemis smiled, "yes…..why are you adamant about this job?"
"I…...I think that maybe…..maybe I can make a difference."
"What do you wish to change?"
"I'm not sure, maybe just…, bring a little hope into the world, you
know?" Percy chuckled, "I guess it might sound a little arrogant, but I
would like to believe that if I put my mind to it, I could help a lot of
people."
Artemis smiled, "it's not arrogance Percy. Arrogance is thinking you can
do things beyond your limits, this….this is well within your reach."
"Glad to hear you say that Arty," Percy leaned back as they started at
the sun rising into the sky.
"So you want to be what? A vigilante?"
"I prefer the term superhero," Percy said a simple shrug, "much more
representative of what I want to be."
"I can already imagine it, criminal of New York beware, Percy Jackson
will find you and talk you into submission," Artemis grinned.
"Hey you know I only use my super talking power as a last resort,"
Percy waved his fork at her face, "besides that's not only powers. I also
have the power of coolness and raw awesomeness!"
Artemis rolled her eyes, "I have seen Narcissist himself be more
humble than you. The only thing you're good at is making a fool of
yourself."
"Name one time."
"The first time we meet you called me sexist."
"In my defence you were shooting me with arrows," Percy pointed out,
"plus you know, you were kind of sexist."
"Was not."
"Was so, you even said that the definetion of sexisim was women
being subjucated by men!"
"Well it is!"
"It goes both ways you know."
"When has a man ever been subjugated by a woman?"
"How many men have you turned into a deer again?"
"...that doesn't count."
Percy chuckled, "yeah, sure."
Artemis smiled as she shook her head. The Goddess had suggested
meeting up in here for their breakfast routine and Percy accepted. After
all it was better here than his cabin, Thalia was after all currently
snoring into his pillow cuddled up in his bed sheets.
"So how's everything?" Artemis asked sipping from her glass of milk,
"Thalia, camp…. You know, everything."
"Good, good," Percy nodded, "Thalia and I are doing great. She also
thinks it's pretty cool that she's dating a guy who's buddies with you."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Well if you think I'm a nice guy that means I will probably never cheat
on her, at least that's her logic."
Artemis nodded, "she's not wrong. The only reason I can stand you is
because you're a decent guy. Though you do have one hell of a mouth
on you."
"Gee thanks," Percy rolled his eyes, "and if you think I have a mouth on
me you should see Michael, dude does not stop talking."
"I cannot imagine anyone more annoying then you Percy."
"Remember that guy who shoot an arrow at you the first time we
meet?" Percy asked, "you know, when you turned me into a deer and
tried to kill me?"
Artemis nodded, "yes, and?"
"The guy who shot the arrow was Micheal."
Artemis formed in confusion until it hit her, "ah, the son of Apollo, I see.
Well then I suppose I can understand why you would hate him."
"I don't hate him Artemis," Percy waved the idea, "he's my best friend,
don't tell Grover that please. I don't judge a kid on the actions of their
parent. For example Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, my dad, and I
love my dad. But I still hated that stupid cyclops, he was a horrible
creature, it didn't matter even if he was my brother, Polyphemus was a
dick. But Michael, though he's annoying, he is still my friend. It's Apollo
who I can't stand."
"Yes and the feeling is mutual," Artemis smiled, "last time I meet him he
kept going on and on about how much he wished he could turn you
into burnt toast."
Percy blinked in confusion, "wow, he's still pissed about that time we
had that little argument?"
"Little argument? You knocked him off of Olympus!"
"He was checking out my girl!"
"You over react Percy," Artemis rolled her eyes, "always so quick to
move."
"I'm sorry this is coming from the girl who's first instinct every time she
sees a man is to turn him into a deer?"
"...you may have a point," Artemis admitted. Percy started to laugh
while Artemis smiled enjoying the sound of his voice.
Soon a comfortable silence feel on them as they both sat on either side
of a table facing the rising sun. Percy broke the silence first, "so when
do you have to go?"
"I have a few minutes," Artemis replied, "besides the Hunters can
handle their own for some time, their big girls."
Percy nodded, "good to know."
"So what are you going to do today?"
"Well me and Annabeth are going to see Ed in his office. He invited us
over to look over construction ideas for the Haven project I'm building."
Artemis raised an eyebrow, "haven project? What's that?"
"Oh right, I haven't told you. You see the Haven project is kind of like a
special pet project I thought of doing a few months ago. After I visited
camp Jupiter I kind of fell in love with the idea of New Rome. A place
where demigods can grow old, live, build a life and die from old age. It
just seemed so amazing to me."
Artemis nodded, "yes, it truly is an amazing place. The Hunters love it,
well as much as they can like any place that is filled with men anyway."
Percy nodded, "right. So I asked myself, 'why don't we Greeks have
one for ourselves?' And right then and there I made up my mind, I was
going to build a place for us, all of us. So….I did."
"You built it?" Artemis asked in wonder, "you actually built a place for
the demigods?"
"No, not yet. But I've already gotten the land I need to build it on, and
so today Annabeth and I are going to Ed's place to try and see if we
can plan out how the place is going to look."
"Where is this Heaven going to be?"
"Do you know of Gardiners island?"
Artemis frowned, "isn't that the island just off the coast of Montauk?"
Percy nodded, "that's the place."
"But Percy….that's a whole island," Artemis lowered her voice, "how
can you afford something like that?"
"Let's just say that the owner owed me one," Percy sighed, "fucking
creepy looking dude."
"So he just gave it? Just like that?"
Percy nodded, "yeah. I don't understand it either. I still think he's
messing with my head, but I talked to my mom right after he told me he
was giving the island to me and sure enough the entire stretch of land
now belongs to me, when I turn 18 of course."
"Percy people don't just give land away. And they most certainly don't
just give islands away" Artemis leaned in a held Percy's hand in her's,
"he want's something Percy, something from you. You need to be
careful."
"I know," Percy nodded squeezing her hand, "I'm not stupid. But for
now he looks like he just wants to help, so I'm not going to look a gift
horse in the mouth Artemis. I need the land, I know he's up to
something, I promise I'll be careful."
Artemis nodded, "right," she looked down and saw how easily her hand
fit in with Percy's, how warm it felt next to her skin. She blushed, 'what
the hell am I doing?' Artemis quickly broke the hold and drew back her
hand, "ah hm, so, ah, I know you'll be careful. Just don't die or
anything."
Chapter 563
Percy looked at Artemis wondering why she was blushing, "ah-right,
yeah. Sure. Are you okay Arty? You look kind of…..well sick."
"I'm fine," Artemis cleared her throat, "just a little cough."
"I didn't know God's could get sick," Percy asked in wonder.
"Yeah, we can. It just takes a lot to put us down."
Lie detected!
Percy blinked, "yeah…..sure…..."
Artemis got up, "well...I have to go. Clean up would you?"
"Right I-" Percy stopped midsentence as Artemis exploded in a burst of
light teleporting herself away from him, "-I'll take care of it."
Percy sighed, he really didn't know why she was acting so weird, the
only thing he could think of was because she liked him or something
but would be...no….no way in Hades that's what's going on.
Percy frowned, 'but what if it is?' Percy then remembered a vision
Clotho showed him, a vision of the future. He remembered kissing
Artemis, him, kissing her, well more like she was kissing him. Percy
shook his head, he long since believed that vision to be false, after all
Clotho did say possible futures.
Besides he was with Thalia now, and he loved her with all his heart.
But he still couldn't help but wonder, did Artemis like him? And if so
why? He was….well, him. Annoying, goofy, possessive, talkative, very
very irritating, and those were all just the things Artemis herself has
called him from time to time.
It just didn't make any sense to Percy. He shook his head and pushed
the trail of thought to the side, 'look it's not going to happen, you're
probably overthinking this. Artemis likes you as a friend, maybe is
some world she may have liked you as something else, but that boat
has sailed.'
Percy got up and cleaned the breakfast set he had made in Artemis's
cabin and walked out making sure nothing was left behind. He walked
to the kitchens and all the way he thought about it, what if? What if
Artemis and him did get together? What is they became more than
friends? It was funny thing to think about, him, a hormonal handsy
teenager dating a virgin Goddess. Truly a match made in Hades.
Percy put the used dishes away and sat in the Mess Hall waiting for
everyone to wake up, particularly Annabeth. He took out 'A Storm of
Swords' from his inventory and began to read it. This was the third
book of the series and Percy was really invested in the charecters. He
had come to love them all, except the Lannister, fuck them all, except
Tyrion, he's cool.
But Percy especially loved the Starks, they were just so cool! Riding
direwolves in battle! Taking control of other people! They were like the
only good people alive in the book!
Percy loved Robb Stark especially, the guy was a badass! He kicked
ass and took names! He even caught Jamie fucking Lannister! How
cool is that?!
And Jon, oh, Jon. The living legend. He's only there to do two things,
fuck sexy wildings and kill white walkers, and he just ran out of all his
fucks.
Percy was determined to copy the stuff he found in the book. He was
just waiting for the time Leo becomes big enough to ride, he could
totally imagine riding the demi-wolf into battle. He also wanted to try
and hatch a dragon, he kept asking Annabeth where he could find
some dragon eggs, but she kept avoiding the answer. Something about
him burning the camp down? Well, doesn't matter.
Percy opened the book where he last left off, it seems Robb and his
army were going to a wedding or something. Percy smiled as he began
to read the chapter.
A few minutes later;
"So Percy and I called Ed the other night and shared a few ideas with
him," Annabeth told Thalia as the two walked towards the Mess Hall,
"we decided to meet up. Figured we should probably talk to the man
face to face, you know?"
Thalia nodded, "sounds good to me. So do you have a blueprint or
something?"
Annabeth patted the cylindrical map case hanging off her side,
"something. Percy helped me draw it up. He had a few ideas."
"Were they any good?"
"Some of them," Annabeth admitted, "he wanted to create a farming
area there using the Demeter kids magical farming powers. Which is
kind of cool, it would make the island self sufficient. He also however
gave complete shit ideas, like this one time he wanted to hatch baby
dragons so that he could use them as guardians for the island."
Thalia rolled her eyes, "I wonder where he got that idea."
Annabeth sighed, "I never should have introduced him to those books."
"You know I once caught him training Leo to charge into battle with him
on top?" Thalia shuddered, "poor Leo, almost broke his back."
Annabeth rubbed her temples, "that boy is unhinged."
"Well he is currently trying to build a city in the middle of an island. It
takes an unhinged mind to do that. Anyway, are you leaving right after
breakfast?"
Annabeth nodded, "yeah. Figured the sooner we get to Ed's office the
better."
"I'M GOING TO KILL THAT MOTHER FUCKER!" Percy's voice roared
out from the Mess Hall. Thalia and Annabeth shared a look and sighed
as they dashed towards the dining area wondering what happened to
him now.
"LET ME GO MICHAEL!" Percy roared as Michael, Charles, Lee,
Travis, Peter, Nico and Clarisse held Percy face down on his floor as
the son of Poseidon tried to free himself.
"Hello no!" Michael shouted, "if I do that you might actually kill him!"
"GET OFF OF ME MAN!" Percy roared as he pushed up lifting
everyone currently on top of him. He nearly managed to get free only
for Leo to jump up on the dog pile causing Percy to come crashing to
the ground again.
"What the Hades is going on?!" Annabeth cried, "why is Percy on the
floor?"
"He's threatening to kill somebody!" Nico yelled out as he summoned
shades to try and shackle Percy down only for Percy to cut them into
peace using his own shadows.
"Who?!" Thalia asked in surprise.
"GEORGE R R MARTIN!" Percy roared out as he tried to move again
only for Conner to push him down.
"Not again," Annabeth face planned.
"I'm sorry who is he talking about?" Thalia asked.
"His book series," Annabeth replied dryly, "it's that damn book series
again. Sigh, what happened this time Percy?"
"HE KILLED ROBB ANNABETH! HE KILL HIM! AND HE KILLED
GREYWIND!" Percy roared out, "HE KILLED THE FUCKING
DIREWOLF!"
Annabeth nodded, "ah, the Red Wedding, yeah that wasn't a pleasant
afternoon for me either. Cried myself to sleep that night."
"Percy this is a bit toomuch don't you think?" Thalia asked as she bent
over her boyfriend.
"NO! THIS IS TOTALLY UNFAIR!"
"Percy calm down," Annabeth sighed, "your acting like an idiot."
"ROBB! I'M SO SORRY!" Percy yelled out as he slowly stopped
resisting putting his head down crying as slowly one by one everyone
got off of him.
"There there sweetie," Thalia said as she helped him on his feet patting
his back as he snuggled next to her, "everything's going to okay."
"No"sniff, "it's not," sniff, "R-Robb's dead," Percy whimpered, "he's
dead!"
Annabeth sighed, "Percy there are other Stark's you know. Like Arya,
Bran, heck even Sansa."
"Fuck Sansa," Percy muttered, "but yeah….your right…..sigh, damn it
George R R Martin! You are a fucking serial killer man! Making me
attached to a character only to kill him off! I should find out where he
lives and make him rewrite the entire series!"
Annabeth chuckled, "Percy he took 5 years to write one book, I doubt
he has the time to rewrite them all."
Percy hanged his head, "yeah….but still….sigh, well at least I still have
Jon."
Annabeth's eyes widened, "y-yeah, you still have Jon."
Percy picked up on the hesitation in her voice and glared at her,
"Annabeth….tell me Jon's alive."
"Jon's alive."
Percy narrowed his eyes, "tell me he's alive in the last book."
Annabeth looked at her table, "sorry Percy got to run! Better finish my
breakfast fast so that we can get to Ed's place early!"
"Annabeth!" Percy cried out after her, "tell me Jon Snow's alive in the
last book! Tell me!"
"Percy sit down," Thalia grabbed him as he tried to chase after
Annabeth, "and if you're that curious about the fifth book just read the
damn thing."
Percy grumbled, "fine…..hey Thalia I was wondering-"
"-No, we are not going to name our firstborn son Robb. And no we
cannot get an albino wolf and name it Ghost."
Percy puffed his cheeks, "fine…..spoil sport."
Thalia rolled her eyes as soon they began to eat their breakfast.
Second breakfast in Percy's case, but considering he was going to be
doing a lot of running today he figured he needed the extra energy.
When they were finished Thalia and Percy kissed each other goodbye
as they went their separate ways. Thalia went to train with Mera again,
which was happening more often these days. Percy figured it was just
an excuse to beat each other up senselessly.
Percy now stood near the barrier tree as Annabeth walked up to him.
"You ready?" Percy asked her.
"Yeah," Annabeth nodded, "I called Ed ahead and asked him to be
ready for us. He said to come to his office, the place where you first
meet."
Percy nodded, "I know the place," he reached into his inventory and
pulled out his goggles, "let's go."
Annabeth nodded as Percy carried her and put her into his inventory.
He closed it and then turned towards the main road. He slipped into an
Time ID and once safely inside the empty world he took off at max
speed.
Thalia was the one who actually suggested it when he told her about
the time he trained in Tactile telekinesis. After she got over the fact that
Percy was basically a psychic now, Thalia had the brilliant idea of
traveling through ID's.
It would allow him to travel at his max speed without worrying about the
damage he would casue to his surroundings. Plus if he used his time
dilation ID he could cut down on his traveling time in the real world.
Percy tore through the streets as a sonic boom exploded outwards as
he tore through the streets of NY. He then took Highway I-90 E and ran
towards Boston, the first place he ever visited as a full fledge demigod
on a quest.
Percy's max speed was 935 miles per hour, Boston was around 200
miles away. He reached the city in 15 minutes, and since he was in a
time dilution ID that meant in the real world only 4 minutes had passed.
The moment Percy saw the city in the horizon he began to slow down.
He learnt his lesson from last time, he eventually got used to stopping
at his max speed, no more crashing into building for him!
Just then Percy tripped on a rock and fell down rolling head over heels
down the road as he crashed through the front window of an IHOP.
Percy groaned as he pulled himself out of the wreckage, maybe he
needed to work on his landing a little bit more.
Percy quickly got back on his feet and ran into the city. He soon located
Half-Blood Inc, the building hadn't changed one bit. He ran to an alley
way and slipped out of the time dilation ID. The sky turned blue again
as slowly the sound of cars and people surrounded Percy one more.
He opened his inventory and took Annabeth out placing the girl on the
floor. "How long has it been?" she asked looking at her phone to adjust
the clock.
"Four minutes, give or take," Percy replied as they walked to the
building in question.
"Four minutes? Have you been working on your speed?"
"Something like that. Unfortunately I can only use it for travel, won't be
useful at all for actual combat."
Annabeth nodded as she put away her phone looking at the building, It
was build, shiny and had Half-Blood Inc. written on top of the entrance
in bronze. They went inside and the lobby was filled with Greek
paintings and sculptures.
"Ed is really pushing it with all the Greek stuff," Annabeth commented
as she looked around.
Percy chuckled, "tell me about it. When Luke, Grover and I were first
searching for him we weren't sure if this is the guy we were looking for.
Sure Neak is a pretty unique last name but we could be mistaken. But
the moment we stepped into the lobby we knew we had the right guy."
Chapter 564
Annabeth nodded as they passed through security. Percy let them
check him freely while Annabeth used the Mist to prevent them from
opening her map case, she was very possessive of the thing.
Soon they were cleared and Percy took out his phone and called up
Ed.
"We are here," Percy said the moment Ed picked up.
"Really? That was quick."
"I've been working on a new way to travel," Percy replied, "where do
we have to go now?"
"Sit tight, I'll be down there in a sec."
The man soon arrived in the lobby wearing a lab coat over a grey shirt
and a very big pair of jeans that was being held up by a very tightly
wound belt.
"What's with the lab coat?" Percy asked the man as the gave each
other a hug.
"No reason, just like it is all," Ed replied as he took them to the elevator.
Once inside he pressed the button for the 32nd floor closing the lift
before anyone else could get in.
"So your looking nice," Percy told him.
Ed nodded, "yeah, finally got some rest and relaxation. By the way
Percy ah, did your mom mention me at all?"
Percy blinked, "ah, no, she didn't. Why?"
"Nothing!" Edward snapped, "no reason at all."
Percy frowned in confusion while Annabeth just rolled her eyes. Soon
they reached the 32nd floor and Ed lead them down a long white
corridor with white doors lining the wall.
"This place reminds me of that scene in the Matrix where they are
looking for the Architect and go down that corridor with no windows or
exits, only doors," Percy commented.
"Thank you," Edward smirked, "that was exactly what I was going for.
Kind of a Matrix/crazy scientist vibe."
Percy nodded as they walked to the end of the corridor where a single
white door was waiting for them. Edward took out his keychain and
used it to unlock the door. 'Huh, so it also functions as a real keychain.
Wonder of Riptide or Waverider can work as a real pen?'
Ed lead them into a room which was basically like a mad scientist's
panic room. There were several drawing on the floor with the work
table that was pressed up against the wall littered with gadgets and
other items that Percy couldn't identify immediately.
In the center of the room was a big white table that Ed walked towards.
He pressed a button on the side causing the table surface to light up
revealing a large screen.
"So that's your computer?" Annabeth asked as she took off her map
case and opened it up taking out the map.
"Yeah, I like it this way," Edward pressed several buttons on the screen
causing the table surface to turn into a google map image of Gardiner's
island, "so this is the island you bought."
Percy nodded, "yeah…..I still can't believe that I own this massive
thing."
Edward nodded, "agreed. It's 13 square kilometers of pure unused
land. 7 Km across and 3 Km wide. You definitely can build a lot here.
Maybe not a city, but enough for demigods."
Percy nodded as Annabeth unwrapped the map she and Percy
designed and put it on the table. Edward shrinked the google map on
his screen and compared the images side by side.
On Percy's map was the location and basic structure of where and
what they wanted the Haven to look like.
The Haven would be built in the heart of the island. The only standing
major structure on Gardiner's island was the old mansion currently
abandoned. The mansion however was located a bit towards the south
west, the rest of the island wasn't even touched.
Percy wanted the Haven to be located near a small lake called Willow
Brook that drained into the Tobacco Lot pond. The flora over there was
practically non existent, it would be easy to make a settlement there.
Plus it was a great defensive position. The Northern edge of the island
had a large and steep cliff side while West was covered with a dense
forest. If anyone was to attack the Haven they could only come from
the South or the East.
"So what do you want to put in it?" Edward asked as he marked the
location of the Haven site on his own map.
"Well we kind of have a list," Annabeth admitted as she pulled out
another map, this one featured a beautifully done sketch of a
settlement.
"This is amazing," Edward said as he took up the drawing, "did you do
this?"
Annabeth nodded, "yeah. With a few suggestions from Percy."
Edward laid out the sketch on the table as Percy leaned over. He
pointed to the center of the Haven sketch, "this is going to be out
meeting place come gathering hall. I call it 'The Hearth'. In ancient
Greece they had a place like this where the leaders of the country
would discuss about the future. This will be like that, but bigger. I want
to follow the Roman way of involving everyone possible. So we make
this a public place of sorts."
"It's going to be circular," Annabeth took over, "with a transparent dome
on top, or maybe just a giant hole to let out the fumes of the fire. It
won't have any walls, just giant white pillars. The entire building will be
raised up a few feet, and the inside will be similar to an Amphitheatre
with seats carved into the stone slowly going towards. We might have
to dig into the Earth or something, but it should work. In the center will
be the hearth, Percy insisted. Around the hearth will be a platform for
people to stand and talk on."
Edward nodded, "okay, and this?" He pointed to a building north of The
Hearth. It was a simple square shaped building standing three floors
up. The ground floor had wide open doors but the top had only a few
small windows.
"That's the war building. We'll use it as a war room/ armoury,"
Annabeth explained. "We'll have all our weapons inside, it'll be the first
place we go to when we are under attack, hence it also functions as a
war council of sorts. The building may be three floors tall, we won't
have that many floors inside. There will just be platforms and skeleton
walkways leading up to the windows, but that's just if we need to
defend the place from attackers. Kind of like a last resort escape point."
Chapter 565
Edward nodded, "and this is obviously a hospital," he pointed to the
building on the right of The Hearth. Percy and Annabeth nodded and
offered no additional input. Ed then looked to the empty plot of land on
the left, "and what's this for?"
Percy shrugged, "honestly we didn't know what to put there. Plus it's
kind of like insurance policy, incase we need to put something up there
in the future."
Ed nodded and turned to the last building in the center of the Haven,
"and this is what?"
Percy looked at what Ed was pointing at. It was an old style Greek
looking building. Annabeth copied its design off of the Temple of Zeus
in Olympia. It had a triangular roof and thick walls with pillars
supporting its sides.
"It's the museum," Percy responded. Ed raised an eyebrow, "well you
see I figured we needed to showcase our victories and
accomplishments. Everything a camper in camp half-blood does is put
inside the attic of the Big House and forgotten. It's like, 'wow, you
defeated a monster when you were 12? Awsome! Now give me that
spoils of war you got and let me just throw it into the attic along with all
the other junk.'"
Annabeth smiled, "honestly it never even occurred to me. I always just
thought of the stuff up there as junk, but Percy is right, they are
trophies from previous quests completed and deserve to be treated
with respect."
Ed nodded, "well I like it kid. Nice idea. Now let's move on to the
others."
Surrounding the four buildings were 12 temples, each 50 meters wide
featuring a symbol.
"These are the temples of the Gods," Percy grumbled, "figured if we
don't add them they might curse the place out of spit or something."
Ed chuckled, "good call."
"Thanks," Annabeth replied, "anyway we figured we would make each
building about 50 meters wide. Probably just go for a simplistic
approach here. Maybe just a single structure with a giant statue of the
God in the center."
Ed nodded, "yeah...that could work. Have them on a raised platform
with a circular dome over their temples. We'll have pillars around to
support the domes and maybe a wall or something in the back where
we inscribe a chant or a blessing or even a story about the God. Then
the statue and of course a platform for offerings and other items."
Annabeth nodded, "great. Then all that's left is the houses."
"Ah, no, not just yet," Edward stopped Annabeth, "what about the minor
Gods?"
Annabeth shrugged, "what about them?"
"We need to build temples for them as well you know," Ed said, "they
may be minor Gods, but they are still important."
"We can't build temples for them," Annabeth stated with a sigh.
"And why not?"
"Because the Olympians will not like them getting the same treatment
as they are," Percy supplied, "maybe we can build them shrines
instead. Put them all over the place you know, like polka dots on a
sundress."
Ed and Annabeth nodded, "sounds good. They get their shrines and
the Olympians keep their ego intact. Everyone wins."
Annabeth smiled, "now as I was saying, for the haven I was thinking
we given each person their own home. Like a real city. Being forced to
have roommates isn't something you want for the rest of your life. So
maybe we have apartments instead of cabins. We'll have one behind
each temple, and each district will be known as that God's district. Like
the apartment building and all the other buildings behind the Poseidon
temple will be known as the Poseidon district. Like that, but for every
single temple."
Ed nodded, "great. So after the apartment complexes you guys have
just given a large amount of free space, any reason for that?"
"We don't really know what to do with it all," Annabeth admitted, "we
could have made the settlement smaller, true, but it just felt like we
needed more, you know?"
Ed nodded, "yeah, I get it. Maybe we can think of something up."
"Right," Annabeth smiled, "and then after all of that we have the 5
meter thick walls surrounded this entire structure. Along with a few
more added protections here and there."
Ed nodded, "nice."
"Just like a pizza slice," Percy supplied with a smile. Annabeth and
Edward gave him a strange look, " what? Look the Haven is going to
be circular in shape, so imagine that each piece of it is going to be
divided up like a slice of pizza. So we have the temple of an Olympian
on the very tip of the pizza slice. The large slices of pepperoni will be
the apartment complexes and the small black olives sprinkled around
will be the shrines to the minor Gods. And the thick crust at the very
end is like the wall surrounding the Heaven."
Annabeth blinked, she took a few seconds to process what Percy just
said. The daughter of Athena took a deep breath and spoke,
"Percy….did you design the Haven to look like a pizza pie on
purpose?"
Percy shook his head, "no, I swear to the Gods I didn't. It totally came
out this way on it's own."
Lie Successful!
Edward chuckled, "either way it is still a great first step to building this
place," Edward rolled up their map and sketch and passed to
Annabeth, "now it's my turn to show you both something I've been
working on."
Annabeth put away her diagrams as Edward pulled up a new image on
his table screen. This one was a PDF of a TIMES article that talked
about Edward.
"This was one of the first articles ever written about me," Ed supplied,
"when I was 17 I built a website for the citizens of Boston to use."
"Yeah I know," Percy nodded, "this was the same article Grover, Luke
and I used to find out about you in the first place. Apparently you
created some kind of digital platform for the entire city to use? Like a
virtual city or something?"
Ed nodded, "exactly. The project was called 'Link', and what it would
have done is connect every single thing in the city to one central hub
that could control and monitor everything in the city."
"So….like a big brother program?"
Ed shook his head, "no, nothing like that. This program would gather
data from all over the city and would translate it into requests. So this
way no one would be able to spy on people, while at the same time all
the faults and issues the city has can be taken into account."
"So how would we do this?" Annabeth asked, "it seems like pretty
cutting edge technology."
Chapter 566
Ed nodded, "it is," he went to his desk and moved aside few sheets of
paper. Underneath the mess was a circular disk with an omega symbol
drawn on it's head. Ed tossed the disk to Percy who caught and
Observed it;
Monitor disk (Solid),
This disk will observe and transmit data wirelessly to the central
hub. It will scan any solid surface it is on along with sending
sonic waves to the surface underneath, assess the structural
integrity and report back it's finding.
"This disk is to be used on walls or buildings," Ed explained, "you stick
it on a wall and it will scan the surface and the inside using sonic
waves. It will then report what it finds. This way you can assess the
strength of the infrastructure without much hassle."
"This is amazing," Annabeth said as Percy passed her the disk, "why
isn't this in the open market yet? One of these could make sure no
road or bridge ever collapses ever again."
"Because it would kill the jobs of a lot of civil engineers," Ed explained
with a sigh, "most of them have to observe infrastructure and assess
the damages in person. That is how most make a living. This would
effectively rob them of their jobs."
Annabeth nodded, "okay...but we are also going to need to monitor
other things, like water pressure, voltage management, sewer
distribution and even garbage maintenance, I do not want trash
cluttered around my city."
"Your city?" Percy asked.
"Our city," Annabeth corrected herself blushing beetroot red.
Ed smiled, "well don't' worry, I have moniter disks for each occasion.
Some use 3-D visualisation technology to notice things while others
just act like a digital meter of sorts. We can use them all for the city, no
biggy."
Percy and Annabeth nodded as they put the disk on the table. "So,"
Percy began, "what else do you have for us?"
Ed grinned, "how you given any thought about what type of energy
system you want to implement on the island?"
Percy shrugged, "we figured we use windmills or something. Go green,
no Nuclear energy for us."
Edward nodded, "yeah, that sounds great and all, but you can't get
enough energy out of wind, at least not without cutting down a majority
of the forests on the island for space. I would recommend," Ed pulled
up another file, "solar energy."
Percy looked at the image of a solar panel Ed just pulled up. It was
sleek and very slim with its panel taking on a very royal blue hue.
"This is the new 3Z9 Solar Panel that Half-Blood Inc. has been working
on," Ed explained, "it can produce 350 Watts per panel. Have about 20
of these on the roof of a single house and that house will have enough
energy to sustain itself without the need of any external source of
energy."
Percy's eyes widened, "this is amazing…..so what, we just put these
on the roof of every apartment building? We might not have enough
room up there."
Ed nodded, "yeah. The 20 panel system is designed more for an
independent house than a flat. So we just have what we can on top,
while the rest of them can be outside the Haven walls."
"You're talking about a solar panel farm," Annabeth spoke up, "you
want to build an entirely self energy sufficient city."
Ed nodded, "exactly. We have what, 5 square miles of land to use?
Just use 0.1 square mile of that and build a farm of solar panels. It
would give you…. around…..5 Gigawatts a year. It has a wastage of
only 24%, so obviously you're going to get your money's worth. More
than enough to run a small town, let alone the Haven project."
"Dude, New York, the city that never turns off it's night light, uses
around 55,000 Giga watts a year. And it's a city with over 8 million
people living in it. What the hell are we going to be using 5 Gigawatts a
year for?"
Edward shrugged, "I don't know. We'll think of something. Maybe you
can find a way to convert all the extra energy into your defense
systems or something. Heck maybe if you want you could sell the extra
energy off for some extra profit or something. That would be a nice
idea, I know a few people in New York who would love that, just lay
down wires from the island to the city."
Percy smiled, "that sounds perfect. This can be our island's export,
energy for cash. Hmm, this just keeps getting better and better Ed."
"B-but what about storage?" Annabeth asked, "these solar panels are
amazing, how are we going to store all of that energy?"
"I am so glad you asked that Annabeth," Edward smiled as he reached
into his pocket and pulled out a square tic tac box sized battery, "this is
how we are going to do that."
"A battery?" Percy asked.
"No just any battery Percy, this battery is something we discovered
here on accident. You know that the best conductor in the world is gold
right? The only reason we don't use it in our wiring today is because it's
very expensive to use. So we did is use gold nanowires, which are
extremely thin, at least ten times thinner than a human hair. We coated
it with Magnesium dioxide and cocooned them in a plexiglas-like gel.
This caused the already amazing properties of the gold wires to
increase exponentially. This allowed us to charge and discharge the
battery over and over again without it losing any of its capacity."
Percy gasped while Annabeth just raised an eyebrow, she had a partial
idea of this meant, but Percy was the one who currently had a Lv 4
physics skill.
"So what you're saying is we can charge and drain this thing over and
over again without it losing any of the energy it possess?" Percy asked,
"Ed, how many times can this be done?"
"When we last checked? …...over 200,000 times."
Percy's jaw dropped, "what?"
"Okay I feel like I'm missing out on something here," Annabeth spoke
up, "what exactly does this mean?"
"It means we can store obscene amounts of energy without losing any
of it. Basically Ed is saying that if we have a big enough battery we
could store all the excess energy we collect from our solar pannel and
store it for later use," Percy explained.
Annabeth blinked, "huh...guess that's how that feels like."
"Like what feels like?"
"What it feels like to now know something and then have someone
dumb it down for you."
Percy chuckled, "yeah, now you know how the rest of us feel whenever
we hang out with you."
Ed smiled, "right. So anyway Percy's got the idea, this battery is small,
so it obviously can't store a lot of energy. And since gold is expensive
and difficult to come by I don't exactly have the basic resources to build
a giant battery for energy storage. So…."
Percy nodded, "I got it Ed. I'll get you the gold you need, you get us the
batteries."
Chapter 567
Ed nodded, "done. Now, on to the next thing I had in mind," Ed put
away the battery and pulled up a new image, "this was the building in
mind for the network hub of the city," the building was modernized,
unlike the drawings Annabeth and Percy had made. It was glass and
steel with a big ass satelite dish on top.
"Basically this is where you collect and store all the data from the
maintenance disks. This is the central data hub for the city, the Brain
House if you will."
"We are so not calling it that," Percy said while Annabeth nodded in
agreement.
Edward shrugged, "whatever. Anyway, this is where you collect and
process the information. Your internet will also be routed through her
using the satellite dish on top. I'm thinking we use a free wifi system
here. Maybe install a dish equally here and there in order to make sure
every spot in the Haven has a good wifi connection."
Percy nodded, "great, maybe now we can finally move on from the
dark ages. We are also going to need cell coverage along with TV,
think you can put that in here?"
Ed shook his head, "no, not on the building. The internet dish takes up
the whole roof. Me need to put a cell tower somewhere else."
"Well there's plenty of space," Percy said, "maybe we can put it on of
the districts some where."
"Wait what about monitoring the electricity obtained from the solar
panels?" Annabeth asked, "we need a place to also store the energy
gathered."
"I decided to have a separate building for it," Ed said pulling up a new
image this one of a building that basically looked like a small fortress
with high walls and only one entrance, "this is going to be a very
dangerous place. High amounts of electricity is going to be running
through it and around the city, so obviously I don't want people getting
in it easily. The walls will be concert with a rubber wall layering it's
insides."
Percy nodded, "sounds good, so maybe we'll put the Nerve center next
to the Hearth, it can be on the empty plot we set aside. And the
electrical place…..we'll put it behind Apollo's temple. After all the
energy we are collecting is from the sun, it kind of belongs there."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "but that would basically take up half the
space there. We could at most fit one apartment complex there, but
nothing too big."
Percy nodded, "yeah. Poor Apollo, his district is going to be the least
visited. Why many people won't want to live next to a big scary looking
place like the Generator building. Poor poor Apollo."
Ed raised an eyebrow, "what's with you and Apollo?"
"I don't know what you mean Ed."
"Apollo was checking out Thalia," Annabeth supplied, "ever since then
Percy took every chance he got to make fun of the God."
Percy shrugged, "I don't know what you mean Annabeth, you're
assuming things that aren't there."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "sure I am."
Ed smiled, "well anyway, moving on. We also need a secondary source
of energy, maybe we can also do the wind energy thing you guys
planed. Have it next to the solar panel farm to create a secondary
energy source. Like I said it won't produce as much energy as the solar
panel, but it should be enough in case the weather is bad or
something."
Percy nodded, "good idea. We'll do that. And now on to the next thing,
farming."
Ed was confused, "you want to make a farm? On the island?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, I do. I talked to Katie Gardner, child of Demeter.
She said that it didn't matter what type of land it was, the Demeter kids
along with the Satyrs can make it fertile. So I was thinking maybe we
put the farming lands outside the city walls, maybe up near the high
cliff side in the North. Plus Willow brook runs across the land, it will be
easy to create channel from the stream to the farm."
Ed nodded, "makes sense. Okay, I don't know much about farming, but
if you guys think the Demeter kids and the Satyrs can handle it then so
be it. I'll let it in their hands. Now, we need to talk transportation."
"Do we really need it?" Percy asked, "I mean granted the Haven
settlement is at least 1 1/2, maybe 2 kilometers wide, but do we really
need a car or something? The roads won't be that big Ed, plus
pollution."
Ed nodded, "I know. But we need transportation, some kind of it
anyway. Maybe horses or something."
Percy shook his head, "no. We don't have enough horse, and if we did
get enough who the hell wants to pick up all that horse shit? I know I
won't. Maybe we can hire Hercules to do that or something, but I'm
pretty sure no one else wants to do it."
Ed sighed, "fine…..how about…...I got nothing."
"Cycles," Annabeth supplied, "we can use styles to get around."
Percy scratched his chin,"hmm, that would help out if people didn't
want to walk. Plus it gives us a lot of exercise and won't take up much
walking space. Yeah…, yeah that could work. We can use cycles as
the main form of transportation. Maybe a carriage or something if we
need to move something heavy."
Annabeth smiled, "this is coming along nicely. I can already imagine it
in my head."
Percy nodded, "yeah. I just know everyone else is going to be as
excited about it as we are."
"What about an Arena?" Edward asked.
Percy shrugged, "well the way I see it a demigod is going to train in
camp half-blood and come to the Haven to relax. I don't want this place
to be a war camp or something like that. This is a home, a place for
demigods to live their lives."
Ed smiled and nodded, "agreed. Okay, we need to decided on a few
more things. Recycling or no?"
"Yes, definitely," Annabeth nodded, "like I said, this place will not be
turning into a trash heap."
"Okay," Ed started to edit his map on screen, "then what about a
storage place? Most of the time we might trade with the main land, we
need some place to keep all the stuff to check it out before it can be
introduced into the Haven."
"A warehouse," Percy supplied, "we build it outside the walls and to the
South."
"Okay," Ed made a few more adjustments to his map, "do you guys
have any special building in mind? Like...a swimming pool or
something?"
"As much as I would like that it's kind of redundant," Percy said, "we
are surrounded by water, if anyone wants to go for a swim they can just
go to Tobaccolot pond nearby."
"We need a water purification place," Annabeth realised, "we can't just
drink lake water without purifying it first."
"Put it in the Poseidon district," Percy said, "me and Mera can take
care of water in the beginning. Maybe we can create a water passage
from Willow Brook into the water purifying place."
"Wouldn't that bypass the wall?" Ed asked, "if someone attack us and
they knew about this-"
"Then we'll make it underground," Percy said, "deep underground, and
narrow. Even if they had diving equipment the passage would be so
small only one person can go through at a time. Plus if they do manage
to get in they will be facing me and Mera, I almost pity the fools who
think to even try."
Annabeth nodded, "yeah…. this is something that has to happen. The
rewards outway the risks. Hm…..maybe we should also have a
separate place for grain storage."
"What? Why?" Ed asked, "why not just put it in the Warehouse?"
"No, if somebody is going to attack us they will come from the South,
their first target will be the Warehouse," Annabeth supplied, "we need
to make sure our food supply is well guarded. Put a grain storage
building in the Demeter district, it will help when we are under siege
and can't go out for food."
Percy nodded impressed at Annabeth's tactical mind, after all she was
the daughter of Athena. Anything less would be insulting. Just then an
idea hit Percy, "a school. We need a school/college in the Athena
district."
Annabeth bashed her head with her palm, "right, school. How could I
forget."
Chapter 568
Ed chuckled as he added in the school in his digital map, "it's okay, you
can't be expected to remember everything. But you know a school/
college will take up a lot of space. And we need to put a library up as
well."
"Put it in the Artemis district," Percy supplied, "she won't mind…I think."
"It's okay," Ed said adding the library, "the building won't take up much
space. We still will have enough for another building, that is including
the apartment complexes that will be built in the Artemis district."
"Are we still doing the horses?" Annabeth asked, "if we are we need to
find a place to-"
"There is enough space near the water purifying facility," Percy cut in,
"we can put the stables there. And while we will be using cycles to get
around the horses will still be useful, maybe they could serve as the
cavalry during war time or something."
Ed nodded, "okay….now how about buildings for fun? Like…..a movie
theater?"
"Hermes district," Annabeth said, "put it there and put a small post
office there as well. People can order things from the post office that
they want us to trade for from the outside world."
"Don't you think that might alliante the mortal world in the eyes of the
demigods?" Percy asked, "we don't' want them to think that we are no
longer part of that world."
"No Percy, I don't think people would think like that," Ed said,
"demigods know we are half human, we will never forget that part.
Never."
Percy nodded, "okay…..we need a coffee shop."
"Dionysis district," Annabeth said, "and maybe we should think about
building a pub or something, for when we grow up."
Ed nodded, "yeah, I'll leave some space for it as well," he adjusted the
make shift map on the screen, "what about a gym? I get that you don't'
want to train for war, but people still need to keep in shape Percy."
"Ares district," Percy told him, "and put a forge in Hephaestus district
as well. But that might cause a lot of smoke….dont' want that."
"Do you think Mera knows a few spells to purify the smoke?" Annabeth
asked, "maybe a few purifying spells can help us keep the air clean."
Percy nodded, "I'll ask her, but I think the answer will be most probably
yes. Oh, maybe we can put a few charms on the wall, add onto the
defence or something."
Annabeth nodded, "good idea…..what else?"
"We can put the cell tower in the Zeus district," Percy pointed at the
nearly empty area, "and for the Hera district…..I don't know? Maybe we
just fill it up with buildings or something. After all she is the Goddess of
family, I'm sure she won't mind."
"Maybe a mall?" Ed offered, "a small one. We'll put it in the Aphrodite
district. It would encourage trade and buying, could support a local
economy."
Percy nodded, "yeah….sure. But this brings up the matter of money
and how it's going to work in the Haven."
"Well I was thinking about that," Annabeth said, "and I came up with a
solution of sorts. Basically the way I see it this is basically a monarchy.
The land is owned by you Percy, making you the owner and king."
Percy grinned, "sweet, Percy Jackson, king of Gardiner island. Has a
nice ring to it, no?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes, "yeah, sure. Don't' expect a crown or
something though. Anyway like I was saying, Percy is basically like a
king, so let's treat this as a monarchy situation. Let each district be
taken care off by one person. Like a head counselor, expect instead of
a cabin he/she takes care of the entire district. So Percy basically
leases out the land to them under the conditions that it is maintained
and improved on."
"So you all won't be collecting taxes?" Ed asked, "because you need
some capital if you eventually plan on trading with the mortal world."
"No, no taxes," Annabeth shook her head, "and wait, I'm getting to that
part. So each district will be under one person, let's call him a manger.
Their job is to take care of their districts and for doing that they get
payed by the government, AKA Percy. Now, we need people to
maintain the place, people who will actually go and build or change.
Basically government workers. This will be the first job offers we can
give and they will again be payed by the government."
"We have to be careful," Edward told her, "we can't afford to flood the
market with money just like that. Giving people too much money which
they then refuse to spend is what causes trouble in the economy."
Annabeth nodded, "and then comes the second job offers. We use
buildings like the movie theater, coffee shop, gym to buy and sell
products. They buildings will be owned by the government, but the
workers will be played properly. And obviously some money will be
returned to the Government's pockets."
Ed nodded, "so essentially Percy will just have to supply money out his
own pockets at first. But after the trade flow picks up and the
government starts building its own coffers-"
Annabeth nodded, "it will be self sufficient. Maybe we can even have
the food on sale, if it isn't war times or something similar. The farmers
will be payed by the government and the crops produced will be sold
by the government to the people. A small portions of money is given to
the farmers as a bonus, while the government gets in the rest."
"Should we also price WIFI and electricity?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, maybe we-"
"No," Percy cut off Annabeth, "things like that which are vital to living
will not be priced. Maybe we set a limit on the date used, and if they go
beyond that they will have to pay, but I don't' want people to be
charged for WIFI or electricity or water."
"So we give out the buildings for free?" Ed asked.
"No, we rent them out," Percy told him, "we charge them based on how
much funds the Haven needs that month. If our coffers are full then we
don't' charge them anything, if we need extra cash, we increase the
rent. And as long as it is maintained properly we don't bother with what
they do with the land. They can change their apartment to whatever
they wish, it will basically be their house, only thing is we own it."
"So…..we are basically building a communist society?"
"Honestly Ed I don't' care," Percy said with a shrug, "we honestly can't
afford to be capitalists right now. I mean most demigods might not even
want to stay in the Haven in the first place. What with the scent
destroying pills you supplied us. So we can't take any chances with
money or property."
Chapter 569
Ed nodded, "I see…..makes sense. But you know now that you
mention it are you even sure people would want to live here? I mean
most would probably do what I did and run away from camp the first
chance they get. With no more monsters coming after them it will
basically be open season. Plus we are demigods, we can do things
better than humans ever can. Why would they want to live in a closed
off community like this?"
Percy sighed, "honestly Ed I have been thinking about that as well. And
the more I did the more I realised people would probably just leave
camp after they get old enough. Right now we are at war with Kronos,
so people might not have the guts to do so, but when it is over you are
right, they might just leave camp entirely.
"But I also realised that people would want to live a place surrounded
by those similar to them. It's like the legacies living in New Rome, their
scent is non existent, they don't have to worry about monsters eating
them. But you see they didn't leave, they stayed. Because it is where
they belong."
Ed smiled, "brilliant reasoning Percy."
Percy smiled, "thanks Ed. I have my moments."
Annabeth smiled, "you know we still haven't given it a name. We can't
just continue calling it the Haven project."
"No, not yet," Percy told her, "I want it up and running first before
anything else. When the last brick is set and the place is filled with
people, then we give it a name."
Ed and Annabeth agreed as Ed saved the edited image on his table
screen. He then displayed it fully as they admired what was a basic
sketch of their future.
"Percy…...it really does kind of look like a pizza pie," Annabeth told him
narrowing her eyes, "you sure you didn't have anything to do with
this?"
Percy blinked, "Annabeth I swear, I didn't plan this out at all."
Lie failed!
'Shit!'
"Percy Jackson I'm going to murder you!" Annabeth cried out.
"Okay okay, I may have had one or two ideas that might have involved
a pizza based structure, but I didn't think they would actually work!"
Ed chuckled as Annabeth hit Percy upside the head hard causing the
son of Poseidon to grumble under his breath about violent girls.
"So," Ed said, "I think we basically covered everything of importance
when it comes to the Haven. Now, moving on to the next thing,
supplies."
And so they spent the next two hours talking about what the building's
were going to made out of, how they were going to be transported to
the island, and what to build first.
Ed had a building company called Tekton, Greek for craftsmen, really
subtle there Ed. Tekton would supply all the materials to the island.
They would bring it in by boat, and Percy would take the supplies onto
the island. Super strength came in handy from time to time.
The first thing that was going to be laid out would be the water supply
and waste disposal pipes. Percy planned on installing them himself, he
didn't know how, but a quick trip to the DVD store and renting out a
DVD on plumbing should help with that.
Annabeth decided it would be best if all the waste was gathered
outside the city limits and stored in large containers. She wanted to
create organic fertilizers for the Demeter kids to use on the farms.
Percy found that extremely gross, but it was very green and people
had been doing it for ages before.
But he would still be making sure all the Demeter kids has proper
protection when dealing with the stuff. Plus maybe washing the
produce once or twice wouldn't hurt.
Then after the pipes would come the electricity lines, which again
Percy would put down. Then and only then would he begin construction
of the Hearth, the building in the center of the Haven.
Soon they had all the matters settled and on paper. This was a huge
deal for Tekton, in fact it was Ed's very first deal. Ed had formed this
company for the sole purpose of delivering goods to Gardiner island.
So in order to make sure this was all in the up and up, and Ed wouldn't
be sued, Percy payed the man. The first order would feature drainage
and water supply pipes, meters of electric wiring, marble by the cubic
meters and a few other miscellaneous items, like tools. The cost came
up to 1.5 million dollars, including manual labour and transportation.
The price was affordable by Percy, but considering this was just the
first shipment in many to come, Percy realised me might have to sell off
another piece of Alcyoneus platinum skeleton soon.
With their business over Annabeth and Percy quickly got ready to
return to camp. But before they left Ed stopped Percy and handed him
several steel briefcases. Inside them were several hundred scent
destroying pills. Percy had asked for them before, he wanted them to
give to the Romans.
The next day;
Percy and Thalia walked through the Labyrinth towards the camp
Jupiter side of the tunnel.
"So how do you think they are going to react?" Thalia asked walking
hand in hand with Percy.
"No clue," Percy told her, "honestly I don't expect them to believe me.
After all why should they? A pill which destroys the scent of a demigod
is kind of a farfetched idea, even for me. Some might believe us, like
Jason and Julia, but the others….well we'll just have to see."
Thalia nodded, "I just hope the Senate doesn't try to screw us over,
again."
Percy chuckled, "oh Sparky you know they are going to at least try.
After all, what decent citizen of Rome would just allow two Greeks to
walk about unharassed?"
"You really need to stop bullying the Roman's Percy," Thalia told him,
"and don't try to deny it. You're twice as hard on them then with us."
Chapter 570
Percy sighed, "yeah, but that's because they need that tough love
Thalia. They have been trained to think and act a certain way by very
angry and scary men. If I have any hope of getting them ready to fight
Kronos's army I need to be louder, angrier and scarier."
Thalia nodded, "yeah….I suppose you're right." Soon they reached the
exit, Percy pressed his hand on the closed wall causing it to open up
revealed the service tunnel leading to camp Jupiter.
They quickly made their way to their camp, and after a few moments of
arguing with the gate gaurd, they managed to get inside. They walked
down the military encampment, nothing had changed at all, everyone
kept going about their business, a few suspicious looks were thrown
their way, but none of them were hostile.
As they walked to the center of the camp Percy noticed that a new
addition was made. Right in the middle of crossroads was a circular
slab of black marble 4 feet high. On the sides and on the top were the
names of dead Romans along with a few words written out in Latin that
Percy' couldn't make out.
But that was not what captured his eye. In the middle of the marble
slab was the Golden Eagle embedded deep inside the marble
structure, standing tall, proud and free. Percy smiled at it, and he could
have sworn it smiled back.
"Well I didn't expect you two so soon," Julia's called out walking up to
the couple with Rob behind her, "it's not the weekend already, right?"
"No Julia," Thalia shook her head, "it isn't. But does that mean we can't
visit our favorite Romans?"
Rob huffed, "oh please, I don't believe for a second that this is a social
call. What do you want Grace, and be quick about it. I need to get back
to training my men. This time the first cohort fully intended to fight off
the whole wave of zombies and the Legion zombie that will appear."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Percy said as he continued to look at the
Eagle, "you did a great job with the Eagle Julia, it looks happy to be out
here in the open."
Julia nodded, "thank you….but I didn't do it."
Percy tore his eyes away from the Eagle and looked at the Praetor of
Rome, "you mean Rob did it? I didn't exactly pine him for the
sentimental type."
"No, not me ether," Rob groaned.
"Then who?" Thalia asked.
"We don't know," Julia sighed, "it happened a few days ago. One day
we woke up and poof, this thing appeared in the middle of the camp
with the Eagle stuck in the middle. We tried to remove it, but we
couldn't, it's basically stuck there."
Percy nodded, "I see….and you have no witnesses? Nobody heard or
saw anything? Not even the Lares?"
Julia nodded, "yes one Lares did see something. It seems this ghost
saw someone walk out of the Principia and to the crossroads. She
snapped her fingers and suddenly this structure appeared out of thin
air."
"She? As in a woman?" Thalia asked, "did he he get a good look at her
face?"
Rob shook his head, "no. She had her hood up, and we are just
assuming she is female, it is not confirmed."
"They why did the Lares think the intruder was a female?" Percy asked.
"Because when after she was done she turned away and made to
leave the camp. Her hood moved to the side and the Lares saw that
she had long blue hair with a very soft jawline," Julia told them, "we
have checked every single person in the camp and in New Rome, and
so far we got zero leeds."
Percy nodded, "I see…..did the Lares see anything else?"
"Yes, apparently our mystery women also wore some kind of glow in
the dark contacts," Julia told him, "when we asked how the Lare knew
that he….well he started to shake in fear."
"Shake? More like spas out," Rob said, "I have never seen a Lares
more scared about anything. Like their dead, what do the dead have to
fear? But apparently this woman's gaze of so powerful it scared the shit
out of our Lares. Hell it took us a day to finally convince him to tell us
about her."
"So what colour were her eyes?" Thalia asked.
"Yellow," Julia told her, "they were sulphuric yellow."
Percy nodded as he put away the information for latter. He looked out
the marble stone, "what does the latin inscription say?"
"We don't know," Julia said, "we brought our resident language expert,
a Latin teacher in New Rome college, a he couldn't make heads or tails
of this thing. He only managed to translate one words, 'protect'."
Percy nodded and then Observed the block of marble;
Block of marble;
This is a simple block of marble that is inscribed with the names
of dead Roman legionaries and # $%# $ which will #$!$ #$# !$ #.
Percy closed the box sighed, 'okay, so we have a new mystery on our
hands. A strange woman who somehow managed to transport this
thing with a snap of her fingers. And apparently she also placed some
kind of spell on it. Maybe that was what caused the Eagle to be stuck
in the stone.'
"Anyway, let's move on shall we?" Rob started, "why are you here?"
"We need to talk to the Senate," Percy told Rob, "it's a matter of
emergency."
Julia looked surprised, "we can't just summon the Senate whenever we
wish Percy. We need to be sure there is a good reason for it."
"We may have a way to permanently destroy the scent of demigods
making them untraceable by monsters," Thalia replied, "would that be a
good enough reason?"
Rob started with his mouth hanging open, "y-yeah. That'll do it."
"Y-You're serious about this?" Julia asked in guarded excitement, "like
you aren't pulling my leg or something right?"
Percy shook his head, "no Julia we aren't. It works, everyone in the
Greek camp is currently on it. For my birthday we all went to a water
park and spent the whole day there. In the end no monsters were
attracted to our location."
"None?" Rob asked, "none at all?"
Thalia nodded, "none. Well, we were attacked, by that was by a mad
man, completely unrelated to the scent destroyers."
"We need to call a Senate meeting now," Julia told Rob as she turned
around walking to her Principia, "come with me."