Hell And High Water (Percico boyxboy)

XVII

Alrighty. I promised an update soon, so here it is. Like I said in my A/N, though, I'm not sure when, or even if, the next one will be coming. I apologize if this section is a little confusing. I will say that there is some important information in it, though, and maybe even a few feels... So, please, read on.

Nico was sure to turn the news on first thing in the morning, feeling the need to know everything they knew. Percy was still sleeping so Nico was sure to keep the volume down as to not wake him, seeing as how he didn't really want the son of Poseidon to know too awful much. Nico watched the television as the many stories played before him. Some were things he was glad to know, like the downfall in petty crime from March until April. Others, he really couldn't have cared less about.
He watched on still, though, and was glad he did. There were some very interesting things being said about the explosion at the motel the day before, but no one had any leads into who might have been behind it. They were thinking domestic terrorists or something. Nico had to smirk, even though he knew the title would probably infuriate the actual culprits.
Nico thought it was interesting, and honestly slightly funny, that no one was yet able to make a connection between Typhon and the Manticore and the explosion. After all, in between every story, something about the police hunting for the two was brought up, but there was nothing about their involvement with the occurrences at the motel.
The news anchor spoke about both topics so freely and all Nico could do was shake his head and shame the woman for not keeping her mouth shut. Talking about them, their work, and the fact they were the targets of a man hunt would just make them angry. More angry. There was no doubt they knew they were being searched for and that alone would cause a big problem for the police. Nico added, on top of that, the fact there was no way they would let themselves be arrested and came to the conclusion that a lot of people were going to die on that very day. ...And he was right.
There was quite a long special about the whole ordeal a little later on, still before Percy woke up. During it, Nico learned that about thirty men, a combination of police, FBI, and SWAT, had gone after the two men and whoever they currently had on their side shorty before sunrise. Those men had accomplished nothing. Eighteen of them were dead, seven were critically wounded and in ICU, two had bolted and were still MIA, and the remaining three were being held captive by Typhon and the Manticore in the hopes of the police learning their lesson. What people failed to understand was that the two men were very resourceful, feared nothing, had others working with them, and did almost anything they wanted. No police or swat or military man would ever be able to stop them. That was the lesson that needed learning, and no one was learning it.
While Nico worried well into the day that no one was learning their lesson, Percy was seemingly home schooling himself. His lesson: if you play with fire, you're gonna get burned. He had played with fire. Fire meaning Nico. He had brought the son of Hades onto him and now, he felt, he was paying a price for it. The thoughts, the dreams, the awkward staring from one to the other, the uncomfortable conversations. He had brought that upon himself, and he knew it. And the consequences wore on for days.

Nico spent most of the next few days watching the news. He wasn't surprised when there was story after story about the police being held captive and the fingers, hands, and tongues that were being sent to their families. Each body part came with a message. It usually had to do with the media and their big mouths. And, of course, the media would pop up again and talk about it, making Typhon and the Manticore, as well as their followers, even more angry.
Nico did his very best to keep the stories out of Percys ears. He would usually watch them when Percy was showering or he would use his phone and ear buds. There was no way he was going to let Percy hear any of it. The son of Poseidon was already scared enough as it was. Even if he had never admitted to it, Nico knew uncontrollable fear when he saw it. And Nico wasn't about to, knowingly, add more to it with something as stupid as some news stories.