Would that I ──── Leo Valdez [2]

𝟏: 𝐀𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲

─────𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐞, Vincent thought Annabeth was going to go crazy with how thoroughly she was preparing for everything.

She'd paced the deck of their flying warship, the Argo II, checking and double-checking the ballistae to make sure they were locked down. She confirmed that the white "We come in peace" flag was flying from the mast. She reviewed the plan with the rest of the crew—and the backup plan, and the backup plan for the backup plan.

Most important, she pulled aside their war-crazed chaperone, Coach Gleeson Hedge, and encouraged him to take the morning off in his cabin and watch reruns of mixed martial arts championships. The last thing they needed as they flew a magical Greek trireme into a potentially hostile Roman camp was a middle-aged satyr in gym clothes waving a club and yelling "Die!"

Everything seemed to be in order.

But Annabeth still looked nervous enough that she might jump overboard (as the main strategist and unanimously elected leader, that might pose a problem for the crew if she did in fact jump)

The warship descended through the clouds and Vincent decided to try his luck easing her fears. Instantly, she slumped. She lowered her head against the rails and sighed. 

She had told everyone to rest up and get a good night of sleep, but had seemingly not followed her own advice. Her fingers drummed on the rail and when she looked up, her eyes were a little bloodshot with bags underneath them. Though she had done her best to clean up her hair with Piper's help so it no longer resembled a rat's nest. 

"Talk to me," Vincent told her, "Get it out of your system."

"I can't help worrying," She told him. "Nothing every goes according to plan anymore. We're just not the kind of people with luck on our side."

Vincent nodded. That was sort of part of the whole demigod-ish business. They rarely, if ever, got lucky. And as for a daughter of Athena who was obsessed with the whole planning stuff, it infuriated her to no end whenever she couldn't anticipate something. 

"What if this was a bad idea?" She went on, now pacing next to Vincent, "What if the Romans panic and attack us on sight?"

The Argo II definitely did not look friendly. Two hundred feet long, with a bronze-plated hull, mounted repeating crossbows fore and aft, a flaming metal dragon for a figurehead, and two rotating ballistae amidships that could fire explosive bolts powerful enough to blast through concrete... well, it wasn't the most appropriate ride for a meet-and-greet with the neighbors.

"That's what I'm here for," Vincent reminded her. He was supposed to be standing next to Jason and 'radiating a sense of calm' according to Annabeth's description of his job. "And besides, Leo sent the scroll ahead with Tyson, right?"

Annabeth had asked Leo to send one of his special inventions—a holographic scroll—to alert their friends inside the camp. Hopefully the message had gotten through. Leo had wanted to paint a giant message on the bottom of the hull—WASSUP? with a smiley face—but Annabeth vetoed the idea. She wasn't sure the Romans had a sense of humor.

 "Percy won't let them shoot us."

"Percy," Annabeth whispered his name with that lovesick look on her face and Vincent couldn't help the giggle he let out. She frowned at him, but he just shook his head. Everytime he was mentioned, Annabeth acted either like a ten year old with a crush or an old grandma talking about her husband she had been married to for years. There was no in between.