When Worlds Collide

64) The Stress Before Slaying

The only word to describe the week following the Lex Luthor interview was chaos. It was complete and utter chaos.

His family kept coming to his room to check on him, but he was constantly on the phone with someone. Whether it be with Annabeth for strategy, Piper for media perception breakdowns, Rachel for political tactics, Reyna for diplomacy lessons, or Will for moral support, he was always on the phone with someone.

Over the past week, he had only made it to a family meal once, and they ate nearly every meal together on most days. The only free time he had the entire week was getting coffee with Tiffany and that was only because they didn't want to rouse suspicion by him canceling.

Annabeth had some how managed to get the gods to cooperate and give them specific guidelines within 24 hours of him asking for it. Reyna had gotten senate approval for him to vaguely mention them and share very limited (and high altered) information about them. Camp Half-Blood took a vote about it too and it was also unanimous (though theirs was followed by the opening of a betting pool about how it would go). The team had come up with a name, one that Nico hated, but it was 12-1, so he had to accept it. And Piper made an account on social media for his vigilante persona the day after the interview came out where she had Nico film a video, in his costume, in response to the Luthor interview. She made him a script for it, thankfully, where he offhandedly mentioned that he 'would even talk about it at the general assembly', which immediately prompted Lex to send a formal invitation, with the support of the president on the UN general assembly.

So in summary, he was screwed.

Nico had thought that his stipulations were high enough that they would have at least failed at one and he wouldn't have to do it, but he was wrong. He really shouldn't have underestimated the power of a bunch of demigods when they are given a common enemy.

"Is this really necessary?" Nico asked, groaning as Piper fiddled with the fabric that wrapped around him. "This isn't the Camp Jupiter senate."

Piper rolled her eyes as she adjusted the folds that stretched over his shoulder. "We want you to look presentable, so stop fidgeting."

Nico shifted as he tried to stand still, but he felt like he was going to puke. "Why do I need this semi-toga thing? Everyone there wears a suit or something, so why can't I just  wear my super-suit? It's what they expect me to wear."

"Exactly. They expect just the costume, so you will already be impressing them. Plus, you're still wearing the super suit, I just added some class to it."

The son of Hades rolled his eyes as he glanced at the full length mirror in front on him that Piper had somehow managed to bring in with all of her stuff. "I look stupid."

Piper scoffed. "Dude, you look hot. I guarantee that if Will were up here, he would agree."

Nico could feel his face redden, but didn't dignify her statement with a response. "I know that we're trying to come off as more important than we are, but is this necessary? It just feels like a lot."

Piper shrugged. "It is a lot, but it's all about perception," she said as she took a step back and admired her work with a nod. "I'm a genius."

Nico examined himself in the mirror, now actually able to see the entire thing since she had stepped away. He had to admit, it wasn't terrible. She had taken away his cloak and instead put on a black toga cloth type thing over his original costume.That, plus the crown of black laurel leaves, gave it a very very Ancient Rome-ish feeling, without screaming 'I'M A DEMIGOD!'

There was a knock at the door and Nico groaned, knowing who it was.

"Come in," Piper called, knowing Nico wasn't going to.