What If?

3. The God of War Looses His Toys

Annabeth froze. How did this happen? How long had Grover been captured? 

Annabeth was suddenly very glad that Hades sent her to the beach instead of the city. Gods know what would have happened to her friend!

Oh. And the bolt too, now that she thought about it. 

"You set us up," Annabeth stated, "You stole the Master Bolt and the Helm." 

"Well now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power—that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands." 

It dawned on her. "But you didn't get a hero. You got the thief." 

"That's not important. See, your friend Perseus was the catalyst. He was supposed to die in the Underworld. Then old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have had Zeus's master bolt by then, so Zeus'll be made at him. And Hades is still looking for this," Ares pulled out the Helm of Darkness, "So he'll be mad at Zeus and Poseidon 'cause he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, you got a nice little three-way slugfest going." 

"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested. 

She knew that Ares was the war god but this was too much for her. 

Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say." 

"You gave Percy the backpack in Denver. But the bolt wasn't in there when we looked inside..." 

Annabeth knew of course why they didn't see bolt but she had to keep Ares talking while she thought of a plan. 

"It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like it's sheath so to speak. Except I tinkered with the magic and made is so it only returned once you entered the Underworld. You get close to Hades...Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way—no loss. I still had the weapon." 

"Why not just keep the master bolt for yourself. You would have achieved the same thing," Annabeth said. 

Ares's jaw twitched. His eyes glazed a bit, almost as if he was listening to another voice give him directions. 

"Why didn't I...yeah...with that kind of firepower..." 

He held the trance-like look for one second, two before his face cleared. 

"I didn't want the trouble. Better to frame Perseus then get accused of treason." 

"You're lying," Annabeth stated, "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?" 

"Uh, Annabeth," Grover squeaked, "Can you please not outsmart gods when they have me in their—" Ares tightened his grip around Grover's neck. "OW—Okay, shutting up now..." 

"Of course, it was!" Ares growled out. He threw Grover aside in rage and stalked towards Annabeth. Smoke wafted up from his sunglasses as if his eyes were about to catch fire. 

"It wasn't. You changed the subject when I pointed out that you got the weapon from the thief. You went into a trance when I pointed out that you could have kept the weapon for yourself. And the prophecy did say that we had to face a god who had turned, and you're the only god that worked against us! So no, I don't believe you. You're working for whoever ordered the thief around!" Annabeth accused. 

Ares took his sunglasses off. His eyes were dancing flames. "HOW DARE YOU," Ares roared. He grabbed Annabeth by the collar of her shirt.

The whole beach was surrounded by a ring of fire. People started screaming. Police sirens could be heard in the distance.