A Pirate's Life For Me

Common Enemy

Nico had been found tied up in the captain's quarters, gagged and looking furious. After explaining what had happened, Lou untied him.

"Where's Hazel?"

"We've got someone watching her, we're not quite sure how to get the curse off of her or Jason." Percy told him.

"Does Light know about this? She'll take any opportunity to attack if she finds out the two of us are weakened.

"Don't think that'll be happening, cousin." Percy said. Nico scowled at his semi-sarcastic use of the word, but decided to ask anyway.

"Why not?"

"The son of Hecate went after the Zephyrus first. The only people we managed save were Thalia, Annabeth and Will."

"What?" Nico stared. "That's impossible, Light's crew are some of the most ruthless people on the seas."

"This man, whoever he is, has a personal grudge against Thalia. He's pulling us into it and you can't change that. He forced Jason to kill the crew that he grew up with and I'll guarantee that it screwed up his mental state, if we could get back his true mental state and not the forced one from Mr. Magic."

Nico seemed to consider this.

"The only way to stop him is to work together." He finally murmured.

"You got it." Percy told him. "Temporary truce?"

The son of Hades eyed the son of Poseidon's outstretched hand warily.

"Oh come on, it's not permanent and we could save a lot of lives. Doesn't it make more work for your father if there's a serial killer running around?" Percy prompted him.

"Fine." Nico grudgingly grabbed the older boy's hand and shook it.

"Good. Now let's get Thalia out of my brig and talk to her and her crewmates in there."

When Nico, Percy and Lou returned to the deck, the scene was near chaos.

The two crews were clustered around what seemed to be a raging fistfight. Nico seemed confused as to who was in the center, but Percy sighed and shook his head then began to push through the crowd.

Reaching the center, he cleared his throat loudly enough for the two to hear him.

Reyna looked up from where she had Clarisse in a firm choke hold. "Captain."

"Let her go." Percy said.

Reyna dropped the daughter of Ares and stood straight, facing her captain without a trace of regret or fear on her face.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"She insulted you and our ship and took a swing at me when I corrected her opinion." The girl said calmly.

Clarisse had finally managed to stagger to her feet, and lunged at Reyna gain. She found a solid wall blocking her way and when she looked up, Frank was holding her back, his face impassive. She tried for a punch at his stomach but he caught her arm and much quicker than she anticipated for someone of his build, slipped behind her and locked her arms behind her back.

"I appreciate you defending me, Reyna, but it is unneeded." Percy spoke calmly, then raised his voice. "And this isn't just directed at Reyna, just so you all know. You will have quite the troubles if you all feel the need to attack and abuse your allies."

"You can't be serious!"

"No way am I working with them!"

"That's a horrible idea!"

Nico raised an eyebrow when he realized that the protests were all coming from his crew. The son of Poseidon's crew simply nodded at his statement.

"Enough!" Percy bellowed, his voice echoing off the water around them in a rather unnerving way. The waves hitting the ship picked up slightly in response to his mood. "You will have to deal with this. You may not have seen it, but there is a madman who is after all of us for various reasons. We need to work together to dispel this threat, then we can all go back to hating each other as we used to."

He turned to Nico. "Would you like to come speak with Thalia?"

"I believe that would be a beneficial idea." Nico said.

Percy walked to the small gap between the ships and launched himself easily over it, landing lightly on his deck and continuing on. He heard Nico follow him, moving faster to compensate for his shorter legs.

They walked through the bowels of the ship to reach the brig, hearing explosive cursing coming from inside.

"Are we really back to this Thalia?" Percy asked as he stepped into view of the people in the cells.

Thalia sneered at him, then looked surprised when Nico appeared behind him, untied and there of his own free will.

"How's her wrist?" Percy asked Will, who was sitting in the guard's chair, watching the cells. Annabeth was in the one nearest to him, huddled into the corner and clutching her bandaged hand, snarling at the men speaking about her.

"She's fine, just being dramatic." Will said calmly.

Percy nodded, then turned to Thalia.

"We've got some things to discuss."

[A/N yaya chapter! If I didn't procrastinate so much it would have been up already]