Clockwork

30

"You're going to go stop Adrien?" Clockwork heard Mickey Valdez ask his father. "I'm not sure. Artemis just told me that--"

"Do not speak my name male."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I'm unworthy." Came Leo's exasperated reply. Michael Valdez was a newer addition to the Valdez family, as Percy only remembered Sam and Liz, his son and daughter.

"Why would you need my help?" Percy heard Annabeth's voice. Clockwork was at the beginning of the new Big House since the other one had been reduced to dust. "I've got the same question regarding the wife of the crazed psychopath of course," Leo said.

"She is going to prove her worth." "I was disowned, Milady. I'm worthless now." Annabeth said. "Does that mean your IQ got knocked down a few points?" Mickey asked. "Yes, to put it mildly," Annabeth said. "Nevertheless, you were requested, and you will do your part. If you fail to be useful the day of your death will be moved up and it will be done with." Artemis said.

Clockwork was waiting for Nico to come out of the clinic. He'd left to tell Will he was leaving, but Clockwork had been waiting for ten minutes picking up different conversations.

"...what Annabeth did to a little kid. What was she thinking?" One of the campers whispered to a friend.

"Poor kid. She's such a nice little girl." The other camper said.

"She reminds me a little of Percy Jackson, which isn't surprising considering..."

"At least she'll be beyond Annabeth's reach." The two campers agreed before moving on to another topic. "How are the kids?"

"Not good. Marks are appearing on them, and yesterday, Adrien sent a note with one sentence on it. Not to mention, Two's condition is declining and is the worst of them right now." One of them said, which Percy worked out to be an Apollo kid. "What did the note say?" The camper asked.

"I can't say anything about it." The Apollo camper said.

The other camper was about to say something else, but the sound of something tapping metal caught Percy's attention. He looked over and saw Nico tapping his shoulder, trying to get his attention.

"I've been trying to get your attention for 2 minutes. Come on, I'm all ready to go." Nico rushed him. Percy rolled his eyes under his helmet and followed the son of Hades as he walked off. Percy noticed he had a large backpack on his back that he hadn't had before he went into the clinic, but he thought nothing of it.

He passed Artemis, Leo, and Annabeth as they headed out of the camp. Nico 'accidentally' bumped Annabeth while walking past her. She stumbled and turned to glare at him, but he didn't look back and notice. "Seriously Nico? That's straight-up bullying. What are you, five?" Annabeth yelled after him.

Nico seemingly didn't hear her as he continued walking. Percy moved past  Annabeth without touching her, catching up to Nico easily. "Well that was rude," Percy told him. "What was rude, me bumping into her or her killing you?" Nico said.

"Both, actually. Anyway, what's in the bag?" Percy asked. "Stitches, gauze, bandages, nectar, ambrosia, and considerably large pieces of metal," Nico answered. "Will?" Percy asked. Nico confirmed with a roll of his eyes. "Who else?"

Despite the fact that most of it was pretty much unnecessary, Percy appreciated Will for adding metal to the bag.

They walked in silence, seeing as they both were very powerful demigods and could attract some unwanted attention. Percy thought of whistling for Sabre but decided not to since she was with the girls who were at their meeting spot.

"So... do you know what's going on with Annabeth and Kai?" Percy asked. Nico glanced at him but quickly turned his eyes back to staring straight ahead. "She's from the underworld. Kind of like Hazel." Nico said. "What is she like hundreds of years old?" Percy asked the son of Hades.

"No, she's actually about 22 years old," Nico said. Percy noticed Nico was being choppy with his sentences, trying to limit the information he was giving Percy. "So she died at eight years of age?" Percy asked as they started walking through tall bushes and wacking branches out of the way.

"No, she died as a newborn... I may or may not have brought her back eight years ago. She grew up into Kai." Nico said. "Is that why you're so nervous? I'm not going to tell anyone if that's what you're worried about." Percy said, bringing out Riptide to cut branches out of the way.

"Hey, that's new. I thought your arm turned into Riptide." Nico said, changing the subject. "Yeah, Hephaestus and Aphrodite humanized me. If I swapped my armor for regular clothes, I'd look the same as I did at 35. At least mostly." Percy said.

"But Kai dying as a baby doesn't really explain why Annabeth was talking about killing her. Did Annabeth happen to kill a baby while we were still married?" Percy asked. "And Kai is a granddaughter of Poseidon so she killed my niece right? How'd she even get to her? I don't remember anything about a niece coming to camp." Percy said.

Nico sighed and stopped walking entirely. Percy stopped walking a few seconds after Nico did, wondering why he decided to stop. "Why'd you stop? You should know that we have a demon dirt baby on the loose right now." Percy said. The sun was setting, and as much as he knew Sabre could take care of herself and Jasmine could manage if she could climb a tree, Blair's power to kill everything temporarily may or may not be helpful when against a horde of monsters who take advantage of those who can't see in the dark.

"Percy, remember Baby Azul?" Nico asked. "Yeah, we called Kenneth that before he was born," Percy said. "Yes, you called Kenneth that, but remember those headaches Annabeth used to get right after your honeymoon? It went on for a good eight months?"

"Oh, that. We had a joke that she was going to give birth from her head, which is a... strange thing to make fun of looking back."

Nico, sighed which seemed like the fifth time in one conversation. "I don't usually beat around the bush, so I'm just going to say it."

"Okay, then say it."

"She did give birth to a baby from her brain. She did notice that the kid looked exactly like you. And she... she killed Kai, the same way she killed you."

Percy didn't answer. Both of them were silent except for the electricity that sparked in Percy's scar.

Then Percy started walking again. He took off his helmet which had begun to spark with electricity and held it under his arm. "I told you, One is still out there," Percy stated, his voice turning off the faint emotion he usually applied to his voice when talking to his friends.

They were silent until they met with Jasmine, Blair, and Sabre.

Artemis had left traps that kept One in the area.

"So if we do find it, what are we going to do? I doubt One will listen to reasoning from what my dad told me." Jasmine asked, her quiet voice shattering the silence. Percy looked over at her and saw she hadn't gotten any better from the last time he saw her at Hestia's. Percy felt guilty about suggesting to bring her along and decided to not even ask if she had many conversations with her dad.

"If he truly doesn't listen to reason, One will probably die. The prophecy states that he will die from drowning, so if anyone kills him other than me or anything slightly larger than a puddle, we could alter the prophecy... somewhat. It may not even make a difference." Percy said.

"So you brought three people that have power over death..." Nico trailed off.

"Yes. I guess I should've told you first." Percy said. "Yeah, you should have, but I'll do it. It hasn't done anything but maul its way out of its mother's throat since its been here. It probably has scored a few animals." Nico said. "Yeah, I agree with him, I guess since its just a curse of Hera and not a baby it's okay," Blair said, but she sounded unsure.

"But don't you think One didn't have a choice? It's Hera's fault, not One's." Jasmine said. "If you don't want to, Jasmine, it's fine," Percy said.

"No... No, I'll do it."

That's the end of this chapter that took its sweet time being posted. What'd you think? Who's definitely not surprised at what Annabeth did to Kai? Oskay, I'm going to go do homework or something ig. Bye!