Clockwork

40

The room was unscathed. Looked exactly how it did when Percy had left. Except Two, a one and a half-year-old daughter of Tyche, was gone.

And she took half of Apollo's arm with her.

"It's not regenerating back. Apollo, this might be permanent," Hephaestus said to the sun god.

"Will?" Apollo called out. Will went to his father's side, completely unscathed, but he looked worried, if not scared. "I was not only in the same room, I was literally right next to Two. There wasn't any force, heat, or anything. It was just a bright light," he explained to Percy when he felt Percy's confused gaze on him.

"Apollo, I can make you a new arm, but precautions must be taken with the Twenty. They're weapons capable of harming gods, permanently. If they don't hurt demigods, leave it to your children to care for the children. They've done well this far." Hephaestus said.

"Did anything happen right before she exploded? Did she look different or did she say anything?" Percy asked Will.

"She died. She began to code, and then when she flatlined, the light hit."

"So Adrien rigged the kids to explode when they died," Percy said quietly, deep in thought.

"Yes, I think he did." 

"I've never sensed any machinery or any of the kind inside of them. He must've used something else to make the bomb." Hephaestus said.

"Does this sound like something a Titan could do? Perses, maybe? Or Hecate, even?" Will asked. 

Percy excused himself from the conversation, leaving this in Hephaestus' hands. Before the god could ask him where he was going, Percy shook his head at him, signaling him not to ask as he stuck a foot out of the large golden door and went free-falling down the side of the palace. When he landed, a small white butterfly fluttered around his head, grabbing his attention. Percy raised his hand, and the insect landed on his outstretched finger, opening and closing its wings.

Death sent his guide.

''You are a really small guide," Percy said to the small butterfly. It lifted itself into the air and gently landed on the grass-covered ground. The grass began dying at an alarming rate, even insects began falling over. After its demonstration was done, the butterfly lifted itself back up. "Okay, you've proven your point," he said as the butterfly settled back on his hand. 

He whistled for Sabre, already hearing the sound of wind chimes filling the air seconds after he did. Percy heard something else too, a constant ticking sound, one that he didn't think he needed right now. He stopped at Hephaestus' workshop, using the stairs Hephaestus had added since no one could simply flash him in, and got to work. 

He'd stopped the ticking noise. 

"Show me the way," Percy said to the butterfly, and it flew away, with Percy and Sabre following.

~~~~(^-^)~~~~

It was a house. A regular house. The butterfly had made a point of circling it, zipping around it and killing the quaint little garden that resided in the front lawn.

Percy was hidden in the bushes, ignored by those who passed by him. Despite the fact that the neighborhood looked quiet, a man in armor squatting in the bushes was a normal occurrence. Normal enough to not raise any suspicion or even gather anyone's attention, but just in case, Percy made sure to cast a glamour over himself to make his armor look like normal attire and his towering frame look less intimidating. More importantly, he changed his face and voice entirely. He didn't quite know what he looked like exactly, but he knew he wouldn't be recognizable, at least he hoped. It was also a new glamour that Hefty had collaborated with Hecate with, as it adjusted to the form and the only way that it would go off is if the wearer-- or Percy-- told it to go off. Percy would weigh lighter or heavier, he would have the appearance of breathing, and he had normal-sounding heart, one who's heart rate Percy could control. It also made his weapons on him look like useless accessories or other harmless objects, which was good because Percy was a walking armory at the moment.