Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXVI: Percy Makes a New Enemy

Ares was waiting for us at the diner, just like he had said. He looked pretty pleased with himself. I'm glad I resisted the urge to shoot him on the spot. It would have been a waste of a perfectly good arrow.

"Well, well. You didn't get yourself killed." he remarked.

"You knew it was a trap!" Percy replied furiously.

"Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV"

"You're a jerk." Percy fired back, shoving the shield towards Ares.

I half expected the god to blast Percy into oblivion, which at least would have given me a valid reason to wipe that grin off his face. But I preferred to keep my best friend alive.
Fortunately, Ares did not blow Percy to smithereens.

Instead, he threw his shield in the air as if he was making pizza. As it spun in the air it turned into a bulletproof vest, which he slung over his shoulder.

"See that truck over there? That's your ride. Take you straight to LA, with one stop in Vegas." he told us, motioning towards an eighteen-wheeler parked nearby.

"You're kidding." Percy replied.

After straining my eyes a bit, I understood Percy's statement. The sign on the side of the truck read KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS. It wasn't exactly the type of transportation you would expect to receive after doing a favor for a god.

In response to Percy's comment, Ares simply snapped his fingers and caused the door of the truck to swing open.

"Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

He proceeded to throw a blue backpack over to Percy, who despite having caught it, looked like he wanted to just throw it in the bin. Still curiosity got the better of him as he opened it to check its contents. As he inspected it, the rest of us leaned over his shoulder to see as well. Inside the backpack was a fresh set of clothes for all of us, a pretty welcome gift considering the ridiculous state we were currently in, twenty dollars in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas and a packet of double stuff Oreos.

As much as I wanted to throw the backpack back at Ares, I knew we really could use the help. If it meant we had a better chance of surviving and getting to Los Angeles, I could live with accepting Ares's reward.
However, Percy apparently couldn't.

"I don't want your lousy..."

"Thank you, Lord Ares. Thanks a lot." Grover quickly interrupted, glaring at Percy as he did.

May the gods bless that satyr and his ability to keep a cool head. While Percy still didn't look happy about accepting the backpack, Grover's interruption seemed to have knocked a bit of sense into him.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted some movement inside the restaurant. I glanced over to see the waitress that had taken our orders earlier looking over at us nervously. She called someone inside and a man who looked like the cook walked over to her. Before any of us could react, he pulled out a small camera and took our picture.
Not good. If there was something we didn't need, it was another headline of Percy in the news.

I hurriedly tapped Percy on the shoulder.

"Percy, we have to go. Now." I told him with urgency.

"Not yet! He still owes me one more thing." Percy replied before turning back to Ares, struggling to keep his anger in check.
"You promised me information about my mother."

"Sure you can handle the news? She's not dead." Ares revealed while getting on his bike.

Percy's legs seemed to falter for a second. I honestly couldn't blame him though. I wouldn't have reacted much differently.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis, not death. She's being kept." the god explained.

"Kept? Why?" Percy asked.

The poor boy was clearly too nice for his own good. It would never occur to him that anyone might try to take a hostage to convince him to do something. It was part of the reason you had to avoid being taken prisoner during capture the flag. I learned that the hard way.

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You can take somebody to control somebody else." Ares told him.

"Nobody's controlling me." Percy replied.

The god simply laughed, obviously disagreeing with Percy's statement.

"You keep telling yourself that, kid."

Percy decided to indulge his reckless self again.

"You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for someone who runs from cupid statues."

The rest of us took a step away from Percy. Just so we wouldn't be caught in the blast radius if Ares decided to obliterate him. Ares's cocky smirk vanished and his sunglasses began to glow due to the heat radiating from his eyes.

"We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back." he warned.

Then, proving that excessive dramatic tendencies was a trait engraved into the brains of all Olympians, Ares revved up the engine as loud as the machine allowed before turning around and disappearing down the street with a deafening roar.

"That was not smart, Percy." Annabeth told him.

"I don't care." he replied.

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially that god." she insisted.

"Annabeth is right, Percy." I agreed.
"With the amount of battles a half-blood faces, antagonizing the God of War is a really bad idea."

"Hey, guys." Grover said, grabbing our attention.
"I don't mean to interrupt but..."

I looked at where he was pointing. Over at the diner, there were two men at the cash register paying for their dinner. They both wore identical black overalls and the white logo on their back matched the one on the side of the truck. You didn't have to be a child of Athena to know who they were. Our window was closing fast.

"If we're taking the zoo express we need to hurry." Grover warned.

We all shared a look. None of us was happy with the transportation Ares provided. But it was still better than nothing. And it's not like we really had a choice.

We quickly ran over to the truck and jumped in, closing the doors behind us. As soon as we did, I realized we were not alone.