Brothers In Arms

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Percy, Hermes and Artemis sat down at Athena's war table for the second time that week, watching the wisdom goddess as she stood at the head of the table. Two of the group watched her warily, while the other smiled at her sister.

"Okay, so greetings, everyone." Athena started.

"Hi-" Artemis went to reply, but was cut off.

"Enough with the pleasantries, hurry up!"
"Get a move on, Athena!"

Hermes and Percy's groans were quite unappreciated by the goddess, who was seething on the inside. But she held her anger in.

Gritting her teeth, she continued. "Yes, thank you. So, straight to business then. I propose we send demigod quests to investigate Hyperion's whereabouts and actions."

Percy squinted at her. "Why? Zeus told us to look into it. We're four gods. Let's just zoom over, check it out and dip. Ooh, dip."

Athena rolled her eyes. "Because we must comply with the Ancient Laws, and that means sending sponsored demigods forth in our stead. You just toed the line by taking Krios on by yourself instead of letting that son of Jupiter take care of it." The wisdom goddess said haughtily.

The god's eyebrow twitched. Take care of it? A Titan in his true form, alone? He would've died.

Holding his own frustration in, though, he simply bit out an irritated mutter. "Ancient Laws, my ass. I've not suffered any consequences yet."

Faintly, a shout of "Language!" could be heard from somewhere else in Olympus.

"Well, to an extent, she is right, Percy." Hermes said a little apologetically. "Even though you got Zeus to remove the one barring us from seeing our children regularly, the Ancient Laws aren't things to just go around breaking. Plus, the demigods need to be in good shape and experienced in case of anything."

The son of Poseidon winced. Those were good points. "Fine, we'll just go, take me and Arty's Hunters, and check it out. No problem."

Athena fought to keep a sadistic smirk from breaking out on her face. "No. I propose we send quests from Camp Half-Blood, as is tradition. This is not a true hunting quest, after all."

"No."

"Oh, don't be so harsh, Perseus." Athena chuckled. "Many of the campers have been praying for the chance to prove themselves on quests. You were once a camper, you'd know what it was like."

Percy gritted his teeth. With me, it was more a case of too many quests. But remembering the stories about how Annabeth was before I got to Camp, and how Luke was, I see what she means.

Hermes nodded. "Another valid point. My children have also been asking for chances."

Percy eyed him. "Whose side are you on, man?"

"Yours. But I'm not going to cause meaningless disputes over statements I know to be true, I want to leave soon."

Athena's eye twitched at the rudeness aimed at her hospitality, but let it go again. Wow, am I in a benevolent mood today or what? She thought, adjusting her robe with a serene smile and giving the still attentive Artemis a reassuring nod.

The goddess of wisdom conveniently forgot that said benevolence probably stemmed from the fact that Percy and Alex were able to beat her up even both as demigods.

"Fine. Fine. Whatever." Percy gave in, shaking his head. "Which three demigods are you picking, then?"

"Well, since this is a rather dangerous quest, I believe we should send more than just the usual three members of a quest."