Return of the Disgraced Archangel

Hazel Doesn't Know Iron Man

     Percy woke up next to a nude Zoë, himself nude as well. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The boat had stopped moving, which had awoken him. He breathed in and stretched, before yawning. They probably needed him and Zoë on deck for some bullshit reason, but fuck it, let them come to them.

     He turned to his wife, who was still sleeping peacefully. She looked every bit of the angel she was. He smiled slightly and leaned down to kiss her forehead. He let his lips linger before he sat back up.

     Zoë's eyes fluttered open as she smiled. She sat up, the blanket falling to her waist. "We've stopped moving." She commented as she rubbed her eyes.

     "Yes. I presume we are needed."

     "You don't know?" She teased.

     "Do you?" He retorted.

     "They do." She joked.

     "Get outta here." He lightly pushed her arm.

     The door opened and Hazel walked in. She took one look at the two, became flustered, and then backed out.

     Percy and Zoë looked at each other and laughed. They got out of bed, dressed themselves, and made their way to the dining hall.

     "Look who finally decided to join us." Jason said as they entered the room.

     Percy and Zoë rolled their eyes and took the only other empty seats. "What'd we miss?" Percy asked.

     "Ship's damaged. Could be worse, but the hull's damaged in multiple places. The port aerial oars have to be fixed before we can go full speed again. We'll need some repair materials: Celestial bronze, tar, lime—" Leo explained before being interrupted.

     "What do you need limes for?" Frank asked.

     "Dude. Lime. Calcium carbonate, used in cement and a bunch of other things. You know what, nevermind. The point is, this ship ain't going far unless we fix it."

    "So we land and fix it." Jason planned. "Not that hard."

     "Yeah, well." Leo winced as creaks sounded throughout the ship.

     "What was that?" Hazel asked worriedly.

     "Oh, that's just Festus. He used to be a dragon, then there was the accident." Leo said accident like it was the most dramatic thing in the world. "So I made him the figurehead. Now he runs everything. Think Jarvis, from Iron Man."

     "What's Iron Man?"

     "You don't know Iron Man?! That's crazy, you're crazy."

     "Leo, back on track." Jason said. "What did Festsu say?"

     "Right. Well, we can only make one landing. So we have to find somewhere that has everything we need."

     "Where do you get Celestial bronze? I don't think you can just stock up at Home Depot? Or can you? I don't know anything about it, so I don't know."

     "That's the cool part. You can." Leo said it with a straight face.

     "Leo, stop tricking him." Piper groaned.

     Leo's face broke into a shit-eating grin. "Nah, you can't. But–" Leo looked up. "Festus, run a scan."

     "He can scan for Celestial bronze?" Percy asked. "Impressive."

     There was silence for a moment before a series of creaks and squeaks sounded through the room. Leo grinned.

     "Good news! Everything we need in one place. Festus, direct us to Great Salt Lake in Utah!"

LINE BREAK

    Despite Leo's claim of "Another happy landing", the landing was terrible. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent. The others strapped themselves in below—except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail, yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!" Leo stood astern, alone at the helm, and aimed as best he could.

     Festus creaked and whirred warning signals, which were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck.

     "I know. I know." Leo said, gritting his teeth.

     He didn't have much time to take in the scenery. To the southeast, a city was nestled in the foothills of a mountain range, blue and purple in the afternoon shadows. A flat desert landscape spread to the south. Directly beneath them the Great Salt Lake glittered like aluminum foil, the shoreline etched with white salt marshes that reminded Leo of aerial photos of Mars.

     "Hang on, Coach! This is gonna hurt!" Leo yelled to the satyr.

     "I was born for hurt!"

     A swell of salt water washed over the bow, dousing Coach Hedge. The Argo II listed dangerously to starboard, then righted itself and rocked on the surface of the lake. Machinery hummed as the aerial blades that were still working changed to nautical form.

     The robotic oars dipped into the water and started to move them forward.

     "Good job, Festus. Take us to the south shore."

     "Yeah!" Coach Hedge pumped his fists in the air. He was drenched from horns to hooves, but he had a manic grin on his face. "Do it again!"

     "Maybe later." Leo said. "Why don't you stay up here? In case the lake decides to attack us or something."

     "On it."

     The rest of the crew emerged from the bottom decks. Hazel stared at him intently, like she recognized him from somewhere. He was tempted to ask if they had met before, but he was pretty sure they hadn't. He would remember a pretty girl paying such close attention to him. That didn't happen a lot. Besides, he was almost certain she and the big baby faced guy were dating.

     "We've landed. Now what?" Percy asked. "We have to get the shipped fix, obviously. So Leo, take it away. What do we need to do?"

      "The easiest thing to get that we need is tar. You can get that in the city, at a roofing supply store or something. We also need lime and celestial bronze, which, according to Festus, can be found on an island in the lake, just west of here."

     "We'll have to hurry. Octavian is gonna use the auguries to find us. Then pressure the senate into leading a squad to take us out. And they will send it. It's a matter of honor."

     "Like I said-" Leo said before getting interrupted.

     Percy held up hand. "We've already discussed this. You were possessed. End of story. Zoë and I solved the problem. At least, while we're on the boat. As for Octavian, Zoë and I will handle that. After we get the tar."

A/N. Shorter chapter, sorry. I just want to get something out since it's been 2 weeks since I updated this. So, sorry about that. Yeah, that's it.

Thoughts?