Never Change

Chapter 34

"Hello, Perseus. Welcome to Atlas, and more specifically, Alsius, our main military headquarters for Atlas."

"Hello, James," Percy greeted back with a smile, as he stepped off the bullhead, "Thank you very much for this kind welcome." The two of them met, and grasped each other's forearms, smiling amicably. And yet, both of them knew what they had to do to show the strong bonds fostered between kingdoms: They had to play the part and play it up for the media.

Cameras flashed, and they paused for a second, holding the position, and letting the numerous media reporters around the exchange take photos. Around them, numerous reporters had cameras set up, and were already live casting to their networks. Percy was sure tabloids about this meeting would be all over the Atlesian news network in just a couple of hours.

Mercury and Neo followed behind him, as they too hopped off the bullhead. Well, only Percy and Ironwood really knew they were there. They were disguised, with Neo's semblance of course.

The cameras were on the second that the bullhead doors had opened, and Percy didn't want any word of Neo and Mercury getting out. Firstly, he needed to keep Neo and Mercury as aces in his pocket. No one could freely learn of their identity. Secondly, if the press did see them, they would think that he was bringing bodyguards because he felt unsafe and would jump on it like starved dogs to the fresh meat. He couldn't afford to take any risks right now.

Of course, that would normally mean ensuring that the pilot didn't leak anything, but James had promised him that the pilot would keep his mouth shut. Percy had chosen to take the General at his word.

"Come, Perseus," the General said in a quiet tone that the reporters, who were being kept at a distance by the guards, couldn't pick up on, "I'd like to do that scan on your body, to determine your exact body composition. Of course, you'll be attending the SDC Charity Banquet tonight, so I promise I won't take too long. Oh, and you and your teammates' suits are almost finished, so Atlas will ship them by express to you all as soon as possible."

"Of course, General," Percy smiled, as he felt Mercury and Neo sneak out of the vicinity of the landing pad, and towards the building in the distance.

They walked towards the military building, ignoring the reporters and the flashing cameras. It might have been hard for Percy once upon a time to do so, but the newfound experience of fame had taught him like no other to ignore everything and everyone.

The answer was always "no comment".

Still, it amused him to listen in sometimes on the questions that the reporters asked.

Some asked if he was a god or not, some asked if he would smite the world and sink it to its watery depths. Percy supposed he might if something pissed him off enough, though that was him just joking. Or part of him, at least.

Some asked about his private life, about his love life. Percy snorted internally. It was ludicrous.

"We're here," Ironwood interrupted his random train of thought. They had made it into the building, and Percy couldn't help but smirk as he watched Ironwood breathe a sigh of relief.

"Not used to handling this many reporters?" he asked knowingly.

James chuckled loudly, finally himself indoors, "Of course. I'm adequately used to the feeling of getting swamped with reporters normally, but today was absolutely a different beast."

Percy hummed knowingly in agreement, as they entered the elevator. He had left instructions for Mercury and Neo to stay behind in the lobby of the building; what he was about to do wasn't for their eyes to see. Even if they had fought with him together on the bullhead against the hybrids, it didn't mean they had bonded. They had bonded to him, but the inverse wasn't necessarily true.