Project Demigod (a Percico fanfic)

Chapter 11: Barfights, Passports, and a Touch of Luck

Hey guys, I'm soooo sorry about the late update again, but I just got out of the hospital Thursday, which I've been in since that previous Friday, and I really didn't have the strength to write. This isn't my best chapter, but here it is anyway. Love you guys. Stay Gold.

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Alley, 9:21 am

"Nice rims," Percy mumbled as he approached a sleek, silver BMW and stopped to eye them more appreciatively. Where Nico was fond of shadows, Percy was fond of fast cars. But when he kicked the wheel slightly with his boot, the vehicle's sensitive alarm system went off and echoed across the dirty alley.

Percy rolled his eyes and bent under the front of the car to trip the wiring from the fuse box. When it stopped, he pulled back up and kept moving while Nico nervously followed in tow.

There were cars parked into every available spot on the tight street and the two of them weaved around them heading to...well, Nico wasn't sure where but Percy kept flitting his eyes up and around. Nico bit his lip as Percy's fingers twitched at his side and he clenched his jaw.

"Come on, Percy," he grumbled nervously. "This isn't funny, why are we here?"

Percy didn't say anything as he scanned the alley, searching for something. When he spotted what he was looking for, he moved around several vehicles and went toward it.

"I'm getting you a passport," he simply said but when Nico decided to jog up to see where he was going, the prince froze.

"No," he raised both eyebrows, "you look more like you want to start your own spice garden!"

Indeed, as he crossed his arms, Nico watched Percy kneel in front of a large wooden crate filled with different herbs and green plants. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned each one.

'Thyme - call for a hit'

'Cilantro - smuggling operation'

'Rice stalk - break and enter'

'Coriander - weapons exchange'

Finally, he reached into it and plucked a tiny stem from one of the clusters.

When he stood back up, Percy walked toward Nico and held it out for him. Nico grasped it and twirled it in his fingers.

It was a mini spear, about the size of a pen.

"Hang onto it," Percy said curtly and Nico blinked up at him.

"Why?"

"Because it's the thing that's gonna get you out of this country."

"Seriously?" he started to say but Percy had already spun around and kept scanning the alley for...something else. So Nico just sighed and placed the clover behind his ear like he usually did with pencils before moved forward. Suddenly, Percy paused for a second to look up briefly then made a high jump at the wall.

A second later, he pushed off it and used his hands to catch the bar of a rusty fire escape ladder nearby.

Nico gasped. The ladder was nearly invisible against the rest of the steel hanging from above and Nico wouldn't have noticed it if Percy hadn't been looking for it. He swung tightly and with controlled momentum, pulled himself down to the ground with it in front of Nico. After he made sure it was secure and stared up, he clambered up a few feet before he twisted down to look at the prince.

Percy narrowed his eyes.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" he snapped insinuating that Nico follow him up the steel ladder. "Or would you rather stay down there and wait 'till the other guys show up?"