The Blue Knight --Percy Jackson Batman Crossover--The Olympian Heroes Book Three

Chapter 37

The told me what happened in the junkyard. Bianca had taken a small statue, like the ones Nico played with. An automated monster attacked and she went inside of it but never came out.
"If I hadn't gone off" I said clutching the small statue that Zoë had handed me. "She'd still be here"
"She asked thee to give it to Nico" Zoë said pointing to the statue she sounded like she was sick.
"If I hadn't-" I muttered
"What Happened to your shoulder" Grover asked noticing it
"Oh...um long story" I said "the water helped and I had some ambrosia"
Grover handed me a canteen of nectar and made me drink.
"Now where do we go" Thalia asked saying what no one else wanted to.
"We should follow the river" I said
"We should leave now" I said realizing the assassins could be following.
No one said anything but we followed the river a little ways till we came to a closed canoe rental.
"Well we can't just take one" I said
"We'll leave some drachmas" Thalia said putting a few down. I wrote a note promising we'd bring two canoes back but honestly that wasn't likely.
Before we got on the river Thalia pulled me aside.
"Would you take Zoë" she asked
"I don't think she'd like that-"
"Please I think you should talk to her" she said "please i-im worried about her"
"Okay"
"Thanks, I owe you one"
"Two" I said thinking about DC
"One and a half" she said smiling
I remembered I actually liked her when she wasn't mad.
We got in the canoes me with Zoë in one and Grover and Thalia in the other. I noticed some naiads in the water.
"Ugh" Zoë said "the naiads-"
She was cut off by a stream of water to her face. She looked ready to jump in the water and strangle the naiad that sprayed her.
"Relax" I said "she's just playing"
I leaned over the canoe as Zoë went on ranting about dumb water spirits.
"Hey" I said to them
They answered by making bubbling sounds in the water. It sounded like giggling.
"We're going upstream" I said "do you think you could-"
Before I could finish asking, the naiads each chose a canoe and started pushing us upstream.
After a minute of silence I took a breath.
"What happened to Bianca" I said "it wasn't your fault. If I hadn't gone off on a whim..."
I full on expected her to go into a full-blown rage and yell at me. But she didn't.
"No Percy" she said "I pushed her too go on this quest. I was to anxious. She was a powerful half-blood. And she had a good heart. And I thought she would be my next lieutenant."
She fiddled with the strap of her quiver.
"Nothing can last forever" she said "for over two thousand years I have led the hunt and have gained no more wisdom. And now Artemis is in danger."
"It's not your fault" I said
"But if I would've gone with her-"
"Do you think you could've fought something powerful enough to kidnap Artemis?" I asked "there's nothing you could've done"
She didn't answer.
After another minute of silence I said.
"When my mom died...I blamed myself. A ten year old kid against a dude with a gun. That's why..." I paused debating whether or not to say the next part. "That's why I went off earlier. I made an oath to stop what happened to me from happening to someone else. But there was nothing I could've done to save her just stop it from happening to someone else."
"I...I didn't know about thy mother" she said
"It was a while ago" I said
She said nothing. Without thinking I pulled out Riptide and her expression became even more pained.
"You made this didn't you" I said
"Who told thee?"
"I had a dream" I said
She studied me and sighed "it was a gift. And a mistake."
"What hero" I asked
She shook her head "don't make me speak his name. I promised never to speak it again"
"You act like I should know him"
"I'm sure you do, little bird. All boys wish to be him"
I didn't push it and looked down a Riptide.
"Your mother was a water goddess?" I asked
"Yes Pleione. She had five daughters. My sisters and I. The Hesperides."
"Those were the girls who lived in the garden at the edge of the west. With the golden apple and the dragon"
"Yes" Zoë said wistfully "Ladon"
"But weren't there only four sisters?" I asked
"There are" she said "I was exiled, forgotten"
"Why?" I asked
She pointed to Riptide "I betrayed my family. I helped the hero, you won't find that in the legend either, he never spoke of it. I helped him trick my father but he took all the credit"
"But-"
I was cut off by a Naiad gurgling and I realized the canoes were slowing down.
In front of us the river was blocked. A dam the size of a football arena stood in out path.

"Hoover Dam" Thalia said "it's huge"
"Seven hundred feet tall" I said "built in the 1930s"
"Five million cubic acres of water" Thalia said
"Largest construction project in the United States" Grover finished
Zoë looked at us like we'd gone insane
"How do you know all that?" She asked
"Annabeth" I said "she liked- uh likes architecture"
"She was nuts about monuments" Thalia said twisting Annabeth's gloves in her hand picking up on my habit to do the same to mine.
"Spouted facts all the time" Grover said "so annoying"
"We should go up there" I said "for Annabeth"
"You are mad" Zoë said stating the obvious "but the roads that way so... sightseeing it is."

"Hoover Dam" Barbara said as we walked to the dam "Annabeth's favorite"
"Yeah" I said sadly "did Cass pass through here?"
"No" Barb said
"Is she okay?" I asked
"Last time she checked in" she said
"Which was"
"A day ago" Babs said
"Barb-"
"I'm trying Perce" she said "I promise I'll tell you as soon as I get word"
"There's a snack bar in the visitors center" Thalia said
"Have you been here before" I asked
"Once, to visit the guardians" she said pointing to two large statues that looked like Oscar statues with wings. "They were dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built. A gift from Athena"
Tourists were gathered around the statues feet.
"Um...what are they doing?" I asked
"Rubbing the toes" Thalia said "they think it's good luck"
"Why?"
She shrugged "mortals get crazy ideas. They don't know the statues are dedicated to Zeus but they know something about them is special."
"Did they talk to you or anything?" I asked
"No" her eyes darkened and I could tell she had hoped for some connection to her dad when she came last. "They're just big metal statues."
"Let's go find the dam snack bar" Zoë said "we should eat while we can"
Grover smiled "the dam snack bar?"
"Yes" Zoë said "what is funny"
"Nothing" Grover said trying to keep a straight face "I could just use some dam french fries"
Thalia smiled and joined in "and I need to use the dam restroom"
Maybe it was the fact we were so tired and emotionally and physically spent but I started cracking up.
"I do not understand" Zoë said confused
"And I want to buy a dam t-shirt" Thalia continued
I would've kept laughing all day but I heard a sound: "moooo"
The smile melted off my face. At first I thought it was in my head but Grover said "did I just hear a cow"
"A dam cow?" Thalia asked laughing
"No I'm serious"
Thalia looked at me. "Percy are you okay?"
"Yeah" I said "I just need to think. You guys go on ahead"
"Okay" Thalia said
They reluctantly left me to go to the visitors center.
"Mooo" I ran to the north edge of the dam and there she was twenty feet down. Bessie the cow serpent.
"What are you doing here?" I asked
"Mooo" she said urgently
"How'd you get here?"
"Moo" this one was more urgent and she looked like she wanted me to follow her.
"I can't my friends-"
"Mooo" with that she flipped down and out of sight in the water.
Something was wrong.
"Robin!" Barbara said then static something was wrong
"Oracle?!" I looked down to the east and saw them. Skeletol soldiers in camouflage. "Hades"
I ran for the visitors center. A van pulled up and more skeletons appeared. I tore through the security entrance ignoring the guard at the metal detector yelling at me.
I hid in a tour group and had no choice but to follow them into the elevator as the metal detector guy ran after me.
"We'll be going down seven hundred feet" the tour guide said. She was a park ranger with her brown hair in a ponytail and she wore tinted glasses. But there was something familiar about the way she carried herself.
"Does this go to the snack bar?" I asked
The tour guide stared at me disappointedly. Something that felt familiar but I was fairly sure I didn't know her.
"The turbines" she said "weren't you listening to my presentation upstairs?"
She sounded a little like Annabeth and I half expected her to add 'Seaweed brain' to the end of that sentence.
"Uh..yeah" I said "is there another way out of the dam?"
"It's a dead end" she said simply
The doors opened.
"Go right ahead folks there's another ranger waiting for you at the end of the corridor." Our guide said
I didn't have much of a choice but to follow the group.
"And young man" she called she had taken off her glasses. Her eyes were startling gray, like storm clouds. "There's always a way out for those clever enough to find it"
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Thanks for reading this chapter. I should start updating faster now that school is out. I have an idea for the end of this book and the next book but it involves changing the original story of the Titans Curse. Would you rather me keep true to the story or change it a little. Let me know in the comments or PM me.