Chapter XXI Here's a Cool Belt! Very Fashionable. You'll Get All The Ladies

Percy waved to various campers as he walked by. A few people asked about the yellow tool belt slung over his shoulder, but he waved them off and simply said it was a gift. It took him awhile to find Leo in the huge camp, and he finally had to ask his cabin members where the boy had gone.

He was lead to a huge stretch of stone on the borders of camp. He stared around confusedly for a few moments, identifying some minute cracks in the oddly straight stone wall, along with some dark, rougher patches. This had to be thing Jake was talking about, Percy reasoned with himself. What else could be the 'giant mass of stone that has burn marks all over it'?

Percy sent out Nightshade, glancing around nervously. She slipped into the cracks on the wall like a wisp of cloud, leaving Percy to repeatedly look around his shoulder in search of people who may see him.

Suddenly, the stone moved. Dust fell, the ground shook, and with the loud groaning noise the stone made as it moved, Percy was heavily convinced it was alive. He waited a moment to make sure it was done moving, trusting Nightshade to cover herself or slip back when she would be unnoticed. Percy didn't even manage to take a full step into the place before he was assaulted with a fiery Latino.

"Percy!" Leo exclaimed, startled. He diminished the flame in his hand, but Percy was still glancing worriedly at his smoking hair. Leo patted it, waving him off. "What're you doing here? How'd you get in?"

"The same way you do?" Percy attempted with a sheepish smile. Leo snorted.

"With a huge blast of fire? Really, Aquaman, how'd you get in?" Leo tilted his head, genuine curiosity in his eyes. Percy let himself relax a little. Leo had nothing against him.

"We all have our secrets, don't we?" Percy shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure. I just kinda...touched it, and it opened." Again, Percy shrugged.

"Huh."

"Yeah."

"Neat."

"Yup."

"So why're you here, in my bunker of all places?"

"Bunker?"

Leo lit up like a candle. "Bunker nine! I found it a while ago. It's where I found was able to repair Happy."

"You found the secret to happiness and incorrect grammar in a bunker in a giant slab of stone?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "No, Happy the Dragon. The giant metal dragon that me, Jase and Pipes used to do the whole, 'quest' thing?" Leo lead him into the bunker. It was shiny. And a mess. Tools littered the place, bulletin boards covered the room, each packed with papers and blueprints. Off to the side was a pile of scrap metal, on top of which a golden briefcase sat. Percy raised an eyebrow. "That would be Happy. He's sleeping right now, so I switched his modes so he didn't take up as much space. Don't tell him I told you he's fat, though, he'd try and burn me, and then all papers would get ruined."

Percy was lead father into the bunker. It was huge, towering above him and spreading out on all sides. The stone structure hadn't been that big, had it? "And why'd you name it 'Bunker Nine?'"

Leo silently pointed upwards. Stretching his neck, Percy spotted a banner, reading Bunker 9 in bold, metallic letters. "Hephaestus cabin is number nine. You never answered my question by the way."
    
Leo collapsed into a little spinny chair. Percy only noticed then that he was covered in grease. His hands were filthy, with Hades-knew-what under his nails and in the creases of his palms. His clothes were torn and ripped, and dark circles were under his eyes.

"Have you been sleeping at all?"

"Not really. I've been working on something. I'm trying get it ready so it's good to go whenever we need it, which will probably be soon, no matter if everything 'cleared' with Gaea after Jason came back. With the Gods and Goddess dying...who knows?" Leo sighed heavily. Then he brightened. "But I'm good. I can handle it. Now, you decided to delight me with your presence because...?" Leo trailed off.

Percy finally pulled the tool belt off and handed it to Leo. He took it, blinking.

"Cool. Make it easier to transport stuff, I guess." Leo nodded. "Thanks, Perce."

Percy smiled. "Please, a simply tool belt? We're Demigods. Try it on." Percy urged, making little motions with his hands. Leo raised an eyebrow, but looking moderately more excited now, he fixed the yellow garment around his waist, which automatically adjusted to fit his slim hips perfectly.

"Woah." He breathed. He moved around a bit, but the belt didn't jostle. He put his hand in one of the openings, and came back with a nail. He looked transfixed now. "How'd you get this? What does it do? Where'd you find it?" Leo asked in rapid fire, annoying Percy slightly, even as he laughed.

"Calm down dude. It's been floating -literally, there's a big fish tank- around my cabin for awhile, I've never known what to do with it or even what it was, for a while, but then I figured out how to work it and I thought you'd use it a lot more than I would. You don't have a weapon, anyways."

Leo's face morphed into awe. "You mean..." Eagerly, his hand dove into a yellow flap. He game back up with a hammer that looked quite heavy, though Leo seemed to have no trouble with it, besides a bit of a stumble. "This is so cool!" We swung it around, laughing as he did so. Percy backed up cautiously. He didn't want to take a hammer to the face, thanks.

"This is awesome! Thanks Perce!" Leo jumped up and down slightly, and now he was pulling all sorts of things from inside the yellow band. Percy wondered if he had done a bad thing, Leo would surely be attached to it now, but, oh well?

"What is it you're working on?" Percy asked suddenly, spotting a looming figure in the back of the room. How'd he miss it? Oh, right. Dragons.

Leo stopped, still smiling widely. More widely than usual, anyways. "Work on what?"

"The thing that you've been losing sleep over. What is it?"

Percy thought Leo would have illuminated this whole bunker in darkness if he was on fire, with how bright his face was glowing. "Oh! It's a battle ship. I haven't quite decided what to name it yet, but it's going to be awesome, just wait."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Battleship?"

"Yup!" Leo said, popping the 'P'. "It's gonna have guns and fire and it should fly and sail and it's gonna have a Wii-remote control panel, and a cool dining area, and it'll be awesome!" With the way he was talking excitedly, and moving about, Leo had never reminded Percy of a little kid more. It was almost adorable, if it wasn't slightly annoying.

"Sounds interesting. Good luck, but make sure you sleep, okay?"

"Sleep? Now that I got this baby to help me out? No way!" Laughing, Percy shook his head and walked out. He vaguely felt Nightshade join him a after the stone door had closed. It would be smart to get Leo onto my side, with the battleship...or to at least have him snugly under my thumb. I can't tell anyone, not even Jason, sadly. Who knows whose loyalties would shift? I can hardly trust the Gods. Percy sighed, blew some hair out of his face, and walked back to camp.

Percy wandered the camp at night. It was well past Harpie-time, and so Percy was free to walk as he wished. He started out in the training area, contemplating how to best kill things, but ended in front of the Zeus cabin. Not that it surprised him, really. Percy sat under a back window, and closed his eyes. Something just kept drawing him to Jason, but who was he to complain? He didn't mind it. Not really. Jason was useful, and capable. Not to mention easy on the eyes. I mean, c'mon. Every knew chicks digged scars.

Percy stretched his subconscious. He wasn't sure how long he spent wondering around Jason's dreams, manipulating the scenes to convey what he wanted. He was pretty sure he even figured out how to make sure Jason remembered the dreams, and had a lot of fun eating ice cream with the boy. Shame he couldn't taste it, but it was thought that counted, wasn't it?

But then, he felt a tugging sensation on his subconscious. It was unpleasant, but Percy ignored it. When it bordered on painful, only then did he leave, huffing as he left Jason all alone on a beach. Blackness consumed him, until he came to a brightly lit room.

It was much like the scene he had just left. He was on a beach. Light blue waves crashed against the shore several feet away. It was sunny, and Percy was relaxing shirtless in a beach chair, sunglasses resting on his nose. He squinted against the sun.

"You're being stupid." A voice spoke suddenly. Percy sighed. He had almost forgotten.

"How's that, Luke?" Turning his head, he narrowed his eyes at the person next to him. Luke also sat in a beach chair, arms behind his head, eyes closed. Percy felt vaguely jealous of the six pack he was rocking, then snorted. Luke was dead. He was trying to compete with a dead guy. He was pathetic at times, really. Besides, he liked Jason's six pack better.

"You're forgetting our mission. You're spending more time than necessary on trivial things."

"Excuse me, but have you forgotten how much I've done? I don't see you doing anything." Percy huffed.

"I'm dead, genius. And you didn't have to give Leo the belt. You don't have to manipulate Jason, or his dreams. You didn't have to kill Rachel. What ever happened to searching the attic in the big house? Forget about that, too?" Luke glared at him. Percy looked down.

"I'm sorry, okay? And what if she recited another stupid prophecy? I had to get rid of her."

"It's a little late for that now, isn't it?" Luke snarled. Percy flinched.

"Did you just bring me here to criticize me, or can I return to what I was doing?" Percy bit out, turning red from more than just the sun beating down on his back.

"You need to hurry. That stupid prophecy-" Luke glared at Percy, then slumped back down into his relaxed position. "-Put a time limit on our plans, so now it's either hurry the fuck up, or say goodbye to world-domination and hello to self-damnation."

"You've been thinking of the line for a while, haven't you?"

"Shut up, Jackson."

~~~

*Sigh*

Leo is like my favorite character.

And I was kinda making fun of myself here, cause I'll admit I forgot about Luke for a little while...oopsie?