Peter was swinging across the street towards Liz's house when something glowing and purple flashed in the corner of his vision. He backtracked a bit before he came across a piece of the weapon that one of the men from the van was using. He picked it up and briefly examined it before putting it into the Duat with the other two weapons he had previously found. He was about to take off again when his phone started ringing. He took it out and Ned's face flashed on the screen.

"Hey, what's up," Peter answered, "I'm on my way back."

"Yeah, maybe not the best idea. Listen," Ned's garbled voice came through the phone. There was a pause, most likely Ned putting it on speakerphone before Peter could hear the faint chanting of Flash shouting the crude insult of his name. Peter gave an audible sigh at the other boy's antics.

"I'm going to head home now. I'll see you tomorrow."

Peter sighed again, "Yeah, see you tomorrow, Ned."

***

Percy swung into his room to see Nico already lying down on the bottom bunk of the bed. His eyes were closed and he had his headphones on. Percy smirked to himself as he was presented with the perfect opportunity for a prank. He quietly crawled toward Nico, getting ready to yell at the top of his lungs. It would be the perfect way to cheer himself up. Nico would probably spend the next week getting back at him but it would worth it. Oh, Percy could just imagine the look on his cousin's face as he-

"What are you doing?"

Percy screamed and fell down from the ceiling. Nico also jumped up screaming and ended up hitting his head on the top bunk. Laughter sounded from the doorway of the room where Thalia stood. There were tears coming out of her eyes as she took in the two boys sprawled on the floor of the room.

Percy stood up and dusted himself off. He shot her a glare before taking a few deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart. Thalia was still chuckling as she told him that dinner was ready and walked out. Percy rolled his eyes and then followed her out of the room with Nico right behind him, muttering under his breath.

Hestia was already sitting down at the table when Percy entered the main room. He smiled at her warmly and sat down at the spot to her right. Thalia and Nico sat down and the three of them began eating the pasta that she had whipped up while Hestia just had a glass of nectar and some ambrosia.

After a couple of minutes of silent eating, Hestia turned towards Percy. "How was the party?"

Percy tried to play it cool. "It was good. I was there for five minutes before I saw these weird lights and went to check it out. It ended being a weapons deal for the same thing that destroyed Delmar's. I took it down and then got attacked by this Vulture guy who had metal wings and glowing green eyes. Stark unnecessarily fished me out of a lake and then yelled at me. And... I think that's it."

"Well, as long as everyone is safe," Hestia replied calmly.

"Really?" Percy asked hopefully.

"Really?" Nico and Thalia echoed in disbelief a second later.

"Action-wise? Yes, that's it. I wish you had called your cousins for assistance but I understand that it was a tense situation that happened quickly. However, we still need to discuss the weapons that you encountered. Where is it now?" Hestia explained.

"I stored it in the Duat. Here, give me a sec," Percy said. He stuck his hand out and grabbed one of the weapons from the ATM robbery. He handed it to Hestia who examined it for a moment before handing it to Nico.

"What do you think the glowing purple stone is?" Thalia asked.

"I am unsure," Hestia replied hesitantly. "It feels familiar but I cannot know for certain. I shall visit a few of my siblings. Perhaps they have come across something like it before. Just focus on your studies for now Perseus. I will let you know what my search yields."

Hestia took the weapon back from Thalia and started to glow. Percy shielded his eyes as the glow intensified. When the room was dark again he opened them to find Hestia gone, the cup of nectar left behind.

Percy stared at her empty chair for a moment before turning to his cousins and grinning. "I bet you ten drachmas that I can finish this entire bowl of pasta in one minute."

Thalia gave him a wolfish grin in return. "Make it twenty and you're on."

***

Percy went to school the next day with a still-full stomach and forty drachmas richer. Nico had joined in on the bet directly after Thalia agreed. Percy still felt slightly sick from eating so much food so fast but it was completely worth it.

He met up with Ned in shop class later that day. He had the stone in his backpack and was planning on working on it during class. He had a feeling that it was technological rather than magical.

"Whoever's making these weapons is combining alien tech with ours," Peter told Ned, who was looking over his shoulder while he worked.

Ned looked at him in awe, "That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-"

Peter gave the machine a calculated hit with a hammer, cutting Ned off. He managed to get the stone out of the casing without attracting the attention of his teacher or classmates. He turned to face the other teen. "I gotta figure out what this is and who makes it."

"We can go to the lab after class and run tests," Ned suggested helpfully. Peter grinned at him and held out his hand. The two fist-bumped before going back to their actual assignment for the class.

***

Peter and Ned had been making their way towards the lab after school when Peter caught sight of two familiar men walking down the hallway. He quickly pulled his friend behind a wall and out of sight. He quickly explained that the two men had been the ones to attack him and left to follow them before Ned could protest or say anything.

Peter stealthily made his way behind the two men as they walked into the shop classroom. They seemed to be following the energy signature from the stone. He froze when he saw one of the men turning towards him. He quickly got underneath a table a stuck to the bottom of it. As they walked up the stairs Peter stuck his hand out and fired a small tracker at one of them. He grinned to himself before making his way back to Ned.

***

"Hey, Aunt May! I'm home and Ned's here too," Percy called as he walked into the apartment. Hestia emerged from her room. She had a strained look on her face that put Percy on edge.

"Hello, boys. Ned, are you staying for dinner?" Hestia greeted.

"Actually," Percy started, drawing out the first syllable, "Ned's staying the night. We have a new lead on the arms dealer, you know the guy with the wings that I was telling you about. I shot a tracker at one of them today and now we just have to watch to see where they're going."

"We? And when did you have the chance to track them?" Hestia questioned.

Percy chuckled nervously. "At school?"

"Was that a question?"

"No, it was definitely at school," Percy answered quickly.

"And how did they track you to the school?"

Percy grimaced. "I... may have brought the stone with me to school."

Hestia's face was blank and Percy grimaced. He really hated making the goddess upset.

"Ned, I'm going to need to a minute with Peter. Can you go wait in his room?" Hestia asked, though her tone left no room for argument.

"Sure thing, Mrs. P," Ned chuckled nervously. He quickly scurried towards Peter and Nico's room, only pausing to turn and mouth good luck to the other teen.

Once Ned was safely out of earshot Hestia turned to Percy. "I'm glad you turned to Ned for support."

Percy was startled by the change in her demeanor. He had thought she was about to lecture him again.

Hestia gave him a soft smile and gestured to the spot next to her on the couch where she was sitting. "You're cousins and I will always be here for you but you need more than that. Ned is a loyal friend, he will stand by your side through the coming hardships."

"But, Ned is mortal. I don't want him to get hurt," Percy tried to weakly protest. It had been a concern of his. He didn't want to see another one of his friends hurt because of him.

"You are strong, Perseus. Ned will be fine but you cannot push him away. Even heroes need a 'guy in the chair,'" Hestia reassured him.

Percy chuckled softly at the phrase and then leaned in and hugged her. He whispered a soft thank you into her shoulder before getting up. He gave Hestia an impish grin, "Tell Nico that I'm kicking him out of the room tonight."

***

Peter stayed up all night with Ned watching the tracker move across the map. Nico had come in about an hour after they had first gotten to the apartment. He had quickly climbed the bunk and fell asleep. Percy just chuckled at his cousin's antics before taking a spot on the floor. By the time sunlight was softly streaming through the windows of his room the tracker had stopped in Maryland.

"What do you think is there?" Ned asked.

Peter shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe an evil lair? A gang with alien guns, run by a guy with wings? There's got to be an evil lair."

"Cool," Ned looked starstruck for a moment. "How are you going to get there? It's like, three hundred miles away."

Both teens simultaneously turned to the Academic Decathlon poster on the wall, showing the location as Washington DC. Peter grinned as a plan formed in his mind.

"That's not too far from Washington."

"I hope you plan on telling May where you're going," Nico grumbled, his voice muffled from where it was pressing into his pillow.

Percy scoffed, "Of course I was going to tell her."

Nico raised his head from the pillow enough to give Percy a deadpan stare.

"Okay," Percy raised his hands in surrender, "I'll tell her during breakfast."

Ned turned on his phone to check the time and paled a bit. "Crap, I've got to go. My parents wanted me to be home thirty minutes ago. I'll see at school on Monday."

Peter yelled goodbye to his friend as the other boy made a hasty exit. He walked out to the kitchen a couple of minutes later, Nico following behind like a zombie. Hestia and Thalia were already sitting there. Thalia looked like death warmed over and was nursing a cup of coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, after Percy had consumed a healthy amount of cornflakes and coffee so he was a functioning human, he told Hestia about his plan to go on the Decathlon trip so he could check out the address where the men had stopped.

Hestia nodded in agreement to his plan, "As long as you make sure you have a drachma and water in case you need to contact one of us then you should be fine. Oh, and you have to make sure that you actually compete in the Decathlon."

Percy's jaw dropped. "But what if I'm fighting the guy with wings? Isn't that more important than-"

Hestia fixed him with a stern look as she cut him off, "You made a commitment, Perseus. I expect that you'll try your hardest to uphold it, but if you must, then you may skip it."

"Great, thanks, Hestia! I've got to go pack," Percy said quickly before rushing back into his room. Hestia and his cousins stared after him.

"He does know that that's my room too, right?"

Another chapter, as promised. I actually have the next chapter finished as well so expect another update next week. Let me know what you think.

<3 S