Once Percy was finally finished replacing all of the empty barrels (6 were empty and 2 more ran out while he was doing that) it was nearly 6 o'clock. He had spent nearly an hour doing the work that should've been done hours ago. After that he then went and restocked all the drinks that were running low (which also should have been done hours ago by Electra) by now it was half 7. Then a woman started complaining to him because she had been asked for ID and she was clearly in her mid 20s (she wasn't, the ID looked nothing like her).

He walked back into the bar and saw that some tables had glasses on them. He glanced over to Annabeth at the bar and saw her frantically trying to serve 3 different people at once.

Hmm which should he do? Tidy up after lazy customers or be surrounded by alcohol. Hard choice.

He checked the time on his phone, 19:32.

Alcohol it is! When - uh (he checked the rota again) - Nico and Alex get in they can clear the tables.

Percy slipped in behind the bar, "Hi, how can I help you?" He zoned out while listening to the orders and making them mindlessly, adding in a bottle flip for some flare.

Once no-one was barking down their throats for drinks Percy leaned his elbows against the shelves and looked over at Annabeth. "I should really tell Amy that the second person should come on a bit eariler."

"Good plan," Annabeth mumbled tiredly. To be honest she looked ready to make herself a drink and it hasn't even been 3  hours yet. The bar generally did that to people, especially on fridays like today - tomorrow would be tiring enough too. Open from noon to 3am, luckily Percy would only be coming in at 7 so he can't complain too much.

"Thanks Anna, I sometimes have good ideas."

"Rarely, you rarely have good ideas. Also why were you so annoyed about the barrels?"

"Electra closed and she knows how to change them."

"Aren't they like really heavy?"

Percy looked over at her, "Only the full ones, empties are pretty light. Besides she could've left a note at least on what was empty."

"Thats fair." Annabeth nodded before scrunching her face up. "Wait why did Electra close?"

"I was busy with a brunette called Sarah."

"Oh, go well?"

Percy nodded, "Well enough I guess."

"Thats good."

Percy nodded and watched as Nico and Alex walked in at the same time, probably talking about mythomagic if Nico's hand gestures were anything to go by.

He whistled then clicked his tongue and both their heads snapped to him. "Can you two clear the tables?"

They both nodded before grabbing what they needed - Nico took empty trays and Alex took the cleaning stuff.

Percy watched them move for a bit before checking the time again - 8:03, thats good enough for murder. He went to slide past Annabeth, still on his phone.

"What are you doing?"

Percy turned his phone to show her Poseidon's opened contact, "Finding out if I can handle the problem?"

"The problem being Electra?" she asked, she then laughed when Percy nodded. "Going for two in two days?"

"You know it."

"Right." Annabeth lightly shoved him on the shoulder. "Let me know if you're allowed."

Percy saluted her while walking out the staff door, "Yes Ma'am." Once out the door his smile fell and he pressed on Poseidon's number, falling silent while the ring tone ran on.

Once he was a good distance from the bar Poseidon finally answered. "Hello Percy, well done on that job last night. Brilliant execution. But I'm guessing you didn't call for praise so what can I do for you?"

"Hi, quick question - how much do you value Electra as an employee? Like on a scale of one to ten."

"Electra hmm, which one is that again?"

"Short, brown bob, blue eyes."

"That narrows it down to about half the women in this hotel Percy."

"She's the one that always follows Piper around."

"Oh her, I would probably say around 3 or 4. She doesn't do much other than attempt to flirt with everyone, Triton constantly complains. What did she do this time?"

Percy rolled his eyes, of course Triton was complaining, all he ever did was complain. "Apparently she doesn't know how to properly run the bar."

"Oh I see. Does she actually not know how to or was it laziness?"

"Laziness. I taught her everything at least 5 times, Nico can tell you too; I also left the usual notes under the bar and reminded her that they were there."

"Were the notes readable?"

"I printed them from the computer and have them laminated, yes they're readable."

"I'll speak to her, I just checked the book and she has 4 conplaints put against her so far. She might have to find a new job, depends on how it goes."

"Actually instead of that could I just you know, handle it myself?"

"Hmmm, I suppose."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Remember to leave no links to the hotel or yourself. No leaks."

Percy laughed, "I think I've been doing this long enough to know what to do."

Poseidon hummed over the phone, "Possibly, one can never be too careful. Have fun." With that he hung up.

Percy stared at the phone in his hand before grinning and shooting Annabeth a text.

---

Blonde bitch

start looking for an outfit

Lmao no way

yup
ill see you in a bit

Have fun

---

Percy looked up from his phone and wandered over to the main staff entrance for the hotel. Tucking the phone into his pocket, he pushed open the door and calmly walked through the corridors until he got to the café.

Beckindorf looked up when Percy rang the bell, "I was expecting you 3 hours ago."

Percy grinned darkly at him, "I got held up, say do you happen to know where Electra is by any chance?"

"Unfortunately yes, why? What's going on?"

"Why would something possibly be going on?"

Beck flicked him in the forehead, not many would do that because apparently he counted as intimating even without the fact that he professionally killed people. Beck only got away with it because Percy used to have a massive crush on him and Beck fully abuses that fact (Percy could never kill or threaten him because A, he is a massive help in disguises and B, younger Percy woukd die which would kill older Percy too).

"Because Piper asked me to keep Electra talking and now you look like you want to kill someone."

A customer that had just came up to the register looked over at them in alarm. Hazel looked ready for laughing from where she was ringing them through.

Percy raised his hands in surrender, "For legal reasons that is a joke." He turned and rested his back against the edge.

Beck raised an eyebrow at him, "For honesty reasons no it is not."

Percy leaned back until his shoulders were flat against the bar, "Electra closed my bar last night and did a horrible job. I just want to have a - nice, friendly chat with her."

"In that case she's probably in the spa shadowing Piper."

"Beck you are amazing, also can I have Piper's usual coffee and a triple chocolate cookie please? You can just put it on my tab."

Beck shook his head, "I'm not charging you for anything while you look ready for causing a funeral." He turned around and started making the coffee with practiced moves. Once he was done he turned around and put a prewrapped cookie beside the coffee on the little bench (Percy knew it had a name he just forgot it after he was told it and now its too late to ask).

"You are literally the best, I love you so much," Percy said grabbing the goods before be was yanked forward by his shirt.

Beck smirked down at him from like 1 inch away from his face, "I know you do, Percy." He winked at him, then he let go and stepped back to make another coffee, the cunt. "Bye Percy," he said cherrily over his shoulder.

Percy stared for a moment before huffing and stomping (not really) away from the café and towards the lift.

Suprisingly enough, the lift opened immediately and it was thankfully empty. Without wasting time Percy stepped in and hit the button for the -4 floor. He fiddled a bit with the wrapped cookie Beck had handed him and quickly slipped a smaller piece into his pocket.

While the doors were closing, they were taking a while to close actually and Percy had no idea why. When they were halfway closed a tanned hand shot in a held it open a bit while the body followed. Once the person was fully in the doors snapped closed and the lift began to go down.

Percy looked over at the one who had just joined him and jolted. It was the pretty blonde guy with the designer shoes!!

He must've noticed Percy looking over at him because he looked over and his eyes lit up with recognition too. "Oh hi again."

"Hello."

They fell into a silence after that, neither knowing what to say. The lift dinged once to let them know that they passed the first floor. Percy was just glad there was no awkward music playing, Poseidon had proposed it but Amy had quickly shut it down.

The blonde broke it, "So do you come here often?"

That startled a laugh out of Percy, "I work here, what about you? I don't think I've seen you here before."

"Sometimes, usually only for the gym or the restaurant. I live close by so I don't exactly have to stay over."

Percy let his head fall back and hit the wall as the lift dinged again. "Thats fair, so you work out then?"

The guy ran a hand through his hair, "I kind of have to for my job."

"Oh." Percy lifted his head up and looked the guy up and down. "What do you work as?"

"I'm a detective."

"Thats boring."

The blonde's head snapped over to face him, "I'm sorry what? I get assigned murder cases and all that stuff, that isn't boring. It's the complete opposite!"

Percy shrugged, "I work in customer service-" he paused dramatically "-in a bar-" he paused again "-as a 25 year old manager. Your job sounds boring to me, just sitting behind a desk all day staring at pictures of dead bodies all day."

The man's eyebrows raised, "You're 25?"

The lift dinged again, "How old did you think I was?"

"I don't want to answer that."

"Hey!"

The man looked at his wrist as if checking a watch (there wasn't one), "Oh look at the time, I have to go."

"We're in a lift, you aren't getting out of this one pretty boy."

"You think I'm pretty?"

Percy stared flatly at him, "I asked if you were a model the first time we met what do you think."

"You think I'm pretty?"

"Obviously."

The lift chose that moment to ding again and Percy made his run for it. He expertly twisted around the various machines and mats that were 'artistically' (Piper's words) strewn around the floor. It didn't take him too long to find his dark haired best friend and it took him less time to nudge her with his knee while handing over the goods.

Pipes looked up at him, "You're late."

But Percy was already stalking over to her shadow, "Only fashionably."

He stood over Electra's chair and ignored how she fluttered her eyelashes at him. He leant down over her, leaning on his palm that was on the desk behind her, and whispered in her ear. "Follow me out back."

He stood back up and walked over to the stairs, not even bothering to check if she was following. He already knew she would.

He trudged up the stairs, taking great pleasure in the way Electra's breath was coming out in pants behind him. It was a beautiful sound, she was struggling to breath soon she wouldn't, how funny is that?

Light flooded the dimly lit staircase when he pushed open the door with minimal effort. The warmth washed over him and so did the silence. Perfect.

He led then over to a bit more of a reachable spot, not too close to the spa entrance but not too far away to look deliberate. They walked over to the wall and Electra went and leaned against it. Percy had to suppress a smile, she was helping him set the scene.

"Say Electra, you smoke don't you?" Percy started off, giving her a charming smile.

Electra fluttered her eyes at him some more had he had to physically stop himself from shuddering. "Sometimes."

Percy's hand went into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, "I found a spare one under the bar, do you want it?"

"Don't mind if I do," she plucked it from his hand and pulled a lighter from her pocket. She dangled the cigarette from her mouth and lit it easily.

She took a slow drag from it before  going to breath it all out.

Percy's hand clamped over her mouth before she could. Keeping the poisonous fumes in her mouth. His other hand pressed against her chest, preventing her from trying to run away.

She tried to hit him to force him to let go but honestly, a baby could probably hit harder than she was. It didn't help that he hits were constantly getting weaker. It was actually pathetic.

He watched as tears leaked out of her eyes and her punches weakened. Her panicked eyes met his and he gave her a grin. She tried to thrash more but still to no avail.

When she finally went limp, Percy just let her fall. A loud thunk echoed round the empty space as her head hit the ground.

Seconds ticked by and she didn't move.

Then a minute.

Then two.

Then three. Still no movement.

Percy crouched down and pressed two fingers to her neck. Nothing.

He stood back up and hummed, pulling his phone out as he walked back to the spa entrance. He opened his messages on Beck's name.

---

Beck

it's a good thing i don't smoke

How come?

apparently they kill
must be posionous or something

Yeah they can be pretty dangerous
Them being poisoned wouldn't surprise me

i didn't think it would

---

Percy pulled open the door and quickly walked down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Causally walking away from the scene of the crime. Though of course it didn't look like that, it would only look like a woman had collapsed while taking a smoking break.

Who would've known that smoking kills?

This took forever because I didn't get a chance to write all week because of school. Like why so much work???? Disgusting