March 12th, 2015. New York City.

"Are you sure it is here in this…city?" Percy kept quiet while Khonshu pestered him with questions of the validity of his intel. "This place…it feels familiar…dangerous."

"So, you don't like the Yankees, not the end of the world bird brain. I grew up here…a long time ago."

The peck he received was fully warranted "I am a God, not a 'bird brain' you little worm."

"And that hasn't stopped me yet from mouthing off, besides, unless you have a better choice of avatar just lying around you are stuck with me Tweety."

"Tweety!?" If a skeletal bird of a god could look offended, this one surely did as he huffed "I am not some parakeet, I am..."

"God of the night Sky, Justice, the Moon, heard it all before."

For the last few days Percy had been tracking down where the scarab had gotten to. Turns out, he missed one lucky thief that fateful night. A few of his contacts put some feelers out and in no time flat he had a hit. An art auction was to happen in a few nights in New York. The problem was that the building itself was heavily guarded round the clock in preparation for this event. Percy could just storm the building without a problem sure, but if he did that then there was a chance that they would move the scarab along with the other pieces they were selling and then he'd be back where he started. He needed to do this carefully.

"Are you listening to me?"

"No, I am trying to concentrate here!" Percy snaps "If you haven't noticed, I am trying to ensure I have everything planned out for this heist. Wouldn't want to just show up and suddenly we lose the scarab because we weren't careful enough."

"Finally, a wise decision, only took a few years."

"One more word out of you and I am so going to enjoy what comes next."

Khonshu was about to respond when he felt something. It was like a brief pulse of something in the air. A faint shiver down his spine… "Perseus, move, now!"

Percy didn't hesitate. Years of fighting as a mercenary, and as the Moon Knight, had honed his body and his instincts. He rolled to the side just narrowly dodging a stray bolt of…lightning?

"Okay…not questioning that one. Khonshu?"

"Something old…do not worry my avatar, I am cloaking our presence…I had not thought it needed until now."

"So…who or what wants me dead now?"

"I hope for your sake it is not one of my kind."

Percy narrowed his eyes on the roof of his target. There was a skylight…and a nice staircase to the roof…it would be a stealthy entry point but exposed. The rumble of thunder above snapped him back to reality.

"Well…I don't know about you, but a stray bolt of lightning might not be too out of the ordinary. I mean…this rain is supposed to last for a few days, isn't it?"

The bird pecked him again "Do not grow complacent, I know what I sensed and that was no mere bolt of lightning."

"Right…well…I have a plan now, so we'll just wait till the night of the auction and do what we need to then."

Percy left the rooftops just in time as the rain began to pick up. For the life of him he couldn't tell why he never got wet when in water, always figured it was a Khonshu thing or something. He wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth as it were. As the young merc makes his exit two men appeared on the rooftop. One dressed in a business suit, the other resembling a UPS driver.

"It was here…I'm sure of it," the man rumbles "Hermes! Can you follow it?"

"Sorry but whatever it was…it just isn't here anymore. Artemis or Apollo might be better for this one though I do have one idea."

Zeus raises a brow "Go on."

"Well, we know that an Egyptian artifact is right across the street with the mortals, and we both felt that presence lurking in the city the last few days…it's no coincidence that the last place we felt it was right across the street from that artifact."

"Are you suggesting we steal another pantheons relic?"

"Not so much steal it as liberate it." Hermes shrugs "Right now the demigods could use a quest, the war is practically cold now anyway, and what better quest than this one? We secure the relic and quite possibly we also capture or eliminate the interested party."

"If you were anyone else, I would question this line of thinking…but thieving is one of your traits."

"Hurtful but true," Hermes winces, hand clutching his head "Ugh, I'm needed in a few more pieces than this. Turns out being the messenger for the Gods is too big a headache for me to be splitting myself into pieces for very long."

"Go," Zeus waves him off "I shall return to Olympus, and the quest will be issued. Chiron will see to it."

With a mock salute the messenger vanished, leaving the King to his thoughts and his paranoia.

XXXXXXXXX

"So…the brats get to commit crimes now?"

Chiron rubbed his forehead as he felt a migraine coming on. "Yes, Mr. D, they are being called to commit a crime."

"Long as we are on the same page," the God of Wine says as he goes back to his wine magazine "Honestly, this Egyptian business is a mess. Why would Father want any of their relics near us?"

"I do not know…but Lord Hermes has requested his eldest sons be the ones to oversee this quest," Chiron sighs "I can only hope they can handle this one."

As the years had gone by with no real skirmishes to speak of the demigods had grown anxious. For once in his many years Chiron could say he got to see the children grow into adulthood. However, for every good thing he could find with this new state of living, there was always some downside looming over them.

The noise coming from their little meeting was rising. He could clearly hear Clarisse and Annabeth going back and forth about the way the war was going. Katie Gardner reprimanding the Stolls over some prank while Silena and Charles Beckendorf had a casual conversation off to the side.

Chiron clears his throat, gathering the attention onto him "If we may be seated, we can begin."

Even as adults in the mortal world they still acted like the children they had been when they first crossed the border into camp.

"Now then…we have something important that has been brought to my attention. Lord Hermes has called for a quest." The uproar renewed itself. It had been years since a quest had been issued be it by Oracle or a God "yes, yes, it is very exciting…but this is no ordinary quest."

"What do you mean Chiron?"

The Centaur smiled fondly at the grey eyed blonde "This is something more…direct. There will be no prophecy for this, nor are you limited to only three members for it."

"That's more than a little different," Charles rumbles "Guessing this has to do with the war?"

"No, in fact quite the opposite." Chiron eyes them all slowly "This quest is to retrieve something, a relic, from Ancient Egypt. It is to be sold at an auction in New York in a few days' time. Because of the importance of this artifact, it is not to be left alone in mortal hands should it draw the attention of our enemies."

"So we just break in, snatch it, and escape…do we really need a large group for this?" Connor Stoll asked the question, his brother Travis nodding along beside him "Come on Chiron, we've got this."

"No, you most certainly do not 'got this' Connor." The centaur shakes his head with a drawn-out sigh "We need precision for this, Lord Hermes was quite clear on this. The venue will be heavily guarded by mortal security, the systems in place would be top of the line, and there is always the chance that a monster or a rogue demigod might be lurking nearby and be attracted to the auction for a snack or the artifact itself."

"My kind of party," Clarisse smirks "So, who is in charge of this and who is going?"

Chiron frowns, regret pooling within him "Lord Hermes has…chosen his sons here to lead."

There was a round of groans as Connor and Travis high-fived and cheered.

"We're doomed," Katie moans, head banging against the tabletop.

"Aww don't worry Katie, we are professionals at this." Travis grins, looking around the room "And what better team than one from right here?"

"Indeed, brother mine," Connor stands up, pointing dramatically ahead "Annabeth!"

"What are you about to sign me up for?"

"Team building," was the unified response.

"Just because I'm a daughter of Athena does not mean I know how to plan a heist."

"Do you?"

Annabeth felt her eye twitch "Oh just sit down and stop looking smug already."

Chiron nods as the Stolls go about their more subdued celebration. He pitied them all for the situation. Something as important as this…it could only end badly.

March 16th, 2015

Percy went through his gear one more time. The auction would be starting in an hour, he had to be certain this would work before he could even think of attempting the heist. Should he have to fall back and use his suit then all of this would just point police to a non-existent thief who made off with the scarab and matches no description anyone could give. It would be better if Khonshu wasn't still looming over his shoulder.

"You would do well to heed my warnings Perseus."

"I'll listen when you remember that the name is Percy, not Perseus."

The God huffs, hopping off his avatars shoulder and growing to his full height "This city is not normal, not in the slightest. I can feel energies at work here that are far from mortal."

"What does that even mean?" Percy asks while inspecting a combat knife "You keep saying this, but you refuse to elaborate on whether or not you mean other gods or some form of monster."

"Both no doubt." Khonshu replies "I sense one presence nearby, old, powerful…and many more all clustered together. Hmph, not the most subtle of entities, not like we of the Ennead."

Percy rolls his eyes at that one "Weren't you kicked from that group centuries ago? Must be going senile in your old age buzzard."

Percy turned on instinct, hands bracing against the end of Khonshu's staff as the god pinned him to the floor with it. "Make no mistake Percy Jackson you are my avatar, but that tongue of yours will see you in trouble even I cannot save you from."

"Threatening me now Khonshu?"

"No, a warning. We are in lands we know nothing about. Surrounded by beings who make even myself wary. Bare that in mind while you are here, I would hate to have to find a replacement because you just happened to find someone who could keep you dead."

"Noted," Percy gasps as the pressure is released "Alright…I'll be more careful while I am here. But don't blame me if something unexpected happens, seems to be our luck these days."

"Long as we have an understanding of one another."

Percy zips up his duffel bag, slinging it over his shoulder "Yeah…lets just get this over with so I can catch up on some sleep, alright? Spent enough time looking for this thing as it is."

XXXXXXX

"Everyone remember the plan?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes as she got to work on her laptop. The Hephaestus cabin went a little overboard with equipping them for this quest. Earpieces for communication, grapple lines, zipline, and of course one laptop that would be their Swiss-army-knife for hacking purposes.

"We are fine Connor; you can stop acting now."

"Act? What act?"

"Clarisse?"

There was a smack, a shout, and a thud as Connor hit the floor. Annabeth didn't understand why he had to be the one with the roof team. She really didn't. Right now, the quest was divided into two teams. The roof team consisted of herself, Clarisse, Connor and a son of Nike by the name of Jake. The four of them were to infiltrate the venue from the roof and work their way down to the basement where they assumed the vault would be. When she asked the Stolls why they thought it was down there the only answer she got was "Because that's where it always is, haven't you seen a heist movie before?" which served them both well after she smacked them for the comment.

"For the sake of argument," Jake starts up as he grabs his dagger out of a backpack "When exactly do we go in?"

"Not until the others stake out the interior," Annabeth says as she types away "I'm in…Beckendorf, Silena, anything?"

Down on the street level Beckendorf groans as he watches the line of guests ahead of him. "Still outside, Travis is…complicated." Further up ahead he could see Katie and Travis drawing a few eyes to them, more so Travis with how he was running his mouth. "Give Katie a few seconds, they'll be inside first, and we can see what's ahead."

"Got it, hope she doesn't kill Travis."

Charles smirked a little as he watched the blond daughter of Demeter drag the talkative son of Hermes inside. Mist worked on the security outside, which cleared the front door as being fully mortal.

"Shall we follow them in now Charlie?" Silena wasn't even trying to hide her amusement at watching Travis and Katie work "Annabeth needs a visual, right?"

"Yeah, lets just hope those two don't blow our covers."

Annabeth smirks on the rooftop as Charlie and Silena feed her information on camera placements and security on the main floor. "We're in. Security is mostly in the open it seems. Probably patrols everywhere we can't see right now…they don't see any vault on the main floor but…floor plan shows an elevator at the back, west side of the building…Katie, Travis, anything?"

"Nothing we can see," Katie responds, "Though I saw a staircase to the basement."

"Skylight's nice though here…wonder how this would look at camp?"

Clarisse chuckles while Annabeth looks as if she is nursing a headache. Silena's stray comments were lightening for the mood but not as helpful for the task at hand.

"Annabeth, I have eyes on three guards, all armed by the back stairs. Guessing that's the basement entrance." Beckendorf stood with Silena on his arm, feigning interest in a painting from France in the Middle Ages "Can't see an elevator though…wait…got something."

Charles watched as one guard came from a side door and locked it behind him.

"Travis; light skinned male, breathing heavily and coming towards you, has a key to the basement on him." Charlie allowed himself to smirk "You got him?"

There was crash behind them. A few gasps of shock and what sounded like a platter of wine glasses crashing. "Got it, heading out for some air now."

"Annabeth, we got our window, let's use it."

XXXXXXX

Percy had everything planned out. Set up the zipline. Zip across to the venue. Leave his duffel bag behind as 'evidence'. Get to the vault. Grab the scarab. Get out. Don't get caught. It was a straightforward and easy to follow plan. There was just one problem.

"Who the hell are these people?" he asks as he spies on a group of four on the roof of his target. Judging by the zipline they left up, they had down exactly what he thought to do and used his plans first steps to get across the roofs. He watched them file in, heading through the roof access further down into the building. "Great…now I actually have competition to deal with."

"You better hurry," Khonshu intones "Too many eyes on the scarab is something that we cannot allow."

"Noted," Percy says as he hooks himself up to the zipline "Well…this just got a whole lot more interesting then."

Percy hit the roof running, unlatching himself and rolling into a crouch. He ditched his bag on the other roof. No sense in bringing it with him now. As he entered the building and followed in the steps of his competition he was struck by the finer details as he found security guards taken out nonlethally. Whoever they were, they weren't interested in leaving a trail of blood behind them.

"Further down…I can feel it below us."

Percy stuck to a corner, hearing the groaning of a guard or two. Three of them were spread out, one resting against a wall while the other two were on the floor by an elevator. "They really aren't messing around…have to be professionals or something."

"Are you going to admire their work or are you going to get the scarab?"

"Just…appreciating…a challenge!" Percy cries out as he pries the elevator doors open "Well…shit. They took the elevator…calling that up will get unwanted attention."

"So, what will you do now?"

"Now?" Percy smirks "I suit up."

Down in the vault Connor Stoll was unlocking and checking various lockboxes along one of the walls. According to what Chiron had said, the artifact in question would be small, have a magic signature of some kind, and be very Egyptian in design. Connor stopped paying attention by the end, but he got the gist of it.

"So far so good…no one's called the elevator up and the stairs have been empty since we got in here," Annabeth calls out while she is hunched over her computer screen watching the security footage. "Charlie, Katie, what's it look like up there?"

"No reaction," Charlie rumbles "They don't know you're inside yet."

"Keeping Travis from making a scene, but yeah it looks like we are in the clear."

"Hey guys?"

"What is it now Jake?"

"This thing is Magic, right?"

Connor couldn't help but snort at the question while Clarisse banged her head against a lockbox "Yes Jake, the mystical artifact is magic."

Jake gulped, pulling a lockbox out "So…like this then?"

Annabeth looked away from the security feeds as she felt the hair on her neck stand up. Judging by the looks on Connor and Clarisse's faces they also felt it too. "We've got it, keep an eye out while we work our way back up to the roof."

Connor quickly came over and took the lock box, cracking the lock and prying it open to find… "So…whose relic is a little golden beetle?"

"A what?" Clarisse asks, coming over to see the relic "Son of a…what's this thing supposed to do?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. Jake laughs sheepishly, the ambient magic in the air was clearly coming from the beetle. Something caught his eye. Annabeth noticed the slight twitch of his gaze behind her.

"The relic is a bug…and that must mean that this guy is…"

Connor blinked. Guy? He looks towards the elevator. Standing between them and their exit was a man dressed in white, wrapped up like a mummy. "Well, this just got complicated, Annabeth, ideas?"

"Clarisse, Connor, take him." The two nod their heads, draw their weapons, and approach the stranger "Charlie, Silena, we might need some backup. Not sure who he is but he is not part of the security we've encountered so far."

"We'll grab Katie and Travis, meet you in the vault. Three minutes."

Percy steps back as the skinnier man comes at him. His swordplay was sloppy. Well, compared to him it was. He pulls out his crescent darts, brandishing the ceremonial weapons "Just so you know, it would've been easier if you just gave up first."

Clarisse lashes out with her sword, growling as she is parried by what she could only call crescent shaped daggers. The insult alone that he wouldn't draw a real weapon was not lost on her. In fact, it was all she cared about as she went into a rage and attacked.

Percy backed up again, ducking under a swing and swept the woman's legs out from under her. As he got back up his instincts kicked in just in time for him to block a strike from a dagger wielding woman in a dress. "Seriously, this is not how I thought my night was going to go."

As Silena was pushed away Connor came in and grabbed his target from behind. As Percy began to pry himself free of the grapple, in came the big one. Beckendorf did not agree with most forms of fighting. A sword was fine, spears too were a good choice. But for this quest he had requested something a bit different and more humane.

"Oh, that is going to sting," Khonshu observes, invisible to the other mortals but in plain view of his avatar as he takes an electrified punch "Knuckles…I believe mortals call them brass knuckles…and electric ones at that. These are not ordinary mortals, are they?"

Percy growls as Beckendorf comes back in for another punch. He ducks, missing the strike which collides with Connor's cheek knocking him back into the wall, and gives a punch of his own making the big man stumble.

"Anyone else want to try me tonight?" Percy was getting tired of these people. Who even were they that they could have a taser mixed with knuckles?

Khonshu tilts his head as he watches the woman get back up and slam his avatar into the wall. Mortals and their love of being physical in a fight like this. No weapons. Just pure primal instinct. "Typical."

Percy elbowed his attacker as hard as he could, loosening their grip on him came first before he could do anything else. While Clarisse recovered, he went on the offensive, pushing off the wall and knocking her out quickly. Four down. He turned his gaze to the other three in the vault. "Three to go."

"Stick to the plan Travis," Annabeth whispers harshly "Just have to pull this off, nothing more."

Travis gulps, the sword in his hand felt like it weighed a ton as the mummy approached "Easy for you to say, he just took four of us down with ease…well…minus Clarisse."

"I'll be sure to let her know you said that" Katie smirks, gently nudging him forward.

"Well…least I'll get Elysium for this…alright, I don't know who you are…but this ends now!"

Percy would have laughed if the man before him didn't have a sword pointed at his chest "Ok then…it's over…what now?"

"Wait…really?"

"No."

Annabeth winced as she watched Travis' head jerk back. He stumbled after the punch, his blade clattering against the floor before he fell back on the training Chiron had given them in grappling. For all the training it didn't really matter. Whoever this guy was, he managed to spin Travis around and get him in a choke hold.

"See? It's over. Now, give me the scarab."

Katie and Annabeth shared a look "Scarab? What scarab?"

"Don't play games with me, I know it's here, I tracked that thing from London. I know it is here, now hand it over."

Annabeth took a step back, pulling out her laptop while Katie did the negotiating. "London? It came from London? So…you are a treasure hunter of some sort or a good museum employee then?"

Percy grips Travis a little tighter "Keep trying to play around and your friend here loses the ability to breathe."

"Well, I would consider that an improvement over how he normally is." Travis' eyes widen comically as he struggles with gusto "Oh I was only joking, no need to panic Travis."

"Lady I really do not have time for this right now, so hand it over or I will-"

"It's not here."

Percy narrowed his gaze on the shorter blonde "Come again?"

"It's not here."

"What do you mean it isn't here?"

"Do a head count." She retorts with a smirk "You knocked out four of us, and you have us three here…but when you came in there were already four of us here."

Percy growls, releasing his hold on Travis. "Now what!? We came all this way for nothing, and it's gone!"

"No…not gone."

"What do you mean it isn't gone? Of course, it's gone. It'll be nearly impossible to track this one guy down now."

"Not if he is out under the moon light."

"You found him?"

"I have…he's on the surface heading north. There is still time to catch him."

The two demigoddesses watch as Travis catches his breath and their enemy rants and raves at the wall. Something about this just wasn't quite right. Katie came over, helping Travis to stand as the mummified warrior ran for the stairs.

"Did that…really just happen or do I have a concussion?"

Annabeth looked pensive as she began to record the camera footage of the evening "No Travis, that really did happen…we need to wake the others, get our stories straight, and get out of here before this gets any worse."

On the main floor, the auction had begun. Pieces on display were the first to be put up. Money changed hands, gavels came down, and the rich enjoyed their time. One of the guards was moving on to his next patrol when he caught a glimpse of a man in white running from the basement stairs. Then he saw the bodies on the ground.

Percy ducked as a gunshot missed his head. He burst into the atrium, socialites gawking at him, security drawing their weapons. Too many people. One false step and he could dodge a bullet but doom someone else to death.

"Freeze!"

He raises his hands slowly "You don't want to be doing that, boys."

In unison they opened fire. Clearly peace was not on their minds tonight. Thinking fast Percy used his cape, catching the bullets with ease, and with a single motion and flip he launched the rounds straight up at the skylight. Before anyone could react, he opened the cape and jumped. The security teams watched as their white cloaked intruder just floated up and out the broken skylight.

"Alright Khonshu, where is this guy?"

XXXXXX

Jake White ran as fast as he could. Once he cleared the building he just took off, one hand on the scarab and the other on Annabeth's cap. An invisible man running as fast as his legs could take him with the hopes, he could reach Olympus and deliver the artifact to the council directly. He just had to make it there first. He ducked down alleys, took random turns, did everything he could to put as much distance between him and that mummy guy in the vault. He was close, he could feel it.

Jake took a turn down an alley. He leans his back against a wall, takes the cap off and catches his breath.

"Long night?"

He's startled by the sudden voice, looking up as a tall man with a cane approaches him.

"No need to look so defensive, I'm just a traveler making conversation," the man smiles at him "You look tired…lot of running tonight?"

"Yeah…yeah you could say that."

"I'll bet…must be hard running from so much…chaos." He gestures at the city around them "Tell me, do you believe in it? In there being chaos all around us?"

"I guess?"

"Would you care to find out just how much chaos is in you?"

Jake gulped. Something about this didn't feel right but he was too tired to really argue with a mortal. He found the tattoo the guy had to be interesting. Purple scales. Just as the cane came down to rest on his hands his vision went black.

Percy couldn't see a thing. For all the lights in New York the dead of night was still darker than his eyes could see through. Flying or gliding if anyone wanted to get technical about it, wasn't easy either. He could make out cars below and even some people, but he couldn't make heads or tails of his target.

"Left here."

Percy banks left.

"He's moving northeast now…silly mortal just vanished in an alley, no light, cant see him until he leaves."

"Don't worry, he wont be leaving, I'll make sure of it."

Percy slowly descends, dropping down in the alley. He could see clearly through to the other side, cars going down the street, people walking on the sidewalk. But not his target. He had to still be here…people didn't just vanish into thin air. Further down the alley he spots a set of legs by a dumpster.

"Oh boy, you don't know how unlucky you really…are…"

"Oh, this does not bode well."

The target was dead. Percy checked for a pulse, checked the body for injuries, signs of an overdose, anything he knew from experience. Nothing. It was like his heart just stopped. Literally. The body was cold to the touch, skin looked like it had advanced signs of atrophy, like he had been dead a while. And there was some residual energy in the air.

"Not good at all."

"Care to share with the class?"

"Things just got a whole lot worse for the mortals."

"Why is that bird brain?"

"Because he now has the scarab. Now it is only a matter of time before we'll need to act."

XXXXXXXX

Back at the auction, once the commotion had settled down and people had gotten back their nerves, things were getting lively. Every piece they had, had been sold. All but one.

Reginald Dare was a businessman. He had the perfect life in his mind. A beautiful wife. A successful company. Millions of dollars to spend and not ever miss. It was perfect.

Except.

It wasn't. Not really. There was one small blight on his perfect life. One blemish he could never fix. His daughter Rachel. She was perfect on the outside, and for most of her life the inside too. But there was something odd about her. He could never quite figure it out. She loved to paint, she would paint things that were so vivid and life like. Things that were at first seen as just dreams and imaginative stories.

Then New York happened. Suddenly the things she made in the past were dangerous. He saw events, people, places, all of them on a canvas and then he'd see them in real time on the news. It scared him. It made her into some sort of psychic. She never predicted the stock market, never trade deals, business; none of it. Never anything he could use. But Reginald was a patient man, and he had the contacts for just this occasion. One of which he would have to give the bad news to as he pulled out his cellphone.

"Mr-"

"Reginald." The speaker cut him off "It's good of you to call me when you can't fulfill your promises."

"Sir I…I don't know what happened."

"I do." There was a pause "Someone got to it before you could, but that's alright. I thought this might happen, so I made sure to correct that. Loose ends and all."

"So, you have it with you then?" the excitement in Reginald's voice was palpable.

"Yes, and you have no need to worry about anything. It will take some time you understand, we need to build up a following first before we go looking for dusty old tombs…but yes, in time Ammit will rise again."

"That is…good to hear sir, I'll do whatever I can to assist you in this."

"I know you will Reginald, I know you will." Arthur Harrow smiles as he inspects the scarab in his hand "One step closer to salvation."

"Are we ready to depart now sir?"

"Yes…take us to the airport, would you William?"

"Destination in mind?"

Arthur smirks at his driver "Europe seems nice this time of year."

AN: I think I went overboard…did I go overboard? I have spent probably every second or nearly every second since the first chapter was uploaded just doing this. Ironically, this is Chapters 2 and 3 together. No really, I had a guideline set up and then wrote myself into a short chapter that covered the first half of this before continuing and realized I did chapter 3's details too…so this is going to be going back through the plotting phase as I try to realign just what is happening now thanks to all of that. So, until next time I guess.