Ares looked at her. Mika couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in her stomach. She squashed it down though. 'Bitch, I've been pushing down my breakfast and my everything for years- I know how to control bad feelings.' It also made her want to say 'fuck it' and leave, but to just come back with a Bazooka. Possibly grabbing EA in the process even though she couldn't do that in the first place.

He gave a wicked grin. The waitress shrank back and fled the table.

'Where is a Bazooka when you need one?' Mika thought.

-: ✧ :-

The guy then gave Percy a wicked grin as he looked at him. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"

"What's it to you?" Percy said.

Annabeth's eyes flashed him a warning. "Percy, this is—"

The biker raised his hand. "S'okay," he said.

"I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?" 'Cousin?' Mika thought, does that mean he is a god? She thought his sneer looked familiar though...

"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy said after a long thought. "Ares, the god of war." The god grinned and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there were only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it."

"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for—I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you." As the war, God said that the waitress came back with heaping trays of food—cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes. Ares handed her a few gold drachmas and the waitress looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."

Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold. "You can't do that," Mika told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife for a reason like that, it's wrong." Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. This brings me to my proposition. So I need your friend to do me a favor." He told her, the girl had to restrain herself from getting the chains of heaven from the Gates of Babylon and strangle the guy. 'Zashhu...' Mika thought to the war mongrel.

"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy said and Ares started explaining. "Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little...date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you get it yourself?" Mika said with a raised eyebrow and the fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter. "Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley, little girl? Because I don't feel like it." He sneered and Mika was thinking about getting Enkidu's chains and stick them right up his ass.

"A god is giving an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" Ares said as he turned to Percy. He then leaned forward and said in a teasing tone. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you." Mika wanted to punch this guy, but she knew he was waiting for that to happen. Ares's power was causing anger. He'd love it if anyone started attacking. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction, as she remembered what Penthesilea had said from a previous lesson. 'If someone expects a fight, give them silence. For they don't know who are they messing with...especially if they're male!!' The Amazonian Berserker might've said.

"We're not interested," Percy said. "We've already got a quest." Ares's fiery eyes made Mika and Percy see things—like blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. Mika rolled her eyes while Percy looked almost terrified, which surprised the god, usually, girls her age would be at least frightened. But he regained composure and started talking again. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful..." He licked his lips as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"So you told him Hades stole the bolt?" Mika said with an ounce of suspicion that was rising.

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for that little quest."

"Gee Thanks," Percy grumbled almost sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own." Percy countered

"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

"My mom?" Now Mika looked at Percy, trying to say 'don't' to him. But Ares started to grin. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west of Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date then?" Mika asked as she remembered an old tale on the back of her mind. "Something scared you and your girlfriend off?" Ares bared his teeth, but Mika had seen his threatening look before on Clarisse, possibly Pelinthesia too when she gets angry(which was kinda normal if 'that' comes by) come true I would love this to see you and then you will. There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous which caught her attention. "You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me." The god turned to say it to Percy, and like a flash. He disappeared.

In a blink, he was gone.

"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good." Mika and Percy stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared too.

"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy had said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."

"I think you can't though," Mika said to him and he gave her a confused face. "Look, I just have a hunch and they were never wrong at most things. But I think he wasn't kidding about turning anyone into a rodent. Even if it was directed to me." She said and Percy was in deep thought as he looked down at his cheeseburger, "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."

'Spoken like a true Daughter of Athena, I guess.' Mika thought.

"But this water park...he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?" Percy asked. "Either someone did something that made him and his girlfriend run. Or the ride collapsed on itself, but you should go with the first one" Mika suggested while Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other. "I'm afraid we'll have to find out." Annabeth's said.

"Do you want to come with us, Mika?" Percy asked

"She can't Percy. Mika's a mortal." Annabeth said to him.

"A mortal who you've seen fight demigods like you, Annabeth. But that aside, I think it's best that I don't go, Percy. I shouldn't interfere with someone else's side quest. I wouldn't want to worry my family" Mika said pointed her thumb at the servants and excused herself out of the table, and went back to Altria, Joan, and Gilgamesh.

"The guy that disappeared was Ares. He was telling Percy and the others to retrieve his shield in an abandoned water park." Mika explained to them as she sat beside Gilgamesh Caster.

"If he's oh, so high and mighty, why can't he just get it himself?" Joan said.

"He's a god, Joan. A different one from mine, but they have a few things in common, getting others to do small tasks for them. Even the pointless ones" Gilgamesh told her and looked to Mika.

"You should go with them," He told her.

"Why? I want to help find Jason and the others!" She said,

"Don't worry about that, we'll find them on our own!" Joan said with a grin,

"I'll also be with them, making sure that the mad dog will behave." Altria said and started fighting with Joan again.

"Go, just don't do anything I would not. Or anything that I would do." Gilgamesh said while ignoring the two alters.

"Too late, I already called some of my classmates mongrels. But before you say anything, I did make them either fear me or get irritated" Mika said and the King of Uruk laugh(a little too loudly).

"Then do as you must, but take caution. You're not like me, whether servant or demigod, but you have been taught to almost be like one all the same." He explained

"Okay! I'll be going then, Gilga Oji-tan!" Mika said and the Caster started getting angry.

"Didn't I demand to not call me that!?" "Owww!! Yamete kudasai, Oji-tan!"

__One moment Later__

"Guys! Wait up!" Mika said as she chased down Percy, Annabeth, and Grover.

"Mika?" Percy mumbled as he and the others turn their heads around to see Mika panting behind them, "I have decided to go with you guys." She said, "But Mika..." Annabeth said but after some convincing comments from Mika, Percy, and Grover, she finally agreed with Mika coming along with them.

"Are you sure you want to go with us?" Annabeth asked as she walked beside Mika, "Sure. My cousins and my uncle won't mind me going off somewhere." She told her as they all went to the abandoned water park.

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