Annabeth told me that Athena told her to tell me that big man mr. Z, queen of Drama, wanted an audience with me about my request. Now why he wants that I don't know, but my presumptions of why are not good. Annabeth and I passed out shortly after our conversation and her pestering me about what my request was.

The train was pulling into Union Station at Denver, a few hours after we woke up, and it was our time to find other means of travel across the Rockies, and down to LA. I'm also pretty certain that we aren't going to find another Gladiola.

We eventually made our way to a small chrome diner, and sat down in a booth. I knew we didn't have money for food, but Peter was hoping that the workers, or owners would be nice and give us free food. A waitress looked over at us and I could see her sigh, and start to make her way over to us.

All of the sudden the building started to rumble and a motorcycle pulled up along the front. I sighed because I could tell from here that it was Ares. He came over to our booth and sat down next to Peter who was sitting by himself. I was thankful he didn't sit next to Annabeth and I because I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been room. "I'm sitting over here so your mother doesn't try to kill me, Perseus" Ares said

"Anyways, apart from reading my thoughts or body language, why are you here" I asked with distaste.

"Watch your tongue. I can still kill you, and I'll live with the consequences your mother tries to give me." Ares stated, and I wanted to scoff he couldn't beat Apollo, what makes him think he can beat my mom, when she can beat Apollo. "I'm also not here for you I'm here to talk to the leader of this quest" He said turning towards Peter.

It was now that the waitress and other customers came out of there shock and she came over. "I'm paying for them" Ares declared, and handed her 5 drachmas, I looked at him like you should at least give them mortal currency, but he ignored me.

He returned his look to Peter, "So your old seaweed's kid, aren't you"

"What's it to you" Peter asked rudely, Annabeth looked at him like she was about to scold him but I stopped her from doing so. Just being around Ares tends to make people mad, including the peaceful ones. For instance, he was the assassin that caused World War 1 to start.

"Listen Punk, I don't mind you having a little attitude, in fact I like that trait. You just got to remember who the boss is. You should also know who I am little cousin"Ares said to Peter. I almost lost it at the mention of little cousin, but thankfully remembered he doesn't know that a certain bastard sired me.

"Your...You're Clarisse's dad, aren't you" Peter stuttered, "Ares, the God of War"

Ares just grinned, and smiled at him while keeping his glasses on. I have a feeling he was secretly looking at me, afraid I might explode because I'm certain he can feel my hatred for him right now. "That's right. I heard you fought Clarisse and a few of my son's, even defeated a few until that Hermes kid crossed the barrier with the flag". I'm pretty sure he is just playing to his Ego to get a certain outcome, and I am becoming more suspicious that Ares may actually have the bolt, and possibly the helm.

"They were asking for it" Peter said, in a mix of emotions, two of which were confidence and fear.

"Probably, but that's not why I am here, you see I heard you were in town and figured I would offer an exchange of favors" Ares said

"What's the favors" Peter asked

"Well I was prepared to offer you all a ride to Los Angeles. That's where you're going correct" Ares asked and Peter nodded, "Well in exchange for that ride, I would like for you to retrieve my shield for me"

"Why can't you do that yourself" Peter asked him

"Well, why don't I turn you into a dog and run you over with my Harley. It's because I don't want to...and don't have the time to do it" Ares stated, "Plus I'm providing you with the chance to prove yourself, so will you prove yourself a coward? Or maybe you only fight when your daddy can protect you" Ares finished sneering, and I'm pretty sure he knows that it was Poseidon who defeated his kids and not Peter.

Peter went off saying we already have a quest, and we won't be offering him help. Ares, however dumb you think he is, is pretty good at getting his way by manipulation. "Oh really, Who do you think fed your father about the information regarding the dead man. I'm the one who got you your quest" Ares stated calmly

"H...How" Peter stuttered again.

"The big man sent his best out to find it when the item was first stolen: Apollo, Artemis, Athena, and me. Naturally if I can't find a weapon of such power what makes you think you can" Ares started with the mention of the bolt making his mouth water at the power it holds. "My investigations however, I saw the obvious, steal something and have it be blamed on somebody else. It's one of the older tricks in the book, and I recognized immediately who it was. And After your guide and his mom got their names cleared, the big guy went back to blaming his brother, naturally" Ares finished his explanation of the events.

"You were accused of stealing the bolt, how do I know you don't have now" Peter shouted , I sighed and Ares was letting out a chuckle.

"Because the first and only time I was on Olympus was to clear my name" I said, "and from what I know, due to a change in the hunt, The bolt was stolen during the winter solstice" Ares looked at me shocked that I knew so much, as the big guy, as he calls him, ordered for tight lips on the time framing of events.

"Yes, it was." Ares confirmed, probably annoyed he had to confirm the time frame. "Anyways, my date with my girlfriend was interrupted, and if you bring it back to me by the end of today, then I'll give you some information on your mom as well, Peter"

"alright fine we'll do it" Peter sighed out.

"Good, our date was a mile west from here, at a waterpark, tunnel of love ride. You can't miss it" Ares said, as the waitress came back with four burgers and Ares started eating them all. I wish I could take a picture of Peter's face when he realized the food wasn't for him.

"What made the mighty god of war run off from a date" Peter boasted. I knew the answer was probably Hephaestus, gods hardly let grudges go, and although Hephaestus tends to be anti-social, he's still bitter about his wife and Ares being together.

Ares grew a look of a mad man, and I knew he wasn't going to kill him. Ares needed him for the three way war that he wants. "You know kid your lucky you met me instead of a different olympian they would have killed you, like his mom for instance" Ares said nodding towards me.

"I wouldn't blame her he has been fairly rude and disrespectful" I countered, "honestly, I'm surprised you haven't killed him, I heard your hot headed"

"His old man and I are friends, I don't want to ruin that yet" Ares claimed, "Now get on with retrieving my shield dammit"

With that we walked off and went to retrieve his shield. I guided us west for exactly one mile and low and behold he wasn't lying about the water park. "Why would he take her here, it's abandoned" Peter asked

"Don't know don't care" I stated, as we walked up to the fence meant to keep everyone out.

I vaulted both Peter and Annabeth over the fence as it would save time, before climbing over myself. "We should get some supplies here while we can" Annabeth said, noting the lack of supply both of them had. I had everything I needed either in my bag or in my tent. So I just went around grabbing all sorts of novelty items.

I ended up grabbing a few snow globes, two red rubber balls, as they were the last two after Annabeth grabbed one, a couple of t-shirts, and a lot of stickers that I could place in and on Zoë's tent. Peter didn't understand my choice of objects but I think Annabeth somewhat understood. Peter, however, grabbed nothing, and claimed that it wasn't his style.

Annabeth being the smart one took a map with her and guided us to the ride. When we got their I could see why he took her here. There were mirrors everywhere, and I'm guessing it's so they can look at their favorite image despite making out. If you're wondering why, it's because they are both narcissistic.

"look there it is" Peter shouted, while Annabeth grabbed his shirt collar. She nearly let go and my only guess was because it must have been disgusting he has been wearing the same shirt for four days without washing it, and it went through the Mississippi river of all things.

"Don't just jump in there it's a trap" She scolded him.

Meanwhile I jumped down in there and I heard her shouting at me to get back up here. "I'm a master in the art of pranking, I was the one who framed the Hermes cabin at the start of the prank war" I stated

"You pranked my cabin with Spiders" Annabeth shouted

"No, that was the Stoll's I only pranked the Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo cabins and framed it on the Hermes cabin. They even tried pranking me, which made it all the better." I shouted back. I took a moment to look up the bowl and saw that she was still holding Peter back. Though she looked mad because I left him with her.

"Well, you better not set this trap off" She shouted

I did a mock salute, "Aye, aye captain". I turned back to the task at hand and saw that Aphrodite's scarf was also here. I guess I should return it to her, but I am most certainly not giving it to Ares, so he won't get any bonus points with her. I studied the contraption and noticed a singular tension wire connected to Ares's shield while Aphrodite's scarf was left completely alone. I quickly picked it up and stowed it in my bag.

"Why did you pick up that useless scarf, we need the shield" Peter yelled, nearly dragging Annabeth down here with him.

"You don't think I know that" I shouted back, "it's Aphrodite's scarf and well I hate the war dude so I'm not giving him the chance to return it to her" Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something about my holding of it, but thankfully she knows who I was raised by so she knows I won't use it.

I went to studying the wire and began to trace it to its origin point to see if there was any possibility of disabling the triggering mechanism. Knowing Hephaestus I highly doubt there will be, and those doubts were correctly placed.

Well I need a new plan. "ANNABETH" I shouted and it echoed up and out of the bowl

"What" she stated back

"Can you come down here and leave Peter up there I need your brains to come up with a way to disable a tension based trip wire" I said

"Yeah sure" She said and started to head down but Peter followed her.

"stupid males" I mumbled before they got within hearing range.

"What can be so hard about grabbing a stupid shield" Peter asked

"A trap made by Hephaestus and and a perfectly set tension trip wire, so any lack or addition to its current tension within a set amount will set off the trap meant for Ares" I stated

"In english please"

"Wire attached to shield, wire move we go boom" I said hopefully that will get him to understand.

"I doubt that " he said picking up the shield.

I began letting out a string of so many curses, that my mother may slap me for it. It's not her fault that I know them, and I'm not going to rat out the sisters of mine that taught me them. Now why was I cursing, well that's simple it's because a net spread over the opening trapping us and the cupid statues started moving around and one of them was acting as a director.

But that wasn't the terrible part, the terrible part was that there was mechanical spiders climbing out from behind the mirrors. I picked up Annabeth and placed her inside the boat where the shield and scarf used to be. Now why, that's because she's been immobilized by her arachnophobia.

And to top it all off, I can't even use my powers because the cameras are rolling, well I can't use them until Peter finds out about the water in the pipes that is still flowing. Thankfully it only took until hundreds of spiders were swarming the boat scaring the absolute crap out of Annabeth until he found out.

In all honest I'm surprised we didn't die. I discreetly helped with pulling the water out of the pipes, and I highly doubt he could have done it alone, as he was sweating and panting after the pipes burst. I on the other hand was still hitting spiders off our lovely ride and trying to hit the cupid statues that were following.

Eventually all the spiders were gone and Annabeth was starting to come back, while Peter was getting re-energized from the water. I sighed sitting down to take a breather, "you ok" I asked Annabeth and she nodded her head though I could tell she was still scared about the spider things. Peter verbally responded but I wasn't paying attention.

The light eventually started shining through the tunnel and I had a bad gut feeling that the gates were locked, which were only proven correct a few seconds later. "Jump when I say so" Peter shouted

"No you'll get it wrong jump when I say" Annabeth countered. I picked her up again, as I'm pretty sure she's calculated maximum exit velocity, and I'm calculating minimal exit velocity. I'm aiming for the collection pool after all. We got to my point and I jumped over the gate with Annabeth on my back, and she started yelling at Peter to jump. Sadly he did, but we landed in the pool and he well he wasn't in the pool. I don't know where he was.

"How did you know" Annabeth asked

"Sometimes the best course of action is the minimal course of action" I stated

"So you're saying I overshot my projections" she said

"No, your projections were for a guaranteed out, by using maximum time in the boat. Mine was the other philosophy, we could have very well fall short of the pool with my projections" I countered and she accepted that explanation.

It was at this time that Peter crawled out of the bushes in pain. "I should have jumped later" He groaned

"Well you would have died and been with Hades earlier" Annabeth and I said.

He showed us Ares's shield and it was all scraped up. "He won't mind the damage will he" Peter asked slightly scared.

"It should be able to be buffed out, it's only scratches and a dent, thankfully it's still whole" I said, and started walking back to the start of where we were so we could collect the rest of our stuff.