Percy turned to Thalia, "and idea where to begin?"
Thalia shrugged, "I suppose we just... I don't, pretend to be a couple and talk while keeping an eye out for trouble?"
Percy shrugged, "sounds good to me."
Percy and Thalia spent some time walking around in the crowded room. Percy spent that time looking at all the people, searching for the title of assassin appearing over one of their heads. Thalia in the meantime looked around for any suspicious activity while takeing in all the delicious entrees she could.
"So Percy," Thalia said eating a slice of caramelized apple, "I was wondering whether I could ask you something."
Percy nodded, "shoot."
"What happened last night?"
Percy grew stiff but immediately responded, "I told you. Nothing happened."
"Really? Because I had the weirdest dream last night."
Percy became nervous again as Thalia suddenly tightened her grip on him. "D-dream? What kind of dream?"
"Well, it's silly really. I dreamt I was in my cabin, and there was some guy there," 'Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!' "and well....this guy kind of bent over and kissed me." 'Oh fuuuuuuck.' "and then I woke up."
Percy gulped, "weird dream."
Thalia narrowed her eyes, "Percy tell me the truth, did I do something stupid last night?"
Percy was frantically looking for a way out, "what do you mean?"
"I mean did I.... did I kiss somebody at the after party? I was pretty drunk and....well there were some pretty weird looking guys there. Percy.... Did I kiss someone there?"
Percy narrowed his eyes, "you think you kissed somebody in the after party?"
Thalia nodded, "yeah."
"Really? In the after party?"
Thalia blinked, "well where else was I when I was drunk. Shit....don't tell me I ran out of the after party and you had search for me!"
Percy gihed, "no, you didn't. And no, you didn't kiss anyone at the after party."
Thalia sighed, "thank the gods. It was just as dream," Percy didn't say anything as he avoided all eye contact, "although it was pretty sad though."
Percy looked surprised "why's that?"
"It was a really good kiss."
Percy was stunned and was about to respond when suddenly he saw something in the corner of his eyes. It took Percy a few moments, but he quickly spotted a person dressed as a waiter walk into the back room. He was bald with a tattoo on the back of his head, and his title was;
Agent 46, Hitman
Lv— 59
"It's the assassin," Percy said as he took off with Thalia right behind him.
"Percy wait up!" she called out but the demigod wasn't listening.
Percy entered the back room and spotted the hitman walking away deeper into the storage room. Now that Percy had a better view he realised that the tattoo on the back of the assassin's head was a barcode.
"Hey you," Percy said walking up to the man.
The hitman turned around and smiled, "yes sir? Can I help you?"
"Yeah I was wondering if you knew where the bathroom was," Percy asked as he continued his fast pace towards the man. The assassin knew he was found out, Percy knew that the assassin knew. They were just waiting for the first person to make the move.
"Of course sir, just-" Percy cut the man off by throwing a punch at the man's head. The assassin skillfully dodged it and punched Percy's stomach.
The demigod barely felt it and instead kneed the assassin in the ribs sending him backwards. Percy then activated his Body Form and Speed Demon charging into the Hitman.
The assassin moved away at the last second, but Percy was much faster than him as he sent a strike across the man's face breaking his nose.
Percy shook his arms, it felt like hitting a stone wall, and right now he was in Body From mode, it was very difficult to hurt him as he was.
The assassin quickly got back up and took out a gun out of nowhere. He aimed and fired at Percy who easily dodged every bullet.
"Give up Agent 46," Percy said reaching into his pocket, "we have you surrounded."
The man's eyes went up in surprise, "how do you know my name?"
"Information is what I'm about," Percy took out Waveride and transformed it into a trident leveling it at the man, "now give up."
The bald man narrowed his eyes, "not happening."
Percy charged swinging the rident down. The Hitman put both hands up and stopped the blow, but in doing so his bones snapped in half just from the force of the attack.
Pain shot through the assassin's body, but he didn't let it show. He kicked Percy and jumped backwards disappearing into thin air.
Percy looked stunned, 'okay, so he can go invisible. I have just the thing for that.'
Percy levels Waverider down and he channelled 100 mana points into it summoning a gallon of water. Percy then converted said water into mist and pushed it forward trying to get the invisible form of the Hitman.
Percy looked all over, but the mist showed nothing. He then sent a wave of mana to sense where he was, but came back with nothing but just a hint of what his mana felt like, cold and deadly. 'Damn, he got away.'
Percy sighed and turned Waverider back into its pen form. He noticed Thalia standing there panting.
"Did you get him?" she asked.
"No," Percy grumbled, "he got away."
Thalia sighed, "do you know where he is?"
"No."
"Why was he dressed up like a bartender?" Thalia asked the two quickly moved to rejoin the party.
"The only reason I can think of is.... to serve someone a poisoned drink," Percy's eyes shot up in realization as he and Thalia moved quickly.
They looked around and saw a crowd of people gathered around a fallen man. Percy could see Michael's hair down on the ground, the child of Apollo must be trying to save whoever was hurt.
'Shit,' Percy realised as he opened his inventory and pulled out a bottle of medium grade potion. He couldn't use his healing powers in public, that would attract attention.
Percy and Thalia pushed passed the crowds and reached Micheal to see him bent over Ed who was foaming at the mouth.
"Oh fuck me!" Percy cursed as he dropped besides Michael uncorking the bottle.
"Percy he's been poisoned!" Michael said.
"I know," Percy dipped the potion into Ed's mouth and the man chugged it down.
"That won't cure his poisoning."
"I know, it will help him for now," Percy replied, it was true. The potions only restored health and mana, not cure statuses.
The moment the potion bottle was empty someone the colour came back to Ed's face. Percy lifted the man up, "move!"
The people around them obeyed immediately as they gave room for Percy and the questers to bring Ed to a men's bathroom. Once inside Percy put the man on a toilet seat, he was beginning to look sick again, the poison was taking effect.
"Close the bathroom door," Percy said as he Observed that man's status;
Poisoned,
Poison used: Tetrodotoxin
Tetrodotoxin is found in the puffer fish. It is enough to kill 30 adult humans.
Destroys 10% of HP in 10 seconds.
Percy cursed himself, the potion he gave Ed was only enough to save him for a few more seconds. Percy pressed his hand up against the man's chest and activated his healing powers. A golden glow took over the toilet and the healing process started.
Percy selected the poison element to be removed and immediately he felt a drain on his mana. Ed's skin began to turn back to normal instead of the pale tone it was before. Percy sighed as he took out another potion and feed it to the man who slowly began to regain consciousness.
"Is he going to be okay?" Thalia asked him.
"He'll be fine," Percy assured her, "he's just exhausted that's all. Michael, what happened?" Percy asked turning to Michael.
"I don't know," the son of Apollo hung his head down in shame, "he was fine and talking and one second later he was on the ground."
"Was he drinking something?" Thalia asked.
Michael blinked, "yeah... yeah, he was. A drink, something really fruity."
"A pink Starburst cocktail," Ed muttered as he picked himself up, "it's my favorite drink."
"The assassin must have known that," Thalia said with narrowed eyes, "were you served by a bald guy?"
Michael and Ed shared a look before they nodded, "ah, yeah. How did you know?"
"Because that was the assassin," Percy grumbled out, "good catch Thalia."
Thalia nodded when Michael spoke up, "wait, how do you guys know this?"
"Because Percy took him on," Thalia supplied, "but he got away."
Percy grumbled, "I lost sight of him. I was careless."
Beep Beep!
Edward looked down at his watch, "it's time for the auction."
"Can you go through with this?" Michael asked in worry.
"I don't have a choice, I have to."
The demigods left the bathroom and went back to the main room. Everyone saw that Edward was fine and they were able to pass it off as an upset stomach as to not upset to many people, with a little help from the Mist of course. Soon they were moving again and Ed took them to a side room which lead to a set of stairs going three levels up.
"I must warn you guys, where you are about to go is the very height of the Abyss organization," Edwards said before they entered the room, "be careful, and don't piss off anyone," he narrowed his eyes at Percy.
The son of Poseidon grumbled, "I don't piss off everyone I meet."
"Yes you do," all three repeated at once causing Percy to pout in protest.
On the third floor was a smaller meeting room with the center of the room filled with 20 comfortable looking padded seats arrange in a circle. There were around 30 people gathered in the room, including Ed and the party. The rest however were all gathered in the center of the room or standing to the side making sure everything was secure.
"Ah Edward, so glad you are still with us," came a voice, "we were afraid that the assassin had gotten to you."
The voice came out of the group, it belonged to one tall thin man who stood out. He stood at 6 feet tall, with pale white skin and white hair and flew down his shoulders like an aristocrat of old. He wore a silky black tux, a complete opposite to his skin tone and on his face was plenty of smile lines around his blue eyes that showed the man was always in a joyus mood.
Percy was surprised at the man's title;
Joseph Ahasver, The Immortal Wandering Jew
Lv— ?
'Immortal? Just who is this guy?' Percy knew he had to be weary around this man, he was an unknown factor.
"Collector," Edward put on a smile, "so glad to see you. And yes, I am still alive, mostly thanks to my trusty gaurd detail."
"So these the bodyguards you hired Edward?" The Wandering Jew asked in a perfect American accent.
"Yes, they are," Edward said, "the one with blonde hair is Michael, the one with black hair is Percy, and the young woman is Thalia."
Percy noticed Ed didn't give their last names, that said something, these people were considered friendly, and Edward still didn't trust them.
"Ah, named after the great Greek Hero Perseus," The Jew said with a smile, "and I can feel the power radiate off of you, so I believe that you are a Greek demigod, yes?"
Percy nodded, "right in one. Mr...?"
Edward laughed, "yeah don't bother. No one knows his real name. In Abyss he is just know as 'The Collector'. People have been trying to find out who he is for ages, but no luck."
Percy raised an eyebrow, 'really? Hmm, maybe I shouldn't mention the fact that I know who he is.'
"Now now Edward you exaggerate," the immortal said, "I am just a humble worker of the Abyss."
"You run the whole thing Collector," Edward shot back with a playful smile.
"Yes, I suppose I do, but just a little bit," the man gave a hearty laugh that the people gathered around copied.
"And what exactly do you do for the Abyss Mr. Collector?" Percy asked.
"Well like the name implies, I collect things."
"And sell them?"
The immortal nodded, "some yes, others, which I find interesting, I keep for myself."
"Yes Mr Collector here is hosting today's auction," said a preety brunnet by the left of Edward, "in fact he is releasing someone of his prized collections today for purchase. It is one of the reasons so many people have come."
Percy looked at the woman's name;
Dalena Foture, Art Theif
Lv— 23
"Oh how rude of me," the thief said extending her hand, "my name is Dalena Foture."
Percy shook it, "yeah, you're that art thief right?"
The woman looked stunned as Edward turned to control his laughter. She quickly gathered her composure, "I assure you those allegations are nothing but a fantasy."
Percy shrugged, "I don't know. I pretty good with my intuitions and they are telling me you are a thief."
"And how do you know that Mr. Percy?" The Collector asked amused.
"I have the power of an informant," Percy casually replied.
"The power of an informant is nothing but a glorified emotional empath mixed in with a little bit of mana seeing," Dalen shoot back.
"Most yes, but I am special," Percy said, "I can feel things, like the power of a person. For a demigod I can tell who their divine parent is. And for you, someone who is skilled at stealing I can feel you are similar to a child of Hermes."
Lie successful!
Dalen narrowed her eyes, "that is well and good, but can you prove your claim?"
Percy shrugged, "sure."
"Then do so."
"How? I already told you who you are. And if I tell something about Ed you might call me a cheater."
Dalen huffed, "that isn't my problem."
"Do me," a man next to the Collector called out. He was a fiery redhead with large arms and scars all over his bald head. Percy looked at his title;
Harvey Dawson, Soldier
Lv— 30
"You are a soldier," Percy replied causing Harvey to look impressed.
"That is right," the man replied.
"That doesn't prove anything," Dalen said again, "you obviously noticed his scar and his trained body."
Percy sighed when another man spoke up in a french accent, "you may try to guess my profession."
Percy turned to man and saw he was a rough looking individual with barely any hair left on his head and a very big suit. He looked like he barely got any sleep and suffered from many different diseases;
Patrick James, Son of Pestilence
Lv-30
Percy's eyes widened immediately, he couldn't believe it. A son of Pestilence?! What the fuck?! Percy knew about the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, he had seen enough supernatural movies about monster to basically be called an expert. And this guy....this guy's was the son of one of them?!
Percy immediately used Observation on the man;
Patrick James, Son of Pestilence
Lv-30
HP: 1,900/1,900
MP: 3,000/3,000
Race— Demi-devine
