Hello everyone! Here is another chapter to Resistance, enjoy! I won't say much now, I'll say more at the end, just that this chapter might be intense for some people more so towards the middle and you should read at your own discretion.

Warning: Mentions and scenes of cannibalism and torture.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HOO

Connecting Connections

Chat Server 134

DBDA149 IS NOW ENTERING CHAT

DBDA149: Hey guys what's up?

YETI IS NOW ENTERING CHAT

yeti: hey!

yeti: have you guys heard about this thing yet?

ARKM56 IS NOW ENTERING CHAT

ArkM56: hey guys!

ArkM56: wat r u talkin abt?

DBDA149: Heard about what?

yeti: There's this crazy video floating around out there where this chick is killing people and then eating them!

ArkM56: WAT? No way!

SCH1YO5P IS NOW ENTERING CHAT

sch1yo5p: What are we talking about guys?

DBDA149: About this crazy girl who's killing people and eating them and posting up videos every week of what she does to her victims. I've seen it myself! It's creepy I couldn't continue watching!

yeti: no one knows who she is...

ArkM56: it has 2 b fake

sch1yo5p: Oh I wouldn't say it's fake...

LUZM78 IS NOW ENTERING CHAT

luzm78: hey guys

luzm78: let me catch up

luzm78: how would you know if its real or not

luzm78: schy1yo5p

sch1yo5p: Log in at 12 am tonight to see for yourselves!

sch1yo5p: The link is right here!

sch1yo5p: That's the invite, totally anonymous! Hope you guys go!

ArkM56: is this legit?

luzm78: this cant be real right

sch1yo5p: Gotta go! Enjoy the show guys!

SCH1YO5P LEFT CHAT

DBDA149: Who the hell was that person?

ArkM56: i dnt kno thts the 1st time i saw their handle on here

luzm78: is anyone going to that website

DBDA149: I've seen it before, definitely not! It's brutal!

ArkM56: im interested

DBDA149: Bye guys! I'm out of here this got way too creepy way too fast!

DBDA149 LEFT CHAT

yeti: i'm definitely going again! already saved the link

yeti: bye

YETI LEFT CHAT

luzm78: mark are you going

ArkM56: not sure yet im gonna txt u if i do

ArkM56: see ya luz

luzm78: bye

ARKM56 LEFT CHAT

LUZM78 LEFT CHAT

Rose and Luke's Office; AECPC

Porque te tienes que ir?

Rosalina...porfavor

"Rose?"

The Latina was staring off at her computer, zoned out before she looked over to her partner as his blond eyebrows scrunched up in concern.

"Huh?" Came her reply, slowly shaking her head, as if in a daze.

"I asked if you wanted some coffee?" Luke repeated his question, looking over at his partner.

"Oh, uh, sure I'll take some," Rose said as she reached in her pocket to pull out her card, "take my-"

"No need," Luke said, already making his way out of their shared office, "my treat. Besides, you look like you need it."

With that Luke took his leave. Rose sat back in her chair, putting her chin in her hand as she looked back at her computer. This missing persons case Luke and Rose had been assigned was messing with her head. Annabeth and Piper were helping them out because in as little as three weeks, there were already four people missing so far. Sure most had been citizens from the lower districts but missing all the same and so far, there had been no leads. No eyewitnesses and no idea where they could have gone. Rose wiped a hand down her face, she was exhausted.

Focus Rose, she thought to her self before beginning to type away at her computer. She was sending in her weekly report to Minerva and giving her an update on the missing persons case.

The missing person this week, Bradley Huntington.

"Hey," Luke said, coming in with two coffees in his hands, "Annabeth is asking us over to her office, she wants to see Bradley's case and compare it to Maria Del Santos, see if there are any connections between the two."

"Okay," Rose said, gathering up Bradley's file and transferring over any files from her computer to her wristband. She would finish the report to Minerva later, "let's go," Rose grabbed her coffee from Luke's hands as she passed him by.

City Living Apartment Complex

"Adam's on a case with Reyna, so he's not coming," Amber looked up to see Silena standing before her, the pretty brunette slid down to sit next to Clarisse, "should we get started?"

"The boss sent us some information, and it's not good," Clarisse grunted, "it's been about roughly one month since the fires and since we have gotten any word from our boss." The trio were on their building's rooftop, their snowy white owl from before perched near them on a ledge.

"What happened?" Silena asked.

"All of the places where our people were stationed at had been bombed, we've lost Dionysus, Ethan, Hermes and Nike. Not to mention the informant is nowhere to be found. We had also almost lost Travis but he managed to escape and he found out crucial information. The boss says he'll let us know about it once it's confirmed," Amber relayed the information to Silena.

"We're gonna send word on what to do about Piper, she was being recruited around the time we got captured but so far she hasn't opened her mouth on what we were doing," Clarisse said, beginning to write in code on a piece of paper.

"Things are getting tense back at base," Amber muttered, "let's hurry before our Enforcers notice we're gone too long."

"Done," Clarisse scowled over at the blonde. She went to the snowy owl and attached the paper to one of his legs, then gave him the signal to fly away, "alright let's go."

Annabeth and Piper's office; AECPC

"Bradley Huntington; known gambler, disgraced the Huntington's and since his stint at a rehabilitation center, disowned by his parents. His missing persons case was filed by his brother Liam four days ago. Bradley's frequent spots for gambling before he entered the center were mostly in the underground world of Attica. Liam knows of a few places but no luck getting information," Rose explained the case to Annabeth and Piper. Once reaching their office, Rose dove right into their case.

"Me and Rose tried to talk to a few of the owners to see if they had seen Bradley recently and no luck, owner wouldn't even stop to listen to us just took off running. They're afraid we're gonna be arresting them for owning an illegal club," Luke took over. "We can't even explain to them that we're not the specialist team that does that. We can't even interfere with their tasks of infiltrating the clubs and making arrests but they don't stay long enough to listen."

"So let's tag team them," Annabeth said, "let's go back and pay them another visit, block off their escape by having a pair of us approach them from the front while the other pair blocks off their exit and corner them."

"Maybe we can sweeten the deal by letting them know we're gonna keep quiet of their identities from the IUSP*," Piper suggested.

Annabeth grimaced, "making a deal? With them like that? We can't, I'm not doing that, we do it by the books. It sucks but they shouldn't have been doing something illegal when they know the consequences."

"I don't know Annabeth, I think Piper has a point, they'd be more willing to talk if we make a deal with them," Rose looked over at the blonde.

"I'm not doing that and that's final," Annabeth said, forcefully.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have suggested it," Piper muttered, "it won't happen again."

"Okay well let's move on," Luke began, "Bradley's last known whereabouts was at his job but we talked to his boss already and his boss said Bradley had been acting normal the whole week."

"This was his second week at his new job just three weeks after exiting the rehabilitation center and securing an apartment nearby his new job," Rose took over, "in the little time that he was there, his boss and several of his coworkers expressed that Bradley had been committed to staying away from gambling and restoring back his family's name."

"He always came to work on time, picked up extra shifts if they needed him, would be one of the last to leave and was always super helpful," Luke continued, "after his stay at the center, Liam said his brother had come out like the Bradley he used to know, before he became addicted to gambling."

"What if he was maybe hiding it?" Annabeth asked, "the fact that he maybe reverted back to his old ways."

"We checked his bank records," Luke said, shaking his head, "he's been paying his bills online, gets direct deposit every week, er, the two weeks he's been at his job and hasn't withdrawn cash at all. No large amounts."

"Not that he has much to spare, most of his money went into paying first and last month's rent on his apartment and the rest of his money was used on groceries or furnishing his place. He's been solely using his debit card ever since he left the center. The dude looks clean, almost like a brand new Bradley," Rose finished.

"There were no eye witnesses, Calypso has tried checking security cameras surrounding Bradley's apartment and job and nothing looks out of the ordinary. In fact, we didn't even see Bradley walk out of his apartment the night of his disappearance. It's like the guy vanished into thin air," Luke's eyebrows furrowed, "we have no idea what's going on."

"Wait, you said it looks as if he vanished into thin air?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," Luke answered her.

"That seems almost the same as Maria Del Santos."

"The case we've been working on," Piper supplied, "twenty eight year old female, left her job around eleven at night, reached her apartment a little bit after. She was scheduled to come in the next day, never showed, boss sent a colleague to check on her since it wasn't like Maria to just not show up and not call. Coworker found her place open. Not broken into, as if Maria had company over but never locked her door after her guests left."

"We checked the security cameras surrounding her apartment and job, traffic cams, nothing," Annabeth jumped in, "no one saw anything, neighbors heard no loud noises coming from her apartment and she's been missing for over a week. It's like she vanished."

"That's weird..." Rose mumbled to herself.

"We have no idea where to even start looking for her," Piper continued, "we've been stuck all week because she's never been sent to a center, doesn't have any known addictions, nor any known enemies. Her mother filed the missing persons report. It's been her mother and Maria for most of their life, Maria's an only child, the father died when she was five years old. Relatives live outside of Attica, in Ecuador, I believe."

"So no family except her mom, no addictions and no enemies?" Luke asked.

"Every single one of her colleagues and friends loved her, she was well liked all around," Annabeth answered, "me and Piper interrogated everyone connected to Maria all week and every single person spoke highly of her."

"Ugh," Rose groaned, "this is just getting harder and harder. Okay we have four missing people, all missing within three weeks, two of them seem to have to same MO, seemingly vanishing into thin air but both victims have completely different backgrounds. One was born rich but lost it all to addiction, the other was born poor but working her way up. The cameras surrounding their jobs and apartments, places them with the correct time of them leaving their jobs. What are we missing here? Something...we're missing something...something important."

"Let's have Calypso look into their computers, see if maybe we missed something ourselves," Luke suggested, "and then, let's go check out the other two missing people."

Oval Office; Washington D.C, United States of America

"This is my project," Gaea looked over at Zeus, the current president of the United States, "mine. I have poured my blood, sweat and tears into this, and I will not have it shut down just because a bunch of suits are afraid of the public's perceptions once we move on to phase three, which is letting the world know of my experimental islands."

"Gaea," Zeus began. He was a tall man, with a somewhat stocky build, his icy blue eyes glaring daggers at the woman in front of him, "I have done all that I could to make sure the project would become accepted by both houses, but there is dissent among both parties."

"Have they been shown the results?" Gaea asked.

"The results don't matter when they heard about the bombings that took place."

"So you haven't shown them the results?" Gaea asked, narrowing her eyes at Zeus.

"They don't want to hear it."

"I spent thirty years making sure this project took flight, you of all people know exactly what I had to do to make sure it was realized. Ten years spent perfecting my plan, perfecting the technology which is way more advanced than anywhere around the world! Ten years hounding people to get it off ground and twenty years I spent making sure every single person that moved in both islands had been taken care of. Do you have any idea how hard I've worked? How hard my teams have worked? We have universal health care and the injections we have our citizens take not only keep their emotions and psycho stats in check but also keeps them at the healthiest they can be."

"Gaea-"

"My people almost rarely get sick, that injection has been perfected so that it carries everything a human could ever possibly need and my people take an injection everyday. University students go to college for free, making Attica and Tribeka less prone to falling into debt, and because they take aptitude tests more so towards the end of their high school careers, instead of those standardized tests you people are so fond of, they learn actual useful things in school that they can apply to both their adult life and their future jobs. Once in college they are already given a selection of potential interests so they don't have to waste two years of their life or more trying to figure out what to do with their lives."

"Gaea," Zeus tried again to interrupt the ranting and furious woman but to no avail.

"This is my soul and I'll be damned if I let you take it away from me. Whether the parties are on board or not, Attica and Tribeka will proceed with phase three. It is your decision on whether you join us as we move forward into a new era, unlike the world has never seen or whether you fall behind and get left there. We will function separately, apart from the U.S, so choose wisely."

"Are you threatening me?" Zeus asked, standing up from his seat to be at eye level with Gaea, to her credit she did not back down, instead stared right at him.

"It is not a threat, it's a promise. Never forget what I did for your father, how he really got his presidential seat. And never forget how I did the same for you."

With that, Gaea turned and grabbed her purse off the couch in Zeus's office.

"I will see you tomorrow at the Senate hearing President Zeus," she waved goodbye as she left a fuming Zeus behind.

Calypso's Office; AECPC

"What do you think?" Annabeth asked the cinnamon haired girl, "think anything is out of the ordinary?"

"Hm," Calypso hummed, "everything checked out with both Bradley and Maria, so...no, nothing out of the ordinary," she said looking up to the four expectant Enforcers, who all visibly deflated at the news, "sorry guys."

"Not your fault," Luke grunted.

"Try bringing me the other two missing people's computers, maybe something is on there?" Calypso suggested.

"Thanks girl," Rose said, walking off, "I'll make sure to bring their laptops to you."

With that, Luke, Annabeth and Piper followed after the beautiful brunette. Luke looked over his partner and wondered what had come over her this morning?

Having spent almost one month living with Rose after becoming a hound, Luke couldn't deny the fact that he had gotten pretty lucky with Rose as his Enforcer. On the very first day they had been brought to the AACF, Luke had been terrified truth be told. He had heard stories of what they did to the inmates at the facility and once he had been caught he knew it was over for him. That was until Rose had informed them of the mandatory test they had to take and after that, Luke and the others were named Hounds.

Rose had been very welcoming to Luke after they had come back from training at the ranch. She had done whatever she could to accommodate Luke and was very sweet to him...well when she wanted to be. Rose actually loved to tease and fake scare Luke whenever she could. Luke had come to learn that she could be sarcastic when she wanted to be and wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

Luke had also learned a number of things from Rose that he didn't know before. Of course he wouldn't have known right away, it would have taken time to trust each other with that sort of personal information. The blond didn't know how it was with the other Enforcers and their hounds -Percy and Nico being completely excluded because everyone knew Nico treated Percy like shit- but he felt like his relationship with Rose was a bit different.

They talked about their pasts with each other. Rose and Adam had been fostered in by Minerva since they were thirteen, something Luke couldn't see the cold, gray eyed woman doing as he thought she had no maternal instincts at all but Rose assured him she had more going on below the surface. They had come from Mexico, having been born from a Mexican mom and a dad from Venezuela. Being born and living most of her younger life in Mexico, Rose and Adam to some extent had some sort of accent when speaking English that was most definitely leaving the more time they spent talking English.

Luke had told Rose that he and Octavian were brothers, with Luke being the oldest and that their mother hadn't always...been all there. It had fallen onto Luke's shoulders to pull himself and his family through as best he could. He didn't go to college after graduating high school as almost all students did in Attica and Tribeka, instead he opted to start work right away. The blond thought college would be better for his brother seeing as he was the smarter out of the two and it was true. Octavian had skipped a grade in high school and had always made honors, high honors.

Over the course of the month, not only had Rose and Luke talked about their past, but they also talked about what they saw themselves doing in the future. Luke held on to the dream of maybe being in a band and being able to play his guitar forever. But that was just a dream. Rose had said she wanted to go back to Mexico because she missed the food, the people and most of all her family there. She also said she had wanted to visit her dad's side of the family in Venezuela. Both of her parents having died, her aunts and uncles were all Rose and Adam had left.

There were many perks to living with someone like Rose, someone who was easy to get along with but there was one definite downside. Luke had one serious crush on his Enforcer. He hadn't meant to like her but it was relatively hard and the blond had chalked it up to not having had any sex in so long that he was just horny. Luke couldn't deny, Rose was a beauty to behold. Her wavy, black hair splashing over her back when it wasn't tied in its usual ponytail. Those beautiful, dark brown eyes that seemed to pull the blond in deeper. Not to mention that bangin' body of hers. The brunette was a bombshell. Her face was heart shaped, her eyes almond shape and she had that small mole on her left eye that just...Luke had it bad.

What was worse was the fact that Rose had gotten comfortable with Luke. Extremely comfortable, so much so that she would sometimes be found prancing around in her panties and a shirt that left little to the imagination after coming out of the shower. Luke tried his hardest to not stare at her gorgeous body too long but could you blame him if he spared a look or two? Other than that, he was a complete gentleman. On the other hand, the fact that she had gotten so comfortable with Luke meant she let her guard down when she was with him, so Luke could tell right off the bat when something was wrong with her.

And today was no exception. There were times when the blond would notice that Rose would sometimes drift off as if lost in some memory and when he would bring her back, she would shrug it off, not wanting to talk about it. There were also the times he would sometimes find her awake during the middle of the night on her laptop, as if searching for something.

He knew that look that had come over in the morning before he went out for their usual coffee run. Luke wondered what was bothering Rose so much that she sometimes lost track of where she was or what she was doing.

"Tristan Whitmoore..." Luke was brought back to the present as Annabeth continued talking, "also another missing person with the same MO as Maria and Bradley. Came out of work late one night, and vanished, as if he disappeared out of thin air. He had been in and out of the rehabilitation center before his disappearance two weeks ago at least three times for his drug addiction. After the third time, he was told that if broke his sobriety again he would be sent to the AACF so Tristan was working extra hard on keeping his sobriety. This had been the longest he had gone being sober from his addiction to heroin..."

"The other case is pretty much the same, as if our missing person which is Jesse Sonders, vanished, never to be heard from again," Piper said, holding out a photo of the missing person three weeks back.

"Jesse was said to frequent the underworld of Attica because of the alcohol before getting help at the center," Annabeth informed Luke and Rose, "he was doing pretty good for about two months before his disappearance. Again, no trace on him, Tristan, Maria and Bradley. We've got no leads, no eye witnesses and nothing from their computers...we don't know where to start," the blonde let out a frustrated sound.

"Not so fast," Rose said, getting up from her seat, flashing the three of them a smile, "Calypso said she's just uncovered a chat room in Jesse's computer, let's go."

Minerva's Office; in Gaea's Personal Facility

Minerva looked over the details on Adam's files once more.

Despite the fact that she did not have one maternal bone in her body, she couldn't help but sigh in a resigned way as she looked at Adam's picture -a new one he had taken the week after coming back from training to have it updated in the system- she still felt a sort of attachment to her old ward.

When Minerva had taken in both Rose and Adam as they came from Mexico, they were young but not too young. Adam had been fifteen while Rose was thirteen and-stop-she closed her eyes momentarily to focus her thoughts, before opening up her beautiful gray eyes and looking back at the screen. She hadn't expected to grow attached to either child but she had. They weren't like other children.

They were brilliant and they were her wards.

Rose and Adam were both brilliant academically and athletically, Adam would sometimes lack in the academic department but that was only when he didn't apply himself. Rose had been a star athlete and while Adam was also a star, he was also quite the computer whiz, having shown a knack for them when he entered into the academy of technology at his high school. Starting with learning code.

People back then were always coming up to Minerva to congratulate her on her children, because they were top students and top athletes, bringing home victories on and off field. Minerva had always been so proud of them and then...

Adam

He had changed. Something had changed Adam after he left for college and he grew distant with both Rose and Minerva. The gray eyed woman had no idea what to do, she wanted to have Adam back home with her and Rose but he refused and then...he had cut all ties with the two of them and that had hurt Minerva deeply. Despite the fact that she had not given birth to them and had not raised them entirely, she had poured everything she could give into them while they were with her. And Adam had left her with a bitter taste in her mouth and yet..she couldn't bring herself to hate him because she didn't.

Adam and Rose were the children she never had and had never wanted and yet, there they were. Her children. Adam had set shop with Leo Valdez and when Minerva heard he had been caught selling fake documents on the black market with Leo...she had been furious but also so disappointed and scared for him. He of course made it through as a hound, she never doubted him for a second but it still hurt to know he had been reduced to that. His brilliance reduced to nothing.

She didn't know when it had happened, when she had given her heart to her wards but she knew they held a sort of power over her and if they wanted to, they could easily break her heart.

He was so close to her and yet, still so far away. She was not a woman of religion nor beliefs, the only belief was in science and yet, she still asked for a miracle that one day she would have her Adam back.

Calypso's Office; AECPC

"As you can see, Jesse had some online friends and he would frequent this group chat..." Calypso said, sticking out her tongue as she typed away at her computer to bring up the chat on the main screen, "it was called Chat Server 134."

"What'd you find?" Rose said, looking over at the cinnamon haired girl.

"I had to go back to the last time Jesse had entered which was three weeks worth of chats. As you can see, you have familiar names always logging on, and they would talk about anything and everything. It didn't matter what but it was mostly mundane, I logged in using Jesse's username and so far it seems like no one has noticed he's back since the three week absence. I didn't skim through it though because I thought I could find something that was useful and I did."

"What did you find?" Piper asked.

"This chat is at least a week old and so far, it starts off kind of normal until someone by the name of Yeti starts talking about this girl who is supposedly killing people, eating them and posting up videos online..."

All four Enforcers turned to look at Calypso, "what?" Annabeth asked quietly, seemingly having heard wrong.

"Yep, apparently, there's a girl out there killing people, eating them and then posting up the videos online on like a dark web that's completely undetectable by Anna whatsoever, and there was a link to her video which is now expired. So I can conclude that this girl only invites people in to see the show and then once it's over, the link becomes useless as she erases everything and makes another link for the same thing. You can only see her videos through the invite that some person provides and only when there is a-" Calypso struggled with the word, "-show coming out."

"So let me get this straight, a girl posts up videos of herself committing these...horrible acts of violence, puts them up and invites people from a chat server to take a look and once the video is done, the old link is useless as she moves onto another link?" Luke asked, he already had an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Correct," Calypso said, "at least I like to think that's the most obvious and correct theory but so far, I haven't been able to pinpoint where the signal is coming from and with the different usernames the woman uses to promote her...videos...each time I go to the profile of the username she picked out, it looks as if its been deleted...I have no way of tracking her."

"How long has she been doing that?" Rose asked, "because she could be connected to the four people that have been missing for the past three weeks. She could...even be connected to past missing persons cases..." The Latina had mostly whispered that last part to herself but Luke had caught what she had said.

"Not too sure but let me pull up some more of the chat servers out there..." Calypso said as she continued to type away. "It looks as if the same message as before appears, there's always someone asking if they've seen this crazy video of this girl who kills and eats people and then someone else comes in to provide the link almost as if...working together."

"What's the latest alias the link provider used this week?" Annabeth asked.

"Uh, it was someone by the name of SCH1YO5P," Calypso said.

"What?" Rose asked, before looking over the main screen at the name.

"Hey wait a minute," Annabeth began, looking the name over, "if you separate the numbers and letters and rearrange them, you get...psycho15 as one username..."

"I think we might need to get into one of these chats..." Piper said, looking over the screen, "see if we can get an invite to the show."

"Let's get our laptops and make some accounts, we're gonna try to be in every chat possible so that we could get an invite," Annabeth said as she grabbed her laptop out of her bag, Piper doing the same. Of course Annabeth would come prepared, the blonde was known for always being prepared for anything and Piper followed by example.

"Me and Luke have to get our laptops from our office," Rose said, wincing, "be right back but get started without us," she said quickly, "come on Luke." With that, the Latina girl and the blond quickly left Calypso's office and took the elevator down to their office.

Nico and Percy's apartment

Percy looked over at the brown eyed male who was currently pacing back and forth in his room. It had been at least two days since Percy had been shot, and although his arm was healing up nicely, the AECPC took injuries that their Enforcers and Hounds suffered on the job seriously, which was a really good thing, in Percy's opinion since he was resting. So this week, Percy and Nico got to relax, like a paid vacation, it was forced down on them, but a bit of a vacation all the same. That of course didn't mean anything to Nico as the brown eyed male kept questioning and pestering Percy with more questions than ever before.

It was in fact the most that Nico had ever talked to Percy and that was mostly due to the fact that Percy had pointed out something that the raven haired male had missed. Who the hell was causing all of this chaos in their city?

"Is there anything else connecting this person with...well anyone who's normal?" Nico asked, once again, pacing Percy's room, Percy was told to rest as much as possible that week.

"I don't think this person is looking for someone normal in my opinion," Percy said as he continued to watch Nico pace. It was kind of amusing. Not to mention, Nico was beginning to call Percy hound or dog less and less as the two spent more time together coped up in the apartment.

Maybe Nico was warming up to Percy, slightly.

"Thanks hound, that makes a big difference in helping me know who's behind all this mess," Nico quipped sarcastically.

Okay, maybe Nico wasn't really warming up to Percy that much after all.

"I'm making myself some coffee, we've been up since seven in the morning and we went to sleep late last night after looking over our old reports, want some?" Percy asked as he got up from bed; ignoring what Nico had just called him, albeit a bit more slowly than usual, the bullet was gone from his arm but the pain still remained. Just one more day, Percy reminded himself, the doctor had told Percy that after taking his pills consistently, on the third day, his arm pain should stop.

"I'll go hound, don't-" Nico paused as he looked over at Percy, "don't strain yourself, you need to rest." Percy looked over at Nico with wide eyes, shocked Nico was telling Percy to rest and he had sounded a bit concerned.

With that Nico turned around and left Percy's room, walking to the kitchen and popping open his coffee maker before inserting one of those flavored instant coffee bags into the slot. Within minutes, Nico had two hazelnut flavored coffee mugs in each of his hands as he made his way back to Percy's room, where he handed the sea green eyed male his coffee cup. He ended up sitting near Percy's bed, sitting in the chair he had occupied last night.

"Thanks nurse Nico," Percy teased the brown eyed male, with a wink in his direction, making the brown eyed male tense up briefly.

Yeah Nico treated Percy like crap but it was fun making the other male squirm in his seat, which Percy found was easy to do. Nico threw Percy a dirty look, as he sipped on his coffee.

"Call me that again, and you'll be out of commission for another week, dog," Nico threatened, smirking as he saw Percy's face fall once he heard the old, familiar name Nico used -and still did!- to call Percy.

"Come here," Percy whispered, gesturing with his finger for Nico to come closer.

"What?" Nico asked as he obliged his partner, "is your arm hurting you?" He asked, coming to a stop right in front of Percy's face.

Percy pulled Nico closer by the front of his shirt and whispered, while staring intently into Nico's eyes, "never forget, you called me by my name," Percy smirked at Nico, "and even though you did it by accident...next time, I'll make sure you say it because of me."

Nico found it was difficult to swallow right then and there. And was it just him or was it getting hot in the room. Percy's eyes looked just a little too bright for Nico's comfort and he quickly realized that their faces were just mere inches from each other.

"Okay you know what," Nico began, clearing his throat as he slowly backed away from Percy. He was not turned on, not at all, he hated Percy, Nico reminded himself. "How about we take a walk, maybe we get our minds off of it, we come back with a fresh pair of eyes and maybe we find something we missed the first time?" Nico suggested as he set his coffee mug down on Percy's night stand.

Percy looked up at Nico in mock confusion, he knew exactly what he did to Nico just a few moments ago and now, here Nico was trying to play it off cool. "Sure," Percy answered, smirking when he noticed Nico wouldn't look Percy in the eye, "whatever you want to do, partner."

Okay so sue him if Percy wanted to mess with Nico a bit more but the dick had it coming. Oh yeah, Percy was definitely going to have some fun with Nico.

Calypso's Office; AECPC

"Anyone found anything?" Annabeth asked again for the third time since the five of them -Calypso included- started their search for the elusive invite to see what was going on.

"Nope," came the chorus reply as they continued to search.

"Wait..." Calypso said as she took a look at one of her computers, "I think I may have got something..."

"What?" Rose asked as she moved to get a closer look to what Calypso was doing, "what'd you find?"

"One of the many accounts I made just got into contact with an old chat server," Calypso informed Rose as she abandoned her other computers so that she could focus on the chat at hand, "same chat as the one Jesse used three weeks ago..."

"What's going on so far?" Asked Annabeth as she came to stand behind the brunette and cinnamon haired girl.

"Not much,everyone is just entering the chat. Yeti isn't there but DBDA149, luzm78 and ArkM56 are all there, they used to chat with Jesse a lot from the looks of some of the older chats he had saved on his laptop."

"Do you think we can get them to start talking about the cannibalistic girl?" Rose asked, reading what the group was talking about, "so far they seem pretty normal, talking about normal things, maybe you can track their IP addresses and see if we can put a username to a face."

"I can see if I can steer the conversation that way, as for tracking their IPs, already doing that, since the moment I realized that they were logging in," Calypso muttered, typing away.

"Great," Annabeth sighed, "let's see if we can get an invite to the horror show."

"I'll let you know as soon as they start talking about it, so far though, I've only introduced myself," Calypso said, "told them it's my first time using these chats and wondering what people do on here..."

"Okay, we've been at this for hours," Rose said, cracking her neck and back, "I think Luke and I should get us something to eat so," Rose looked over at Luke, who was standing up, "how does burgers sound?"

"Sounds good to me," Annabeth said before looking over at Piper, "but Piper-"

"I'm a vegetarian," Piper finished, "so if they have veggie burgers than yeah, totally, with fries and maybe a strawberry milkshake?" She asked hesitantly.

"Sure," Rose smiled over at her.

"I'll message you what we want," Annabeth said, "that way you don't get it wrong."

"Um, hello? It's me," Rose feigned being hurt, "when have I ever gotten an order wrong?"

"Happened with Will, not taking any chances," the blonde said as she typed away at her wristband.

"Okay that was one time!"

"All done," Annabeth said as a ping was heard from Rose's wristband, "now you're set, but come back soon we don't know how long it'll be before link the appears."

"And when it does," Calypso said as she typed something on her own wristband, "I'll be tracking their IP on one computer while on the other I'll be going on the site so..." she trailed off as Rose's wristband pinged once more, "and that's my order," she smiled, "thanks Rose, thanks Luke!"

"See you guys in a bit," the Latina girl said, rolling her eyes.

As Luke and Rose waited for their food to be ready, Rose was typing away at her wristband, talking with Annabeth to see if anything new popped up. Luke looked over at his partner and watched as she continued to text with the other blonde. He didn't know how it happened, but Rose had very quickly become a close friend and Luke considered her as such. Sure he had a very minor (yeah right) crush on her but she was still his friend. And as her friend, Luke wondered what went through her mind sometimes. Especially when it came to the subject of her brother. Luke felt like there was something that was just...off about Rose. And not just her, Adam too.

"Order for Rose?" Called one of the employee's from the burger joint they had ordered from. Luke walked over to pick up the food, grabbing napkins and condiments as he walked back to Rose.

"Let's go," Rose said, helping Luke carry the other bag of food, "Annabeth said that another person has joined the chat and finally they're talking about the-" she paused, looking around, "-girl..."

"Right," Luke said as he got into the driver's side.

Back in Calypso's office, as Luke and Rose handed each girl their order, Calypso gestured back to the screen where she was currently still talking to DBDA149, ArkM56 and luzm78. "So far they've said that Yeti hasn't made a reappearance since last week..." Calypso said as she took another bite out of her burger.

"Right now, Piper is checking the Missing Person's database to see if someone has reported anyone missing since Bradley's disappearance, but no luck," Annabeth said, dipping two fries into ketchup.

"Someone new did come in though," Calypso said, taking over, "going by a different name than the ones used last week, this time the person is called KillerInstinct and they're pretty weird..."

"What's weird about them?" Luke asked.

"Well for one thing, I can't track their IP at all," Calypso said, finishing off her food quickly so that she could use both hands to type, "and for another, they're starting to creep the other three people out, that includes us," she said, shuddering slightly, "that person seriously goes into detail on how they know that cannibalistic girl is the real deal and if she is...she's still out there with no way of tracking her."

"Which means we have to continue talking with KillerInstinct until they give up the link to her little weekly...videos.." Annabeth grimaced.

"It shouldn't take long," Calypso muttered, "he's already talking about her, I'm pretty sure he's about to drop the link..."

Rose and Luke watched from the main screen what was happening as they ate.

KillerInstinct: Okay this here is the link for tonight's viewing! But remember it starts at 12 am...no going in before or she'll know what's up!

Rose shuddered as she read that, she felt as if the message that person wrote was directed at them, as they continued talking. She felt as if that person somehow knew what they were up to. Rose was going to suggest that as soon as they got the link, they should check it out to see if it's legit but then with that person's warning still hanging in the air, Rose was wary to even try now.

With that, KillerInstinct left the chat, leaving the rest confused. Slowly the other three usual guests left, two of them saying that they weren't going to go, the other contemplating, which had one of them pointing out that that's what happened last time too.

"Okay so we have a link," Calypso said, saving it on a file, "now what? We couldn't track the link provider's IP and we can't go to the website before twelve or the girl is gonna know we're onto her..."

"I guess now, we wait and see if we can track where her video is being broadcast from," Annabeth suggested before letting out a defeated sigh, "this is turning out to be so much more complicated than I thought it was going to be."

"I think in the mean time, we should go home and rest maybe?" Rose suggested, "all we've been doing for the past three weeks was hit dead end after dead end in these missing person cases, let's go home and recharge, we might get lucky tonight."

"I think you're right," Annabeth said, heaving a sigh, "set an alarm for before twelve...that way we have enough time to set things up for tonight. What's our plan?"

"How about...we call reinforcements?" Piper suggested, standing next to Annabeth and looking at the blonde, "we can have a couple of Enforcers on standby in case we're able to track where the videos are coming from."

"Good idea Piper," the blonde smiled over at the girl, "okay so let's give a heads up to some of our colleagues and let them know what's up. In the meantime, let's get ourselves freshened up."

"Already ahead of you," Rose said, making her way out of Calypso's office, "see you girls tonight," she said, waving goodbye to them as Luke followed after her.

Percy and Nico's Apartment

Nico opened up the door to his shared apartment with Percy and let the raven haired male walk in ahead of him before closing the door and locking it.

Welcome home Nico and Percy.

Anna's voice sounded out throughout the apartment, with Percy scowling once hearing it, he always did hate it whenever Anna greeted them. Something Nico noticed when Percy had first moved in and he wasn't sure why.

"Anna, shut off," Nico commanded.

Yes Nico, goodbye.

Both males stood quietly as Anna's voice shut off, with Percy taking a seat on the couch in the living room.

"So..." Percy began, "ready to go back to reading our old reports?"

"I think I need more time before I go back, the walk helped me unwind especially since I was feeling stuffy being coped up here," Nico said, sighing, "but I got worked up during our walk...so I need to work out." He finished, and he didn't know why but the way Percy looked at him, his sea green eyes looking over his body, Nico couldn't help the heat that suddenly coiled within.

It was that stupid shit he said to me...about how I said his name and the next time it'd happen it'd be because of him.

Nico looked away, he really needed to get Will alone for the night tonight.

"I didn't know you worked out," Percy said, "your body looks really lanky and lean."

"Have you been watching me?" Nico asked, looking over at Percy.

Percy smirked at him, "yeah, I've watched you a couple of times. Still, I think it'd be nice if we worked out together, that way maybe we can help each other."

"I don't think you'd be able to keep up with me," Nico grunted, walking over to his hidden dojo room.

"Is that a challenge?" Percy smirked over at the brown eyed male.

"If that's what you got from it..."

Nico then opened up his private room that had been kept off limits and hidden away from Percy since he had arrived, but having the raven haired male here for a month already, Nico decided he could be trusted to see the room. It was still going to be off limits to Percy though.

"Whoa," Percy said, getting up from the couch, "what's that?" He asked as he moved closer once Nico stepped onto black mat on the floor of the room. It covered every inch of it.

On the walls were various swords, Percy thought those weren't allowed in, which made him think Nico broke the rules by sneaking them in his apartment. While the floor of the room was covered in a soft, black mat, the walls were beige. On one side of the room, one of the walls was all mirror. Despite the swords on display there was only one dummy in one corner of the room. Other than that and the swords, the room was bare.

"It's my private room which is off limits to you and where I work out," Nico walked further into the room, shedding off his shirt, leaving him in only a black tank top.

"What..." Percy stuttered, still mesmerized by the swords on one side of the wall, "what are those?"

"Swords?" Nico said, sarcastically.

"I know that," Percy gritted out through clenched teeth, "I know what swords are I just meant...what types."

"Oh," Nico said, genuinely mistaken, "well I have several types but there's the Claymore right there," he said, walking closer to one of the swords he pointed out. "That one is a Longsword and that one is a Xiphos," Nico continued, pointing out each one, "I like the Claymore best and there's a Katana, another one I like but I don't have anyone else to spar with other than Rose."

"Wait, Rose knows how to fight...to fight with a sword?" Percy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it surprised me too and we sparred once but that was before you guys came back from training at the compound," Nico said, "and we've been so busy with cases this past month I haven't had the chance to practice more. She told me she used to fence, I used to too."

Percy looked over the swords on display again, some looked really old, like if you touched them they'd crumble to dust but there were some that were in mint condition, looking as new as the day they had been made. Resistant.

"Wow," Percy whispered, "can I come in?" He asked, looking over at Nico.

The brown eyed male looked at Percy then and hesitated a second before nodding his head. Percy smiled at him, in an excited kind of way as he took off his shoes and stepped onto the black mat. It was just as Percy had suspected. It was soft enough to help soften the blows most likely from sparring, but also firm enough to not sink down when it was stepped on. Making it really useful when working out and doing crunches or push ups.

Percy walked over to where Nico stood, in front of the swords hung on the wall. His hands itched to grab one and take a swing to see how heavy it was. But Percy realized Nico would probably not appreciate that, and the guy was just beginning to act decent around Percy. He didn't want to ruin that.

"Those swords look really good," Percy said instead, forgoing asking if he could pick one up. He knew Nico would never trust him with that. "Like, they look like they're in mint condition. Did you get it back to how it once was?"

"Yeah," Nico answered, "it took some work but it paid off."

"Yeah, they look really good," Percy agreed, "you must really take care of your swords."

Nico looked at Percy then, pinning him with an intense gaze, Percy couldn't look away, couldn't breathe properly. He was struck by how beautiful Nico looked once more, like that day on the train which seemed so long ago.

"I take very good care of everything that's mine," Nico whispered before walking off and out of the dojo.

Percy's heart was pounding in his chest.

What the fuck was that? He thought to himself, swallowing thickly as he heard Nico walk towards his room.

No.

Percy shook his head. No he was not going to fall for Nico once more. That dude was a major dick. Okay sure, part of Percy thought that Nico had sounded so fucking hot when he said he took care of everything that was his and sure...maybe some of that could have been directed to him. Call Percy crazy but it seemed like there was maybe a hidden meaning in what Nico had said. And another thing, Percy was most likely horny which explained why he thought Nico sounded hot.

No.

Percy turned around and walked out of the dojo, putting on his shoes before making his way across the living room. There was no way Percy was going to continue thinking about what Nico had just said. Maybe he was messing with Percy, especially after the stunt he pulled on Nico in the afternoon. Yeah, Percy reassured himself, that was it.

"Percy," Nico whispered, sneaking up behind Percy as the sea green eyed male made his way to his room, and scaring the shit out of Percy. No, Percy had most definitely not been about to yell when Nico did that, "stop moving, take out your TG," Nico continued and it was then that Percy noticed how tense Nico sounded.

Taking out his TG Percy looked back at Nico as he held one finger to his lips. Percy subconsciously licked his own, "I think there's someone in our apartment," Nico whispered, making Percy's blood run cold.

"We're going to check your room right now, we're going to check every room in this apartment, now follow me," Nico said as he slowly and silently made his way to Percy's room, Percy right behind him keeping a lookout from behind them.

They were silent as they crept around their place looking for an intruder or any sign of forced entry. They had done it so many times now that they didn't even need to talk or communicate to let the other know what he was going to do next. They were that in tune with each other despite the fact that neither of them liked each other much. Once Nico was satisfied that there was no one in their apartment, he told Percy to stay in the living room, saying he had to show Percy something. Percy didn't have time to question why Nico thought someone had broken in as Nico left the living room quickly before returning back with a piece of paper clutched in his hands.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked as Nico came to sit across from him on the other couch, "why'd you think someone had broken in? Isn't Anna supposed to...I don't know...not allow that to happen?"

"I know and Anna prevents that at least ninety nine percent of the time but I found this on my pillow in my room," Nico said, handing Percy over a piece of white paper with some writing.

Finally connecting the dots I see...wonder what you would think of Attica and Gaea if you really knew the truth, little servant. I see you're getting help from your hound but how much can you trust him when you think he's guilty. Really, how much can you trust anyone? That includes the flawed system that is Anna.

Percy's read the note over and over, his heart thumping loudly inside his chest. This was like...

"That's not..." Nico started before stopping, making Percy quirk an eyebrow at him. It looked like Nico was fighting an internal battle inside himself. "How can I trust you?" He asked quietly, looking up at Percy, "how can I make sure to trust you?"

Percy was surprised to be honest, he hadn't expected that from Nico and he wasn't sure what to say to make the other male trust him.

"I-I don't know Nico, I think that depends on what you perceive as me being truthful and trusting. Am I going to need to show you that you can trust me? Or am I going to need to tell you something I haven't told you before?" Percy asked, "either way, there's no sure way of you knowing if you can trust me or not you're just..." Percy trailed off before smiling softly, "you're just going to need to trust me on your own."

"How can I trust you?" Nico asked again, growing impatient. He didn't like what Percy said, even if it was somewhat true and made sense.

"How can I trust you?" Percy asked, his eyebrows furrowing, "I mean...you treat me like shit almost all of the time, you don't call me by my name, opting to call me degrading names not just in private but in public too. You seem like you hate my absolute guts and I haven't done shit to you! And yet!" Percy stopped, collecting himself because he knew he was getting angry, "and yet...I still trust you with my life when we're out on cases because...you're my partner. And I'm stuck with you and you're stuck with me whether either of us likes it or not."

Nico eyes had widened the more Percy spoke before he scowled over at the male, looking away but feeling his cheeks grow hot because he knew Percy was right. Of course Percy was right. Nico knew he had been treating Percy like shit and that was mostly due to the fact that Nico's own family had been murdered by his father and he got away! But Percy is not your father... a voice whispered at the back of Nico's mind.

"You're right," Nico whispered, "I...I do treat you like shit and...and this isn't excusing it but..." Nico sighed, inhaling a deep breath before looking over at Percy, "my family was murdered by my dad."

Percy was stunned into silence, his anger vanishing once Nico said that.

"My dad murdered my mom and sister while I was at...school. I came home that day, wondering why there were a bunch of ambulances and Enforcers near my house and...my family was gone. My dad had escaped just like you..." Nico gritted out through clenched teeth, "I vowed I would find him and bring him to justice. That's why I'm an Enforcer. That's why I take all of my cases seriously, why I work tirelessly to make sure those criminals are put away for good. Why I..." Nico stopped, closing his eyes, "why I seem to hate you. Because you killed your family and you got away for some time and now here you are...free because of the test you took and I hate it." Nico's voice cracked and he didn't mean to sound so weak. He hated being weak.

"Nico," Percy whispered, he knew already that Nico's family had been killed from the little Annabeth had shared when they last worked together, but he didn't know it was at the hands of Nico's father.

"It was kept a secret, Gaea made sure of it. So no one knows it was my dad who killed my family," Nico let out a bitter laugh, "fucking bastard got away."

"N-Nico," Percy said gently, he knew what Nico had gone through because Percy had gone through it too.

"I hate you," Nico sneered, glaring at Percy, "because who kills their family?!" Nico yelled, anger flowing through him, "why'd you do it?!"

"I didn't!" Percy yelled back, anger overtaking him too. He'd be damned if he let Nico think Percy wasn't innocent.

"Don't lie! Your DNA was all over your parents and brother's bodies! All over the crime scene!"

"I'm not lying!" Percy yelled, moving closer to Nico, looking livid, "they were killed by someone else! I came home one day and they were dead! And then Anna told me that Enforcers were on the way-that I had killed them and was locking down our house and then-she short circuited it," Percy shouted, right in Nico's face, making the brown eyed male look at him as he told him about that day. Percy had told the other hounds but never though he would end up telling Nico.

"What?" Nico asked, confusion lacing his words.

"She short circuited and then I heard this voice telling me he had killed them and spread my DNA all over, framing me basically. Then he told me to run...he shut Anna down and told me I had ten minutes to pack and escape. And-"

"Wait," Nico interrupted, making Percy pause, "what do you mean Anna short circuited? What do you mean he shut Anna down?"

"I-I mean," Percy sputtered, "I don't know, I just know Anna shut down and I don't know how and then his voice came on."

Nico looked up at Percy and he saw those sea green eyes of his, so crystal clear, and there was such truth in his eyes. Nico couldn't deny the fact that Percy seemed to be telling the truth but there was just no way of knowing.

"Do you trust me?" Percy asked, "because I trust you, even when you've given me every reason not to."

Nico's breath hitched in his throat. Did he trust Percy? Percy had said more than once that he trusted Nico...so why was it so hard to trust him back? There was no way of knowing whether or not Percy was telling him the truth but at that point, Nico didn't care.

"I trust you," Nico whispered, looking up at Percy, "and..." he swallowed thickly. Nico knew they had to start anew if they were going to find out who this person was that was causing all this mess, but that didn't make what he was going to do next any easier. "And I'm...sorry," Nico finished, hanging his head in shame and hiding his eyes away from Percy. "I'm sorry Percy, I'm sorry for how wrong and badly I've treated you. I know none of this excuses what I've done and said and you have every right to not forgive me. I'll change, I promise."

Percy was stunned. He didn't know what he'd been expecting but it certainly wasn't that from Nico.

"I-I-" Percy didn't know where to begin. He was still angry with Nico but some part of him wanted to forgive and move on. "I think I need more time.." Percy said slowly, "if that's okay."

Nico shook his head, still refusing to look at Percy, "take all the time you need."

Percy exhaled harshly through his nose, he was still reeling from Nico's apology and the semi fight they had but they still had to focus on the matter at hand.

"Who wrote that note and left it on your bed? Who broke in here and why does it seem like they're always one step ahead of us?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Nico said, looking over at the note, "but it's not the first one I've gotten before."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"I got one almost two months ago I think...around the time you and the others left for training. I didn't know who could have broken in or why they left me that note. Nothing was taken from my apartment and..." Nico stopped short, "I don't know what to do anymore. I tried investigating on my own but Anna saw nothing and the cameras leading up to my floor and door caught nothing but they could have been tampered with."

"That's weird..."

"It's a gamble but while researching I did find someone who might have some idea as to who this person is," Nico whispered, "but he's a paranoid person and mostly lives in the underworld of Attica...very elusive too."

"How'd you come across him?" Percy asked, his interest piqued.

"It was while I was doing some research about the fires that happened around last month, for a co-worker on the IUSP, I was just helping him out," Nico revealed, walking off to the kitchen with Percy following. "I just read the paranoid guy's file and his interview but never actually came across him, my co-worker though, he did. He can probably give us a tip on how to find him."

"So, wanna go pay the elusive guy a visit? See if we can find him?" Percy asked.

"Let's do it, but tomorrow, tonight we're gonna try to piece a couple of things together," Nico said, looking over to Percy briefly before looking away, "let's work in your room again, that way in case you fall asleep you're already in your bed."

Calypso's Office; AECPC

Rose was nervous, it was nearing midnight and Calypso had every single monitor set up so that a signal could be traced as soon as the video began to broadcast. Her stomach felt like it had been left behind at her apartment, as the food she had eaten during the day felt like it was slowly climbing back up the way it came down. She wasn't the only one that was nervous.

Luke, Piper, Annabeth, even Calypso were all nervous. Annabeth kept rechecking her gear; everyone was suited up so that in a moments notice, they could leave the AECPC quick, Piper was twirling a part of her hair around her finger and Luke kept playing with a stress ball, while Calypso made sure everything was working fine on the computers.

"Okay guys, it's almost show time," Calypso said, cracking her fingers before typing away at her computer, double checking once more that the computers were up and running.

Annabeth scrunched up her face as she heard Calypso, "please don't talk like that...it makes this all seem like we're-"

"But we are watching a show," Luke interrupted, "Calypso is technically right."

"It's sick," Annabeth continued, "it doesn't feel right."

"It's not supposed to feel right, and I never said it wasn't sick," Luke said, moving to stand near Rose.

"Alright guys, one more minute and we can finally see who this girl is," Piper said, changing the subject.

"Who knows if she's wearing a mask, she probably is," Rose muttered.

"Doesn't matter, I'll do everything I can to track her," Calypso said as she typed away at her computer. As soon as it turned twelve, Calypso copied the link she had saved from earlier and hit enter.

Once she entered in the link, the big screen in the center turned black, with neon green letters soon appearing on the screen, as if someone were typing them solely for Calypso.

Welcome

Enter Code

"Were we given a code?" Annabeth asked Calypso as the cinnamon haired girl typed in a small box that appeared right under where it said to enter the code.

"I had to decrypt it," she answered, "after you guys left, I got a message in the same chat I had been in, but it was private, away from the usual group, the same guy told me that there was a code that needed to be entered but I had to decrypt it first from the link that was given. It wasn't too hard, easy enough for regular people to do. It was like a game."

Soon enough, on the large screen appeared a live feed of a room. It was bare, except for maybe a a wooden table in the center, with the camera capturing a perfect view of it. The room was a simple beige color, with bright, white light bulbs illuminating the room. There were no windows from the little that they could see, there seemed to be something hanging above the table but it was cut off from the camera.

"And we're in," Calypso mumbled, "time to track where this is coming from."

The screen went dark for a moment. And soon lettering was being typed on-screen.

"Almost showtime?" Annabeth read the words aloud, "getting the star ready?"

"Who do you think it is?" Piper asked, "do you think it's-" she stopped short, her eyes staring right at the screen in front of her, wide with terror, "is that...?"

"Bradley Huntington," Rose finished, moving closer to the computer, "Calypso," the Latina said, her voice tight, her eyes never leaving the screen, "track that location now."

"On it," Calypso replied, furiously typing away as she continued to try zeroing in on where the video was being shot.

Right in front of them, they could see Bradley being strapped onto the wooden table in the center of the room. It was being done by a couple of men who were wearing black masks over their faces and black robes over their bodies. To mask both their faces and bodies.

"Wha-what a-are you guys doing?" Bradley spoke, his words slurring a bit as he came to, having been brought in unconscious. "What are you doing to me?"

"Alright!" Another voice broke through Bradley's pleas to stop, to help him, to do anything. A woman, with a mask over her face and blonde hair walked towards Bradley, the mask she was wearing was of a menacing clown face. "Showtime people!"

Rose, Annabeth, Luke, Piper and Calypso all looked in horror as the blonde woman started off slowly. Nicking Bradley on his arms or legs, and when his cries were too much or as the blonde put it, "annoying" he was gagged. Calypso was still trying to locate where the video was being broadcast from, looking from screen to screen all the while the torture Bradley was being put through got worse.

"Calypso," Rose growled, growing furious the more time was being wasted trying to find her.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Calypso grit out.

Soon enough, Bradley was being flayed alive. Down his left arm, the blonde torturer started to slowly peel his skin off, his screams intensifying around his gag. Bradley's eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head as she continued to strip piece after piece of his skin off.

"Now, I don't mind eating it raw, but I do prefer to cook it and add seasoning, let's have a taste, shall we?"

"Oh god," Piper gasped, her hand covering her mouth, "she's not really going to-" her words died as the blonde on screen started to put the pieces of flesh in her mouth.

"Very chewy," she said, her mouth full as blood started to trickle down her face.

"This monster is loose around the city?" Luke sneered, "what the actual fuck?"

"Almost..." Calypso mumbled, "almost..."

"Time to dig into the muscle that's out in the open."

"I-I-I can't-can't watch this," Annabeth shivered, looking away, "we can't Rose, our hues-"

"Who the fuck cares about our hues? We need to stop this monster!" Rose snarled.

Annabeth turned to look at Rose, "we are Enforcers, but that doesn't mean we aren't exempt from the rules of society! Our hues get messed up, you're looking at a life as being a hound! This is why we have hounds, to do the things that could mess up our stats, now stop looking at that!"

Rose closed her eyes, her fists clenching as she exhaled harshly.

"Rose," Luke whispered softly, "she's right, stop looking at that."

"Found her!" Calypso yelled, startling everyone, "sending her address to the various Enforcers on standby, and already forwarded to your wristbands."

"Let's end this monster," Rose spit out.

With that, the four of them ran out of the room and into the awaiting elevator, heading straight for their garage. Once in their cars, Annabeth and Luke ripped out of the garage and raced to the location of where the video was coming from. On their trail, a load of Enforcers in cars similar to the Annabeth and Rose, and some being trucks carrying weapons as backups in case their TGs weren't effective, as well as drones.

"It's a hour and a half drive," Luke said over the roar of the engine, "Calypso is keeping watch on the broadcast in case she realizes we're onto her and tries to flee."

"Are any other exits blocked?" Rose asked.

"Yes, all forms of escape are blocked off by the drones, the people living near the area are being asked to stay inside, even the ones at the local restaurants and shops, the people outside are being ushered in by drones into nearby buildings. No one is allowed in or out without a drones consent until the threat is over."

"Good, we're gonna end this."

They reached the house in where it all was taking place and Rose felt as if no time had passed since they had left the AECPC but she knew better. Calypso had kept sending updates to them on what was happening with as little details as possible. So far, Bradley's mind couldn't handle it too well and he had blacked out, the blonde monster was still torturing him, but had recently left him alone to cook her meal and eat it in front of the camera. Enforcers and Hounds surrounded the house that was located on the outskirts of town, near the woods.

It was a cottage, the tiles on the roof a fading brown and the red bricks were cracked in some parts. The windows seemed to be closed off, with a black curtain blocking anyone from snooping in. There were gnarled trees surrounding the cottage, bare of leaves, and when their branches brushed against one another, creating a sound as if someone were stepping on them. Worrying some of the Enforcers and making them more attentive.

They were silent as they continued to surround the place, blocking off all windows and exits. Annabeth meanwhile, was picking the lock on the front door so that the element of surprise were on their side. A small click was heard and soon enough, the door swung open slowly. Annabeth and Piper walking in with Luke and Rose behind them. They were silent as they crept inside, careful not to alert anyone of their presence.

Not even needing to communicate, Annabeth and Piper went upstairs while Luke and Rose checked the first floor they walked into, trying to see if they could find the blonde before she got away.

As Rose and Luke continued to walk through the semi dark house, Rose felt a slight shiver go down her spine. Something felt off, before she could tell Luke anything, the blond was tackled across the floor, their attackers soon moving onto them. One grabbed Rose by the arm and slammed her against the wall, she felt dizzy for a moment as her head was slammed roughly. She didn't have time to catch her breath, and what little she had was forced out of her as a punch landed on her gut. She felt a pair of hands wrapping around her neck, choking her.

Her mind went into damage assess mode. She was pinned against the wall, sucker punched to the gut and was now being choked. Her adrenaline was kicking in and her mind went ten steps ahead as her right arm pushed down against her attacker's forearems hard, making his hands go down with them as she swung her elbow right at his face, twice. The first time shocking him while the second time rendering him dizzy, his grip loosened after the attack and Rose used that opportunity to reach over with her left hand and broke his thumb, making him yell in pain.

Some part of her realized that Luke was still struggling with two more attackers and although he was holding off on his own, they were slowly wearing him down and they were landing more blows faster than he could defend. With her attacker in pain and his mind spinning, Rose lifted her knee up roughly and kneed him right in his manhood, making him fall into a fetal position before grabbing her TG and shocking him. Luke's weapon had been thrown off to the side, having been ripped out of his hands and Rose pointed her TG at the other two, shocking them as well, knocking them out.

The pair stopped to catch their breaths, with Rose handing Luke his TG. A small ping was soon heard from their wristbands, making Rose look down as she saw she got a message from Calypso.

She knows you're there! Hurry, she's shutting it down and making her escape!

"Come on," Rose said, walking throughout the rest of the house and not encountering more goons. Upstairs, the remainder of another fight could be heard before a small blast sounded out. There were footsteps all over upstairs before they came bounding downstairs, Luke and Rose holding their TGs at the ready in case it wasn't Annabeth and Piper.

"No sign of her," Annabeth panted as she came to a stop in front of the pair.

"There's a basement here," Piper said, opening a door that was off to the side that had a set of stairs leading down.

"You got Calypso's message?" Luke asked them.

"Yes, and we have no more time to waste," Annabeth said, "come on. Piper and I will take the front, you guys watch the back, let's go."

With that, they each made their way down the stairs, where the lights had gone out and they had to use the flashlights on their TGs to be able to see. They were silent as they crept through what looked like a tunnel in the basement before coming upon a room. Rose looked for a light switch, finding one and turning it on to help them see better.

"Oh god, Bradley!" Piper exclaimed, running towards the table that was on the video before they had seen back at the AECPC. She checked his pules before turning to the others, "he's still breathing, get some medics in here!" Piper yelled into her wristband as she called for medics, "we're in the basement."

"Piper, stay with him," Rose began, "Luke, Annabeth, there's a tunnel leading outside that's not being covered."

"Already letting the other Enforcers and Hounds know about it, telling them to look for an exit that may seem hidden," Annabeth said as she typed away at her wristband, "but I can't leave my partner, you two go, we'll wait here until the medics and Enforcers arrive, hopefully you catch up with her."

"We should catch you guys up soon enough," Piper said.

"Okay, let's go Rose," Luke said, rushing down the tunnel on the other side of the room with Rose following right after him.

"Be safe!" She yelled back at the two girls.

"You too!" Annabeth yelled back.

The pair soon reached an exit at the end of the tunnel and exited out into the woods. They looked all around them as they tried to see which direction the blonde monster could have gone in.

"Fuck," Rose cursed, "she could have already escaped!"

"Come on, I see footsteps!" Luke yelled as he followed the trail leading down a path in the woods.

The pair raced down the woods, silent as they could be, being careful not to step on any branches so as not to alert their perpetrator of their presence. Following the footsteps she left behind, they continued on until suddenly the stopped.

"What?" Luke whispered, "that-that can't be..."

"How do her footsteps just vanish!" Rose shouted, growing frustrated.

"I don't understand, there's no way she could have just disappeared into thin air!"

Behind them, they heard a small rustle of leaves and they pointed their TGs in the direction of the noise before coming face to face with Annabeth and Piper, and some backup.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked, "we heard yelling."

"She's gone," Rose grit out, "she disappeared!"

"What do you mean she disappeared?" The blonde asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Her footsteps stop right here and then we have nothing," Luke replied.

"Comb the woods," Rose instructed the other Enforcers, "search every inch of these woods and call for more backup I want her found!"

"Calling Calypso right now to see if she can track her," Piper said, typing at her wristband.

Rose and Luke's Apartment

Rose trudged into the elevator in her apartment complex, Luke quiet by her side.

They had combed through the woods using drones, both on ground and in the air and Enforcers and no one found anything except a discarded clown mask. To say that it had left a bitter taste in Rose's mouth was an understatement. Minerva was briefed on the failure of the case, as well as their superior at the AECPC, they expected a report by noon tomorrow from them explaining what had happened.

Citizens were being told to be on alert in case any of their neighbors went missing but no further details were given out so as not to disturb the peace and make them panic. Once they reached their apartment, Rose walked into her room, not even saying good night as she usually did to Luke and shut off her lights.

In the emptiness of her room, Rose turned on her laptop and logged in, putting a flash drive in and opening up a file. On screen was a picture of girl that looked just like her, even down to the small beauty mark on the left side near her eye. Under her picture, a name could be read. Marisol Fernandez.

"Hey," Rose felt someone tap her shoulder and looked to the side to see a man with vivid sea green eyes. It was the first time she had come across Percy in person, and despite the fact that she hated him for what he had done, she couldn't help but get the feeling he was innocent.

"Yes?" Rose responded, being professional in the face of the man who was responsible for the disappearance of her sister. Her twin, her soul. They were born together and so they were always so close to each other. A bond only twins could share with each other. It was easy to see why Adam would feel left out sometimes.

"I-is there a girl...an Enforcer named...Marisol?" He asked.

The question had thrown her for a loop and she felt her face give away her answer before she managed to compose herself. She knew what was expected of her to say, it was what every Enforcer that was in their year at the AECPC were expected to say on the disappearance of Marisol.

"No." She said, and she felt her heart break as she lied, "there was never an Enforcer named Marisol."

"A-are you sure? I mean...it's just..."

"Percy," Rose steeled herself, she hadn't said these words in so long but the sting felt the same as before, "Marisol isn't in the system. She doesn't exist." And she wants to scream. Because her sister is missing and they were supposed to be together now but they weren't and if only Marisol hadn't let Percy escape!

If only Rose had stopped Marisol from leaving Attica that night when she came to visit Rose, one last goodbye.

"Porque te tienes que ir?" Rose whispered, tears were streaming down her face as she looked at her sister.

Marisol had always been the more reserved one of the two. Rose was always more boisterous, more impulsive, more athletic and more social and playful. But she was always envious of how Marisol could be a person who was reliable and was seen as the more mature one of the two despite Rose being born first. Marisol had always been her voice of reason, reeling Rose in when she was making impulsive decisions but she was also very kind hearted. Rose should have known being an Enforcer wouldn't have worked well with Marisol's soft heart.

But Marisol had ranked number one in all aptitude tests concerning her role as an Enforcer and even though Rose was ranked number two in most cases whenever they were being tested, she was always very proud of Marisol and her accomplishments. Minerva had taken in the three Fernandez siblings after they had made their way from Mexico after their parent's death. Their aunt had felt they would have a better chance in Attica, who were still accepting people to come live in either of the communities.

Despite the fact that Minerva was a cold woman, Rose had warmed up to her, her siblings following after her and for a time they were happy.

"Rosalina, porfavor," Marisol whispered back, wiping away Rose's tears, "ya sabes que no me puedo quedar."

"Porque lo dejaste que se escapara? Si no hubieras hecho eso-"

"Rosa," Marisol interrupted, her soft voice making Rose stop short, "el era inocente, lo vi en sus ojos..."

"But-" Rose cried.

"I'm leaving Attica tonight," Marisol stated with a finality that left no room for arguing and it was the first time Rose had heard her sister sound determined. "I was already on probation...I knew I should have gone on as a lawyer-"

"So why didn't you?!"

Marisol looked at her sister, and smiled at her fondly with love in her eyes, "because my dear sister, you're impulsive and were so set on becoming an Enforcer...I had to make sure you were being safe."

"That's ridiculous," Rose snapped and although she hated sounding so mean to her sister, she could't help it, she was hurt, "I can take care of myself! And besides I'm the older one of the two of us, it should be me taking care of you!"

"But that's the thing, it doesn't matter who's older or who's younger, somos familia y la familia se cuida."

"This can go away! You don't have to leave! Stop being so dumb!" Rose lashed out.

"I know what you're doing," Marisol tapped her finger to her lips, she had the patience of a saint, "I've made up my mind. I've recently gotten into contact with someone and he's trustworthy."

"How do you know?" Rose asked.

"I did my research on him and he's proven himself to me countless times. He's working with an organization to try to bring the horrors of Attica and Tribeka to light."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Marisol explained, "don't trust everything this community tells you or gives you. Question everything...Attica and Tribeka are not what they seem and neither is...Gaea or Minerva."

"Minerva wouldn't-"

"Trust me," Marisol said, taking her sister's hands in hers, "this is goodbye. I'm leaving you this flash drive with all of my findings. It's encrypted and only you know the password, not even Calypso can get in."

"What's the password?" Rose asked.

"It's an inside joke between you, me and Adam," Marisol replied as she got up, gathering her bag.

"W-wait!" Rose called after her, "how will I know you're safe?"

"I'll be sending a signal with something only the three of us will know..."

The sisters looked at each other, "he really was innocent," Marisol whispered, "remember that please," she said before pulling Rose into a hug.

Rose felt more tears falling down, "it's not fair! We've never been separated for more than a day or two and now you're leaving!"

"I know, I'm going to miss you too, you and Adam..."

"I love you sis," Rose sniffled.

"I love you too," Marisol said before breaking apart, "and please Rose, please be safe and try to not be as impulsive, I won't be here to be your voice of reason anymore."

"I'll try I promise, I'll be better."

"I know you can do it, you've always had it in you."

Marisol left that night. And so Rose waited for a signal that never came.

Rose typed away at her computer, the flash drive Marisol had given her plugged in. The last thing her sister left her. She typed in her findings at the cottage. Apparently that monster had been in contact with someone by the name KillerInstinct. They were providing her with gadgets to block off the cameras where the missing victims lived and allowed her to sneak in and take them.

I'll find you Marisol.

Despite the fact that at first Rose couldn't stand Percy, as she believed he was responsible for her sister fleeing that night, she couldn't hold it against him. He looked like he had a good heart not to mention, it was her sister that made the decision to let him go. In turn letting herself get into further trouble and running away. If it was the last thing Rose did, she was going to find her sister. Even if it ended up killing her.

Undisclosed Location

"I can't believe I got away," a blonde girl with brown eyes let out a sigh of relief before looking over to the person she had been corresponding with over the last couple of weeks, "thanks for your help by the way. I guess I got to live my dream for a little bit before fleeing."

Across from her sat a man with black hair and eyes so dark they looked black, he smiled at her but it didn't reach his eyes, "yes, you're welcome, you were very interesting to watch."

"They almost had me, but thanks to you picking me up, well...I guess that makes us partners."

"I guess so," he said, his tone was bored and to be honest he was bored with this whole exchange. She had been fun to watch for some time but now this was getting annoying. "Were you able to destroy the files I gave you before you left?"

The blonde tensed up, "oh, about that...I-uh, left in such a hurry I didn't have enough time..."

"So the files are in the hands of the AECPC?" He asked, there was an edge to his voice that made the blonde nervous.

"Y-yes..."

He stared at her for a minute before shrugging his shoulders, "oh well, guess you really were useless," he said, flippantly before pressing a button on a small remote on the table in front of them.

"Hey!" The blonde cried indignantly, "wh-"

She never got the chance to finish her sentence before a man appeared out of the shadows and shot her brains out.

"Messy," the man stuck up his nose, "have someone clean this up, I've gotta meet my next guinea pig. Things are really getting interesting now and let's see how she deals with this."

IUSP - Infiltrating Underground Specialist Patrol; they investigate the underbelly of Attica and Tribeka and make arrests while also gathering information.

Translations:

Porque te tienes que ir? - Why do you have to go?

Rosalina, porfavor, ya sabes que no me puedo quedar - Rosalina please, you know that I can't stay

Porque lo dejaste que se escapara? Si no hubieras hecho eso - Why did you let him escape? If you hadn't done that

El era inocente, lo vi en sus ojos - he was innocent, I saw it in his eyes

Somos familia y la familia se cuida - we are family and family takes care of each other

Okay! So what did you think about this chapter? Sorry for all the back and forth but I was trying to show different POVs as the case was being solved and I didn't want the case to be solved before we got some things out in the open first. This chapter is definitely a little bit longer than the last one and I felt bad about Ch. 11 being so much shorter than Ch. 10 especially since it had been two years since I last updated.That was part of the reason why I wanted to finish this chapter up too!

Things are slowly coming together in terms of some of the Enforcers finding things are getting weird in their community. Percy and Nico are slowly going to be patching up their professional relationship but just because things are getting better with them doesn't mean that they'll get together right away. I actually don't plan on them getting together until a number of chapters. Besides, they've got to work out through some stuff first before I get them together.

After this it's about three more cases I think, and then four more chapters until we see things slowly start to unravel in some ways or as I said last time, until shit hits the fan.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, let me know! Thank you for reading!