For the very patient and kind brownone279 , I hope you enjoy.

When Percy woke up he was face to face with dead body. Needless to say he panicked.

"Shit!" he yelled scrambling backwards. His head slammed on something hard and his vision blurred out with pain. He cursed himself and whatever gods were out there profusely.

"I think he's awake." He faintly heard Leo say.

A hand rested on Percy's shoulder and he fought the urge to lash out. He blinked away the spotting dots that had been playing on his line of sight to -Chasing- towering over him, her captivating grey eyes looking a mix of fury and relief. She wore it very well.

"You idiotic little bastard!" She slapped him upside the head right where he'd just hit his head. "How fucking dare you!"

"What the Hell!" Percy tried to shield himself to little extent, she knocked through his arms roughly, probably costing him half a dozen health point. "-Chasing- Chill!"

She kicked him in the side, "Don't tell me to chill! You're so fucking lucky! You've got no common sense, no regard for your own health, and you're so stupid I'm surprised you've lasted this long! You were this close to dying!" Percy assumed she held out her finger an inch or two apart to emphasis her statement but he was too busy trying to protect himself that he wasn't sure. "We should've let you just die right there on the bloody pavement! Gods know it would've been easier than hauling your ass back to this building!"

"Ow! I'm, sorry! Geez!" Percy cried out as she slammed his head again. "I'm sorry!"

For a second she stopped. Percy dared look up from behind the coverage of his forearms. Her expression bordered on something alien to him. Her eyes seemingly redder than before, she bit down hard on her inside cheek and then finally let out a shaky breath.

She went to punch his arm again, which he blocked barely. "You're an idiot." She said finally and then she turned away, "Don't do that again." Then she was gone, slamming a door behind her, hard enough to rattle the framework.

Percy remained frozen for a second longer in pure shock. He had had his run with insensible things in the past hours, hacker groups, zombies, and assassins just to name a few, but he was at his limit when it came to girls. Especially if it was a girl like -Chasing-.

Percy gingerly looked over to where the body had been-- the one that had startled him awake. It was a girl, so much like the first zombie it gave him the creeps. She was pale skinned with fair black hair. Beside her sleeping form was her stats and it only took a minute for him to recognize -AngelQueen-.

He rubbed his arms glancing at his own health bar that was somehow in the 90s again.

Leo let out a noncommittal whistle. He was sitting on a mini kitchen counter, drinking from a bottle that looked suspiciously like alcohol. His eyes were trained on the white mess of code in front of him. His health was at 100%.

"What happened?" Percy asked getting up slowly, and watching the door in case -Chasing- came back full force.

"You practically dropped dead in the middle of the street. -Chasing- and I carried your body here. It is astonishing how many curses she knows. Especially when she broke out the Greek-"

Percy cut him off, "xClassicx?"

Leo blinked actually looking up from his screen, "Downstairs. She was sobbing earlier, man, took an hour just to calm her down."

Percy breathed a sigh of relief. She was alive. She was okay. She was not a zombie.

Leo chuckled, "Man, you're just for all the girls today, aren't you?"

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing," he took another drink and he offered the tall bottle to Percy. He declined. The last thing he needed was his mother finding out that on top of entering a murder game and nearly getting himself killed, he was drinking alcohol. Leo turned back to his work.

"I had to hack your account to get the Ambrosia. But turns out, -AngelQueen- had run into Hannibal in the streets. He had his own thing of Ambrosia. Also there were zombies. But hey, we survived. The six of us are in the top floor of the penthouse hotel at the edge of town. No sign of Kronos anywhere." Leo said.

Percy shivered at the sound of the assassin's name. The chills reminded him that he was now more vulnerable than ever. His cloak, which had saved his life, was now a useless token of his first defeat at the hands of an impenetrable figure of death. He had been so close to death,and it scared Percy that it no longer freaked him out. He looked at his hands finding that they weren't even shaking. Was it the game or had he gotten over the fact he was so close to losing everything?

Leo pretended not to notice the other boys discomfort. "We used your Ambrosia to heal up. Hope you don't mind, but I was borderline fifteen percent and by the time we found this place, even -Chasing- was at fifty."

Percy raised an eyebrow, "My one piece cured all of us?"

The other boy nodded, "even a little bit can replenish fifty percent health."

"We took shifts making sure that Kronos isn't going to pop in and kill us all. Gods know that if he did, everyone would be damned to Hell." Leo finished his explanation.

"You don't think having us together is a good idea?"

He gave a wry, almost bitter grin, "You were unconscious, -AngelQueen- was asleep on her feet, xClassicx was still sobbing violently, -Chasing- was pacing a rut in this virtual floor, heck, even I haven't slept in like almost twenty-four hours. If I were Kronos I would attack now, and wipe the floor with all of you before you could even raise that sword of yours."

Percy swallowed hard letting the other boy continued with whatever he had been doing. He tried to imagine what it was like. They must have carried him through over half the city, constantly trying to be aware of where the assassin was. His body didn't even feel any more battered than it had before. It didn't seem right. Suddenly Percy felt guilty for leaving them to drag his useless ass around. They should have just left him.

He wondered if Grover had been watching, hands cupping in front of his face and the bags of exhaustion under his eyes dancing in the light from his computer. Percy didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't just not. He had seen his best friend so many times sitting at his desk, caught in the light of his computer, grinning, laughing, applauding him to the means he needed. He had stayed up trying to warn Percy of the dangers of entering the AOH tournament.

Percy swiped the bottle next to Hawtstufz9 and took a nice long swig. He nearly coughed it back up, choking on the surprisingly realistic taste. The small portion that actually went down his throat burned.

Leo watched him with an amused look, "First taste of alcohol?"

Percy wiped his mouth, "And most likely last." He placed the bottle back next to Leo and finished his gagging. "Ugh, Mom's going to kill me. You know if Kronos doesn't kill us first."

Leo snorted and tapped something on his screen. He looked a bit more distracted than usual, or maybe he was just feeling the effect of an all nighter. Adrenalin had to be wearing off for all of them now. Glancing at his own stats he found that it was a little past noon. How ironic.

They had officially survived the first day, by sheer force of will. Percy couldn't help but feel an immense sadness, in his gut. He knew that at least one person had not survived the night, and the longer he thought about it, he got the sneaking suspicion it was his fault, whoever it had been.

"How did you not know ambrosia cures zombification?"

Percy looked up from his quiet remorse, to see Leo staring at him with a guarded look. "I just don't play zombie games," Percy shrugged.

"No it's more than that! Ambrosia is a universal medicine! It cures everything! You can't have played this game and not known that." Leo rubbed his forehead. For a second it looked like he added fifty years. Lines of worry and exhaustion started on his face and his shoulders slumped forward, "That begs the question, what avatar are you on?"

Percy felt his face heat up, "Look I don't-"

"Riptide please," Leo closed his menu and got off the counter. His eyes were a bit wild and he was practically begging for the answer. Percy took a step back.

"Leo-"

"How long have you been playing?"

Percy didn't answer right away. His hands were sweating, though he wasn't sure why. "I-I-" He stuttered, "It's been a seven months, okay? I'm not-"

"SEVEN MONTHS?" Leo repeated. He cursed in Spanish, and flipped the nearby table. It lost seventeen percent health. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Percy wasn't sure if he was crying or laughing or what emotion he was displaying. He took another couple steps back nearly bumping into -AngelQueen-. The olive skinned girl still looked groggy from sleep and as lost as Percy felt.

"What is going on?" A voice asked as three more figures came into the room. -Chasing- had her arms crossed, xClassicx had her sword in her hand, but she looked too drained to actually fight, despite having full health. Hannibal Percy vaguely recognized the tall pale boy with distant Chinese features.

Leo ignored them griping on in rapid fire Spanish, and clutching his hands into fists. Percy had taken two years of Spanish in school, but he could only pick out every twentieth word or so, and they were the words that had gotten him detention multiple times.

"I think he's lost it." Hannibal said.

"Shut up!" Leo sneered at him, surprisingly hostile, "Fucking amateurs!"

"Excuse you, at least I can hold a dagger!" Percy retaliated.

"Yeah I've noticed. You went head-to-head with a motherfucking assassin and are still alive!" Leo cursed again. And once again Percy was confused as to what he was upset about.

"What are you guys talking about?" -Chasing- demanded again. She seemed more edgy since their encounter with Kronos, not that Percy could blame her. He doubted there was a single player among them who wasn't envisioning their own deaths at his hands. Percy even more so when Kronos mentioned Tyson.

Leo sighed harshly, out of breath. His entire body moved with his breathing. He unclenched his fists and rapidly tapped them on the counter seeming to think of things a million miles away.

"Riptide is an amaeture player." He said finally calmer, "He's only been playing for seven months."

Percy felt all their eyes on him suddenly. He felt defensive. Where was he going with this?

"That means he's never played Valiant Hero mode." Hawtstufz9 explained.

"No way!" Hannibal said, "You're joking!"

"I saw you fight--" xClassicx added.

"What's Valiant Hero Mode?" Percy asked, at a lost.

"A few years back, the Gods of Olympus wanted to reward players who had been playing for a longer time. It was like a sign of commitment to the system. So all the gods, all of them I mean, decided that they would create a new mode that players could switch into. It's normally after like two years that it shows up as an unlocked achievement." -Chasing- said, "Valiant Hero mode changed how the game was played entirely, Riptide. How could you not know?"

"I don't own a gaming system!" Percy defended, "I borrow my friends, okay! Before seven months ago I had never even played a virtual reality demonstration!"

Leo banged his head on the counter.

"I don't understand still!" Percy said, feeling both helpless and embarrassed, "Why is this such a big deal?"

"Valiant Hero mode allows the Player to have superpowers." -AngelQueen- supplied, "Like an actual superhero. The powers are random, but once you get one that's the one you have for the rest of you time as a player. You can do amazing damage with your powers, like truely awesome stuff. I can create ruptures in the ground and my brother can raise the dead to do his bidding."

"But it also makes you a walking target for game generated foes." Hannibal supplied, "The more control you have, the more dangerous you are. And it also weakens your health defense points. An attack that normally would've only knocked you down four points might take you down fifteen. Hence, Valiant Hero."

Percy gave them all a blank look. "Alright. That changes things... how?"

xClassicx gave him a small smile of pure sympathy. "People who play Valiant Hero mode tend to be the best of the best. Like just short of the Gods of Olympus best. You've got to be the only one here who hasn't unlocked Valiant Hero." She actually laughed, "Oh my gods, You're so amazing without powers, it never occurred to me that you might never have even used them..."

Leo snorted, "It took me three years to hone my skill, Fire. I was just going to barbeque that clearing when the game first started. It was going to be seconds, and hilarious! I turned off my Valiant Hero mode after Kronos first attacked, trying to save my health bar. And according to the light on our team bond, Piper, er-- Charm4u turned hers off too."

"So you guys think in a year or two I'm going to be someone really powerful?" Percy said, "Great, really, I'm flattered. But I might not be living in a few more hours to this helps none."

"Wouldn't," -Chasing- corrected, suddenly.

"Huh?"

"It wouldn't help." She repeated, "That is if we didn't have our own hacker right here in the game to turn yours on." She looked at the smaller boy, "You can do that right?"

Leo already had his menu open, "I'm offended you had to ask."

-AngelQueen- clapped her hands together, "We can use him as a secret weapon!"

"It's going to take a lot more than a fancy upgrade to beat this guy." Percy put in, "Like seriously. He's already nearly killed me twice. Twice in the past 24 hours guys."

"Well, the first time you were talking." Hannibal said, then he frowned, "By the way, how'd you survive that one?"

Percy shrugged wishing he had the answer. "Someone dumped me in a river and it activated my healer's cloak."

"Which, Kronos cut to piece." -Chasing- put in, "So we can't expect that to save you again, Seaweed Brain."

Percy didn't rise to the insult. Her words got him thinking suddenly, "Wait, what?"

"Kronos cut up your cloak. You were there." She said.

Percy blinked, "How did he even know about that though? You didn't even know. No one should have known."

He could see the gears turning in her head suddenly. Her grey eyes thinking dark thoughts. Percy's hand went to Riptide for a sense of security. The answer seemed to dawn on all of them at the same time, but no one wanted to say it.

Hannibal whispered,"Cameras."

"The Titan hackers must be watching us, everyone!" -AngelQueen- said distraught, "They could be reported to Kronos exactly where we all are right now! Nico!" She let out a fearful cry for her brother opening the map in front of them all. They all watched for the orange lights glowing in the city and all over the board. The six of them were depicted on the edge of town. Percy watched the lights that were moving without breathing. Was that one Kronos or was it Iam_Superman? There was no way to tell and it made Percy want to throw up all the more.

"Fourteen" -Chasing- whispered, answering the question no one had asked. Percy counted and recounted and recounted again, but she was right. There were only fourteen blimps on the map.

"Someone else died." Hannibal said. -AngelQueen- whispered a prayer in something that sounded Italian.

With a dry mouth Percy asked, "who are they?"

"Stargirl365." -AngelQueen- said, with red eyes, "I got the notification last night around 7:45. We got split up after the first attack and she yelled for us to stay when Scipio said scatter and I ran blindly after -Chasing-...oh gods, she's really dead." She cupped a hand over her mouth, "I got my teammate killed. I should've stayed!"

"No!" -Chasing- countered, "It's not your fault. After Riptide was stabbed, no offense," She shrugged at Percy, who waved it off, "Kronos was trying to kill everyone. No one in that clearing had a chance against him, not even Stargirl365. I saw her run off as well."

Percy rubbed his forehead. "She was the one, wasn't she? She must have guessed on my cloak and tried to revive me in the river." Percy could picture it clearly in his head. The tanned girl with the volcanic eyes heaving his body after her, in a rush and then tossing him in the river. Kronos must have chased after her and then....

"She should've let me die." Percy whispered.

-Chasing- batted his head, "Stop saying stupid things, will you? It's annoying!" She puffed up a bit like she was drawing on every bit of her courage that she had. "We can't worry about who's dead right now. I'm sorry, I know that's harsh, but we can't change what has already happen. We have to look forward and focus on not letting anyone else die."

They were spent letting her words set the mood. Of course Leo had to be the one to break it.

"That sounded an awful lot like a pep talk. I hope you don't expect us to start singing high school musical next, because you couldn't pay me enough to sing on tv." A bit of his old humor came back.

-Chasing- actually looked relieved. "I won't if you can do something about those cameras."

He looked at her like she had grown two heads, "I can, but it would be nearly impossible for me to do anything but that. Once that program runs, if I close my menu, it will shut off again. Knowing the Titan Hackers like I do, they'll have someone working on it the second they see it and when it gets closed off I'll be shut out from the code permanently."

"Is that a no?"

"What do you think?" He asked, "I can't unlock Riptide's Valiant Hero Mode and run that code both at once."

"Unlock then run?" -AngelQueen- suggested.

"Then the Titan's will know exactly what's coming for them with his powers." Leo said blandly, "Which defeats the purpose of unlocking it."

"Can you teach me? I'll run it on mine." Hannibal offered, to with the elfish hacker snorted.

"I don't think anyone in the game can do this. The menu would create a huge block in your vision. If you get distracted for even a second then BAM--you're dead."

"What if it was someone outside the game?" Percy asked.

"Outside?" Leo thought about it, "Maybe. But it can't be just anyone. If the wrong guy does it, it could be done wrong and not work, or worse, the guy could be a Titan and then we'd be screwed over for the rest of our miserable, very short lives."

Percy swiped open his menu, "Don't worry. I know just the guy."