NEREUS

Athos lay on a fairly comfy bed as he stared at the large scorpion stinger to his right. It was as big as his forearm with spikes still sticking out of it. He hadn't realised that the stinger had not been absorbed by Leviathan along with the manticore's body until he found it lodged in a building wall behind him. He was slightly terrified at first, thinking that the manticore had somehow returned, but after a few minutes, he realised that it was his spoil of war. Stronger monsters sometimes dropped parts of their bodies as spoils of war when defeated like the Nemean lion, which would drop its impenetrable coat. Albeit not as useful as the aforementioned Nemean lion skin, the stinger he got would most certainly be useful someday.

He turned away from the deadly spikes and looked at his bandaged left arm. It had been a day since the fight against the manticore and he had rented out a hotel room to recuperate. He had done so, as even though had a powerful healing factor, going against a God, Nereus, with a partially injured arm was stupidity at its finest.

He grunted and got off the bed preparing for what could possibly be the most important day of this life. After taking a hot shower, he dried his hair and tied it back into a ponytail. He then wore a plain black T-shirt and comfortable grey pants that he'd bought from a nearby store. He had discarded his old tracksuit as it was torn and bloodied. People would label him a madman if he went around in that.

He then wore his backpack which now had a large poisoned stinger sticking out of it. He had no idea what exactly the mist would make it look like, but he hoped it wasn't something like a gun. That would be quite problematic as he had no idea about the gun laws here.

He even made sure to pack his Darth Vader mask. After killing a monster with it on, he'd grown attached, but it was mainly because he'd paid 100 dollars for it. There was no way he would throw away something that cost that much.

He looked at his watch and it read 11:00 pm. He chose this time to go after Nereus as it would be when there were the least number of people around. Otherwise, the mortals, hilariously, would just see a teenager assaulting the elderly in broad daylight.

'What has my life come to!', Athos bemoaned. He had gone from being a world champion to wrestling with an old man on the streets. His life, or rather lives, were truly strange.

***

San Fransico was a weird place. A half-hour walk to the harbour had shown him that. There were numerous places that were fascinating and equally numerous places that anyone would label a shithole. It was a dichotomy that made his walk quite unique.

He made his way past the scarcely populated streets and shut-down restaurants, before finally reaching the pier. There were barely any people around as it was practically midnight. Only the people with night shifts or the ones who were really, really overworked were awake. All he hoped was that they wouldn't set the police on his ass when he was interrogating Nereus. That would be annoying.

'Now, where are you hiding?', Athos thought as his eyes scanned the pier, for Nereus liked to frequent them. He partially understood why, as Nereus was a sea deity, but he never understood why San Fransisco of all places.

It was quite a dangerous place. He'd experienced that first-hand. For one, the mist was quite strong and the second reason was that the Mountain of despair, aka, Mount Othrys was located here. Mount Othyrs is where Atlas, the general of the titans, is currently trapped, forever forced to hold the weight of the sky. It used to be the Titan's base and the tallest mountain in Greece before Zeus literally blasted it in half using Astrap.

'But Atlas won't be holding it for long. Luke would take care of that, in about 5 years or so. Or...will he?', Athos mused. He'd always wondered whether his presence cause a shift in the sto- Ahhggg!!!

Athos gagged as the most horrible smell assaulted his nostrils. It was a mixture of hot seaweed, dead fish and brine, and the amalgamation of all those scents gave rise to a truly dreadful odour. He managed to look at the edge of the pier, where the appalling scent had originated from, and his watery eyes widened when he recognized the figure there. An old, fat man, wearing pyjamas and a fuzzy bathrobe, was sprawled on the wooden floor of the pier. His long white beard had a gnarly shade of yellow and he appeared to be out cold, snoring away to glory.

Athos shook his head at the odd sight. He really couldn't believe the fact that that old man who didn't seem to have bathed since time immemorial was an immensely knowledgeable diety that was older than the Olympians themselves. He was even part primordial, as his mother was the Earth, Gaea and his father was the personification of the sea, Pontos. His parents were incredibly powerful entities. So powerful, that all they could do was slumber, as they embodied concepts. But Nereus wasn't in actuality, all that powerful. Percy, at the age of 12, could overpower Nereus with a slight strength boost due to water. Thus, Athos was sure he could do it too. But unlike Percy, he didn't want to fall into the sea to wrestle Nereus. He couldn't breathe underwater.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and instantly regretted it.

'By the Gods! He smells horrible', he mentally cursed. He took off his backpack to give himself more freedom of movement and placed it next to a car, hoping that it wouldn't be stolen. He then slowly walked up to the old man lying on the ground and much to his dismay, the smell just kept getting worse.

Slightly pissed off at the stench, he lightly kicked the man on the ground to wake him up.

"Wakey-wakey, Santa Clause"

Nereus' eyes shot open and he sat up.

"Wh-Gah!!"

Athos didn't give him the time to articulate his sentence, grabbing him from behind and putting the Sea God in a rear-naked choke, which was much, much more deadly due to his enhanced strength.

"FUC-IN' DEMI....ack!..GOD!!!!", Nereus managed to splutter, as his arms flailed around. He was completely taken by surprise. He tried to free himself using his hands, but Athos' vice-like grip was inescapable. He realised that soon enough and his body suddenly started to morph. A few seconds later, Athos was trying to unsuccessfully choke a half-ton, fifteen-foot saltwater crocodile whose jaws were hanging dangerously close to his head.

"Sonofabitch!", Athos cursed, as he performed a variant of Brazilian jujitsu, using his legs to slip from under the crocodile, to the top. He held down the crocodile's jaws and his eyes gleamed with excitement as he performed a leglock that squeezed the reptile's diaphragm.

The answer to all his questions was finally in his grasp.