Chapter Text
Jason Grace sat cross-legged on his desk in Grover Cleveland Middle School, grading papers and trying not to yawn. It had been 5 years since he had retired as an active demigod after the events of the Great Prophecy, but he was still praetor, and he had a Camp to run. Unfortunately, Chiron had decided that he needed a cover job, and had gotten him this post at Grover Cleveland. It wasn’t such a bad place to work, it had good facilities and amazing students, it just wasn’t Jason’s cup of tea. He really wanted something to happen. Something exciting, for once.
He finished the final paper and was just about to Iris-message Chiron when a woman walked in. Strawberry blonde, blue-grey eyes, and a scowl on her face. He quickly hid the drachma and prism behind his back.
‘Hello, my name is Eva Stratt and I am the head of the Petrova Taskforce,’ she said.
He frowned. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of this Taskforce.’
‘That’s because it was formed yesterday. UN secret vote, hard to explain.’
A UN secret vote?! Just how important was this woman?
He opened his mouth to inquire but she cut him off: ‘Are you Dr. Grace?’
‘I am Dr. Grace, yes, but how-?’
She cut him off again. ‘Did you write this paper?’
She held up a thesis: his thesis, An Analysis of Water Based Assumptions and Recalibration of Expectation for Evolutionary Models.
‘I would like you to come with us immediately,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry, I can’t just desert my job, it’s the middle of the school day!’ he protested.
What on earth was this woman talking about, how did she find him, and why on earth was she trying to recruit him when in the eyes of the mortal world he was nothing but a disgraced scientist?
‘I am afraid it wasn’t a question,’ she said. ‘Please, come in.’
The last sentence wasn’t directed at him, but rather, a giant of a man in a tuxedo with a name tag that said Carl, who came through the door and stood behind the woman. Jason weighed his options. He could take the man easily with his training as a demigod, but he would obviously reveal himself in the process and incur the woman’s suspicion. And seeing as she seemed important, he wasn’t about to do that.
Only one option left. ‘I’ll come, no need for the bodyguard.’