Chapter Text
Mrs. Solace appeared to be like any other normal elderly lady. A woman with hair nearly white, and kind eyes.
But there was something that most people didn’t know about Mrs. Solace.
She worked for a small-time security office in Northern California. She had retired about ten years ago, but Mrs Solace still had connections there.
These connections were why she was able to drive up in its parking garage, with its beeping sensors and enter the building.
Mrs. Solace parked off in the back of the garage, under a section labeled,
Returning retirees
Yes, someone returning even after having retired was not a very strange occurrence. In fact it was really quite normal.
Mrs. Solace parked her car. And then after grabbing her keys, and her beaded handbag. Got out of the small bright yellow car. (Will liked to joke that it was what Apollo’s sun chariot would look like in grandma mode)
Mrs. Solace then wandered through the parking garage over to the large metal doors of the elevator. Mrs. Solace pressed the large button next to the metal doors indicating her need of the elevator.
Shortly after pressing that button the doors dinged open, and she stepped inside.
All these things, this small security place, and Mrs Solace herself seem still rather normal. But again it must be said that Mrs Solace was far from normal.
Once inside the elevator, Mrs Solace placed her hand on a scanning pad, blue light flash before it turned green, indicating that she was allowed in. And with that the elevator began to move. Only not up but down.
You see Mrs Solace wasn’t normal, and the small town security building was a cover. For a group of spies and assassins.
Mrs. Solace retired years ago, back when her daughter had gotten pregnant with Will. But now she was back, because of Will oddly enough.
Look most of Mrs. Solace’s co-workers were the type of people to never trust anyone. Even retired they would flock back to the home office to do background checks and some light stalking.
Mrs Solace had decided long ago that she would not become one of those people, untrusting and slightly insane.
Of course that was before Apollo.
At the time Mrs Solace had chosen not to do a background check on her daughter’s boyfriend. He had seemed brightly happy, and a little self obsessed. But he cared for her daughter, and had not seemed like a threat.
Of course, then he turned out to be a god. And had left her daughter alone and pregnant.
Goodness, Mrs Solace thought to herself, she wished she would have done a background check.
In the end all had turned out well, Will was sunshine itself (but not as annoying as his father) and Apollo paid plenty of child support.
But still despite that situation turning out for the best, Mrs. Solace had learned her lesson.
Always do background checks on the boyfriends.
That brought her to Will, her darling grandson.
He had come home after summer camp about a week ago. And immediately there was something off. He kept talking about this boy who he had met.
Nico di Angelo.
Will claimed that they were “friends”
But after a week of being home, Will had left going back to Camp because he missed his “friend” Nico and was worried the boy would be lonely.
So here Mrs Solace was, like all the other crazy old ladies who used to work here, coming back to do a background check on the boy who her grandson Will clearly had a crush on.
***
Nothing.
Absolutely Nothing.
Mrs. Solace had found only two things on her background check of Nico. Both of them worthless.
The first. An enrollment to some fancy military boarding school for siblings Bianca and Nico di Angelo.
They had disappeared after only six months of attending though. That fact wasn’t too strange, as Mrs. Solace knew that demigods had to leave rather quickly, and without warning due to monster attacks.
What was weird was that there was nothing else, no other records of school. No medical records or dental records. There wasn’t even a record of birth.
Well there was. But from the 1930s so clearly a different Nico di Angelo.
Because whoever the Nico di Angelo her grandson was obsessed with was practically intractable.
Mrs. Solace sighed, as she stared dejectedly at the large computer screen, with only its two results. After several beats of silence, she picked up the large black phone next to the desk that would connect her to the other departments of the organization.
After three rings, a young man picked up, “department 429, how may I help you with your stalking.”
“Well you see,” Mrs. Solace began, “it’s about this boy my grandson likes.”
“Returned retiree?” He asked.
Mrs. Solace sighed, she hated how predictable her paranoia had become, she was turning out just like all her other retirees coworkers,
“Yes,” she answered finally.
“I’ll buzz you up, so you can give us your info and we can send some of our agents out.”
“I would actually like to do this personally.” Mrs Solace replied, she didn’t want to be ruining some poor person's life with a religious crisis when they learned Greek gods were real and had kids.
“Of course Mrs, then I’ll buzz you up and you can gather the equipment you need.”
“Yes, thank you.” Mrs Solace said smiling, before placing the phone down.
She had a teenage boy to stalk.