ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀ ʙɪᴛᴇꜱ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴀʙᴇᴛʜ/ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ

xɪ ᴀɴɴᴀʙᴇᴛʜ | ᴀɴɴᴀʙᴇᴛʜ ᴘᴜᴛꜱ ᴀ ꜰɪɴɢᴇʀ ᴅᴏᴡɴ

She walks the first couple of blocks back to the apartment and then decides to wait for the bus. Annabeth can spare two and a half dollars. What she can't spare is forty dollars for ax-throwing. Damn, she really wants to go ax-throwing.

Annabeth boards the bus, and to her surprise, it's full of little kids, all of whom are wearing backpacks. Of course, leave it to Annabeth to use public transit at 3:15 in the afternoon. These kids probably just got out of day camp or something. It's an odd juxtaposition, a grown woman with a massive tattoo and piercings holding onto the railing while the camp kids with light-up sneakers play 'Never Have I Ever.'

"Never have I ever... hmm... kissed a boy!" one of the little girls says. The other kids squeal at the foreign thought.

"Never have I ever tried beer," says another kid.

Annabeth feels targeted. Good thing she's not playing- she'd probably be the first one out.

She's not necessarily regretful that she was forced to grow up too soon, but she can barely remember her childhood innocence. Did she have a favorite toy? Had kissing and drinking ever been things that grossed her out?

Annabeth braces herself for the bus to come to a halt.

It doesn't stop.

"Hey, my mommy's there! Hey, Mr. Bus Driver! That's my stop you missed!" yells a boy in a Peppa Pig t-shirt.

The bus driver turns around, only it isn't a bus driver. Fantastic. It's the fucking Minotaur. Back already? Hadn't Annabeth's ex killed him, like, twice at least?

She peers downward at a little kid's Mickey Mouse watch. She doesn't have to be at work until five. "Well, fuck me in the ass. I have time," she says aloud, running straight towards trouble. What a shame her hair looks so good today. She pulls the chopsticks from her curls, gives them a little twirl just for show, and gets to work.

She's doing the ol' tango with the Minotaur up in the front of the bus, and she wonders what the Mist is showing the kids. Hopefully, nothing too scarring, but hopefully something distracting enough that they won't be able to recount Annabeth's appearance to the cops.

The thing about the Minotaur is that he's slow; Annabeth lays swipe after swipe on him and he can't evade any of her attacks. However, he can take them. She keeps going for it. The idea is to keep him busy so the kids stay safe.

He grabs her waist, slamming her up against the driver's side of the bus. Her butt must have hit a button because now there's music blasting over the intercom.

"I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation," Joan Jett sings. Under normal circumstances, Annabeth might be rocking out. Now, she's donkey-kicking the Minotaur back into the driver's seat. She climbs up into his lap.

"I usually only do this after a couple of drinks, but for you, I'll make an exception," she says. Seriously, how many times does the Minotaur have to creep back into her life?

She can't go back to just swiping at him until he throws her across the bus again. Damn, what happened to her? What happened to her plans?

"The world's in trouble, there's no communication," Joan Jett continues.

How did Percy kill the Minotaur when he was, what, twelve years old?

Oh yeah. She remembers now.

Annabeth puts one of her chopsticks between her teeth and digs the other into the Minotaur's scalp for some leverage. She pries one of his horns off and stabs the monster in the chest with it. It's not a pretty sight. Instead of the usual instant disappearance that she's used to seeing, dark, almost black, liquid spurts from the Minotaur and onto Annabeth. It's thick, it's gross, and it's in her hair. Great, now she has to shower before work.

But the Minotaur's still there, or rather, his body is. Why hasn't it gone to Tartarus?

Annabeth twists the horn deeper into his chest for good measure. Nope. He's definitely dead, but the body's still here.

The bus comes to a stop and the doors open automatically. The children all get out, some of them thanking the dead Minotaur as they pass.

"Guess I can't leave you here," Annabeth says to the corpse. She picks him up by the arms and drags him off the bus. At least this is her stop.

It's a hell of a struggle dragging the body multiple blocks to her and Will's apartment. She blows some hair out of her face and drops the body onto the porch.

"Will Solace!" she yells, banging on the door. "Let me in right now!" She doesn't want to open her backpack and look for her key; she might get Minotaur guts on something.

The door opens slightly. "What's the magic word?"

"Um, remember when you said you'd help me hide a body?"

Will turns pale. "I was thinking 'please', but you know what? That works too."

Annabeth drags the body inside. "Do your Greek mythology doctor thing; why is this body still here?"

Will cocks his head to the side and stares at the corpse lying on their kitchen table. "I guess I can cut him open and get a look at that gooey stuff, but I'm not sure I can come up with an actual medical explanation for this." He laughs. He actually laughs.

"What the hell, Will, this isn't funny! Look at me! I'm covered in... fluids!" Annabeth is freaking out now.

"Sorry, sorry." Will wipes a tear. "I was just thinking of how funny you must have looked dragging the Minotaur's body across the neighborhood."

Then, he does look at Annabeth. "Good gods of Olympus! What happened to your face?" He reaches out to touch her new piercings, and then pulls back, likely realizing that Annabeth's still covered in DNA.

She smirks. "Oh, you like? They're called spider bites."

Will raises an eyebrow in disbelief. "Maybe I should have taken off today."

"Shit. I only have an hour to get ready for work," Annabeth begins to scramble up the stairs. "And I haven't even begun to pack for the wedding yet. Shit-shit-shit!"

"I packed for you!" calls Will from below. "You're going to look like a total badass!"

Annabeth runs back down the stairs and hugs Will. "You're the best! Thank you so much! What would I do without you, honestly?"

"Please stop hugging me. You're all gross." Will squirms. "I'm going to walk Kevin's dogs; be careful driving."

"I'm never careful driving," Annabeth says.

"I know," says Will. "In that case, have fun at Hooters, Owl Head. I'm sure Athena is just beaming with pride."