Demigods Assemble (PJO/MCU)

Chapter 3

Annabeth

Annabeth and Percy had settled in the living room of his mother's apartment, The Little Mermaid playing quietly on the television. Estelle had long since fallen asleep, but she wasn't the only child of Sally Jackson who loved the movie.

Percy was gently rocking his sister while singing along to the movie softly, with a pleasant voice. Annabeth stared at him in adoration. He made such a good big brother, which was not at all surprising. He was great with Tyson and campers at both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter that looked up to him, it only made sense that he would have great instincts with his baby sister. Every time Annabeth saw the two of them together, it was clear how much he loved her. When she grew up, Estelle was going to have a very devoted, very protective older brother. Annabeth pitied anyone that tried to date her.

Annabeth was running her hands through Percy's hair, curled up next to him. Her arm had healed quickly with the help of godly food. Even though she knew he would be okay, some part of her had panicked when he fell off the Williamsburg Bridge and disappeared. The rational part of her knew he had survived falls from greater heights, and he fell straight into a body of water, but the emotional part of her could only remember those moments where he was believed to be dead, and she could only think, What if it's real this time?

"Hey," Percy said, pulling her back to the present. He looked at her intently, and Annabeth could tell he knew what was on her mind. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. We're together."

Annabeth forced a smile. "I know. After all we've been through, for a moment I was frozen with fear. Would we really have survived so much to be taken out by a mortal? It scared me."

Percy set Estelle on his lap so that he could squeeze one of Annabeth's hands. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Annabeth smiled, and it came effortlessly this time. She leaned forward and kissed Percy. When she pulled away, he wrapped his free arm around her, tucking her into his side. She sighed into his embrace, drinking in his familiar presence. He smelled faintly of the sea, one of Annabeth's favorite things about him.

Estelle gurgled happily on Percy's lap, still fast asleep. Percy beamed down at her, and it was one of the first true smiles Annabeth had seen on his face since Jason's death. It had hit all of them hard, especially Piper, despite their breakup. No one had seen much of her lately, and it was worrying Annabeth.

"So what are we gonna do about what happened at the Williamsburg Bridge?" Percy asked. "You said it yourself, there's gonna be questions."

Annabeth nodded. "I'm hoping the Mist will fix most of it for us. Or the glamour thing, whatever Magnus called it. Hopefully, everyone will just think those weird hero-people cornered that guy and took care of him without us being there at all."

"Speaking of, who were they?" Percy wondered. "'One was called 'Spider-Man'? And those metal suits the other two wore, they were high-tech. I think one of them was a 'Tony'?"

"I'm not sure, I've never really heard of them," Annabeth said, biting her lip in thought. "Before I left them, I overheard the police talking to them. The authorities seemed very familiar with those three, or at least the metal suited ones more than the spider-guy."

Annabeth shivered. Spiders. Why couldn't it be butterflies?

"We have been pretty busy the past few years, maybe things have happened in the mortal world that we haven't known about," Annabeth continued. "Things involving those people."

"Do you think we need to watch out for them?" Percy switched off the television since it had reached the credits.

Annabeth shrugged. "I think we should definitely lay low for a few days, like I said before. Something about them doesn't seem right. But they only know our first names, hopefully they won't be able to find much."