Demigods Assemble (PJO/MCU)

Chapter 19

Annabeth

Annabeth and Natasha made their way to the center of the room, readying their fists, and Percy moved out of the way.

"Kick her butt, Beth!" He yelled.

Annabeth grumbled, "Stop calling me that!"

Annabeth focused on Natasha in front of her. She hadn't seen Natasha in action yet or heard much about her besides the fact that she was a super-spy assassin, but Annabeth figured that description meant she was very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Annabeth could normally hold her own without a weapon, but she had a feeling that would not quite be the case here.

"I'll go easy on you," Natasha assured her.

Thinking the element of surprise would be her only chance, Annabeth lunged as soon as she was done talking. She struck with her right fist, but Natasha easily dodged as Annabeth had expected. Her plan worked, however, when her kick hit the side of Natasha's legs and forced her to her knees.

Annabeth backed up, giving Natasha the chance to recover. "Not bad," the assassin said, resting on the balls of her feet. "Let's see what else you can do."

This time, Natasha went on the offensive. She punched towards Annabeth's stomach, and Annabeth slid out of the way, simultaneously swinging her leg where she thought Natasha's head was, but unfortunately met only air as Natasha had ducked. Annabeth stumbled forward when Natasha kicked her in the back but spun around in time to grab Natasha's arm and use her signature move to judo-flip the Avenger over her back, slamming her into the ground.

"Ouch." Percy winced from off to the side. "She's done that to me a lot."

Natasha braced her hands against the floor and sprung onto her feet, shaking out her shoulders and raising her fists. "All right, no more going easy."

Annabeth grimaced. She had known this was coming. Nevertheless, she vowed not to go down without a fight.

When Natasha was in range, Annabeth raced forward, swinging her arm at Natasha's stomach. The assassin dodged easily, and when Annabeth tried to duck to avoid getting kicked in the face, Natasha's hands clamped onto her shoulders and then around her neck. Annabeth struggled futilely, eventually kicking her legs up to use the momentum and pull both of them to the floor. Natasha simply rolled back to her feet and blocked Annabeth's punch, pushing her back. She did an aerial flip to the side when Annabeth aimed a kick at her and caught Annabeth's leg, yanking her off balance. Natasha swung her leg up and wrapped it around Annabeth's throat, pulling her to the floor. Natasha locked her legs around Annabeth's throat, nearly choking her, and when Annabeth couldn't get free, she tapped the floor to yield.

Natasha released her and hopped to her feet, then held out a hand to help Annabeth up. "Not bad," Natasha praised. "With a bit more training, you could be a serious opponent."

"Thanks," Annabeth said, "although that went about exactly as I expected."

"You ladies ready to see a real show?" Clint called to them. "Percy's gonna fight Steve, Bucky, and Peter together, then Vision, Wanda, Tony, and Carol one-on-one. All with powers."

Annabeth smirked, excited to see how this would play out. She had a feeling Percy would be able to beat some of them, but maybe not all. "Good luck, Seaweed Brain. Don't hurt them too badly."

Percy frowned. "I'm more worried about them hurting me."

They cleared the center of the room so that Percy would have space to fight. When asked if he needed anything to use his powers, he just glanced at the water cooler in the corner of the room and smiled. Steve, Bucky, and Peter positioned themselves in front of him, and with a signal from Clint, the fight began.

Peter immediately shot a web at Percy, who just barely rolled out of the way in time. He climbed to his feet only to get smacked in the chest by Steve's shield and stumbled backward. By that time, Bucky was upon him and throwing some wicked punches with his metal arm.

With a yell from Percy, the water cooler burst open and the water shot towards him. Part of it surrounded him as a kind of shield, while the rest attacked Steve, Bucky, and Peter. When Steve next threw his shield, a blast of water knocked it off course, and when Peter shot a web to swing closer, the water kept the web from attaching to the ceiling so Peter fell on his face.

Percy summoned the water to him and rose up on a standing wave, a gleeful look on his face as he pushed it closer to Steve, Bucky, and Peter. The water crashed over them, but instead of following Percy past them, it surrounded them in their own personal bubbles and suspended them in the air. Percy clenched his fist and the water gathered around their heads, leaving their bodies dangling in the air. It was only when their eyes were bulging in need of air that Percy released them, and they collapsed, gasping and spluttering, in wet heaps on the floor.

Rhodey looked at Annabeth, then back at Percy. "That was awesome."

"Very impressive," Steve said from his spot on the floor, coughing up water.

"Who's next?" Percy grinned. Annabeth rolled her eyes at him.

They continued like that until the early afternoon with Percy taking on anyone who would challenge him. Percy had more of a struggle with Vision, since he could just shoot energy blasts at Percy and float through the water. Needless to say, Percy did not win that fight. He and Wanda were more evenly matched, since whenever Wanda used her powers to lift Percy off of his feet, he just did the same to her using the water. She was definitely powerful, but since Percy didn't really need his arms to use his powers, she couldn't quite take him down. The fight was finally ended by Steve when the two of them were just taking turns tossing each other through the air.

Annabeth thought Percy wouldn't have much trouble against Tony, but she was sorely mistaken. Tony really was a genius, since the water had no effect against his mechanized suit. He kept shooting repulsor blasts at Percy, who was forced to constantly jump or roll to dodge. It was only when Percy froze some water into icy shards and damaged Tony's suit that he was victorious.

The real show came when Percy faced off against Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel. She easily floated out of range of Percy's water attacks and fired her own energy blasts back at him. Eventually, he formed his own self-contained hurricane to combat her. Annabeth had wondered when he would resort to that, and the Avengers were all stunned to see the swirling storm he created. Percy had never needed to use Riptide during the earlier fights, but this time he did, and Annabeth was interested to learn that the blade could deflect Carol's attacks without being destroyed. The sword combined with his hurricane allowed Percy to get close enough to Carol to really go on the offensive, but she was powerful and had no trouble dodging, even catching the blade in her bare hands a few times. After a while, the fight ended in a tie.

They then fought using weapons for a bit to give the Avengers the experience of fighting a demigod, since some monsters used weapons as well. They had concluded that Vision, Wanda, and Carol would most likely be able to kill monsters; Clint too if they could get him a set of Celestial bronze arrows, and maybe Tony and Rhodey with their suits. Annabeth and Percy focused on making sure they had a good idea of what they would be facing.

By two o'clock, everyone was exhausted. There was a scuffle at the water cooler as everyone fought for a drink, but Annabeth settled for a small sip of nectar to revitalize her and eliminate any bruises she'd gained.

"I've been meaning to ask, what is that?" Steve wondered, pointing to the canteen.

"Nectar," Annabeth said. "The drink of the gods. A little bit of it helps heal demigods, but too much will make us burn up. Same with that," she pointed to the square of ambrosia Percy was chewing since he had a few more injuries than her. "Ambrosia, the food of the gods. It tastes like your favorite comfort food. But both ambrosia and nectar will kill mortals if they have any, so don't try it."

"Noted." Sam looked miffed.

"Fury is still making some calls," Tony said once everyone had rested, "so didn't you say something about visiting your mom today?"

Percy nodded. "Please. She'll worry about me otherwise, and I want to tell her everything that's happened."

"Steve, Peter, and I will take you," Tony said. "Wheels up in an hour."