PJO Hunger Games au

Reconnaissance

The sun was halfway up when Annabeth opened her eyes. She took a moment to bask in the warmth, this was the most relaxed she'd been since the game started. Then a sharp, rhythmic hissing brought her back to reality.

"Do you have to do that right now?" she groaned, pushing her hair out of her face. Reyna raised her eyebrows.

"Would you rather they weren't sharp?"

"Just- give me minute."

Reyna sighed and set her knives down. Piper rustled around in a cupboard and emerged with a bag of various nuts.

"Breakfast," she said, and tossed it to Annabeth. The nuts were sweet and sharp with a touch of salt, and Annabeth needed the protein. After breakfast they packed everything up and sat in a circle.

"We're here," Reyna said, laying out a makeshift map. "I know there are tunnels west of us, and the cornucopia is south of us, but beyond that I don't know much about this arena."

Annabeth nodded. "We don't know where any other tributes are hiding, but we can assume it's in other buildings. It would be suicide to stay on the streets."

Piper frowned. "Wait how do you know which way is south? Do you have a compass?"

"The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The sun rose from that direction," Reyna pointed, "so that way is south."

"But how do you know? The gamemakers could be screwing with us. That direction could be any direction."

Reyna narrowed her eyes and leaned forward. "Let's assume," she growled, "that for simplicities sake that way is south and the sun does indeed rise in the east. If you have a problem with that make your own map."

"Ok!" Annabeth said. "That's not something we need to argue about. Did anyone see anything noteworthy at all? I'm mostly asking you, Reyna, because Piper and I saw the same things."

Reyna shook her head. "The remaining careers, I guess just district two and four at this point, will stick close to the Cornucopia. Hopefully they'll kill each other off, but I bet they'll work out their issues."

"Great," said Annabeth, "then I think today's mission should be reconnaissance."

They agreed not to split up. The plan was to climb the next building over, map the surroundings, and continue. Annabeth wondered if they'd see Percy. If he was alive that is, she'd heard a canon earlier that morning. She shook her head. There was no sense dwelling on that now. It was probably better they didn't see Percy anyway.

They climbed the first building, solid concrete and steal with roof access. They raided the supplies but didn't see much else. The same with the second and third building.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of these stairs," Piper said as they climbed the fourth building.

"Agreed," said Annabeth, "when we get to the top let's take a break."

"Wait- shh," said Reyna, "I think I hear something."

Everyone froze. Annabeth felt a thrill of fear go through her. She'd felt relatively safe today, but that sentence shattered any notion of safety. She was in the Hunger Games, this was real. It was dead silent for a spell, and Annabeth was about to suggest it was the wind when she heard it too. Voices. And the stomp of boots further up the stairs.

"We have to get out of here," whispered Annabeth.

"Why?" said Reyna. "There's three of us. Why don't we kill them and get on with our mapping?"

"We don't know how many could be up there. Besides, you're the only real fighter here."

Reyna pondered that for a moment before agreeing. "Fine. But slowly, and quietly. Out the way we came."

They crept back down the stairs, stopping periodically to listen. It was nerve wracking, every sound, every displaced piece of gravel sent a wave of adrenaline through Annabeth. Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs. Piper put her hand on the door knob when the door swung open from the outside. Standing in the doorway, grinning, was Silena Beauregard.

"Gotcha!"

Gears on the walls turned and a net dropped down, trapping the three of them together. Annabeth struggled against the mesh, but it was metal and pressed against Reyna and Piper she didn't have much mobility. Two boys walked down the stairs. Charles Bekendorf and Leo Valdez. Probably the voices they heard earlier, Annabeth thought.

"Isn't the trap cool?" Leo asked. "We saw you guys coming and rigged it."

"It's beautiful," said Annabeth rolling her eyes. It was. It was also an impressive display of ingenuity.

"Well, we have to kill you now," said Leo. "It's not personal." Bekendorf, who remained silent, started towards them with a sledge hammer. Annabeth's eyes widened, but before she could even process what was happening, Reyna freed her trapped arm, grabbed Silena who standing too close to the net, and held a knife to her throat.

"You take one more step, I kill her," said Reyna, deadly calm. Silena made a noise in the back of her throat. A haze of doubt clouded Bekendorf's face.

Leo frowned. "Really? You think you can bribe us like that? This is the Hunger Games, she's going to die anyway." He looked expectantly at Bekendorf. But Bekendorf didn't move. "Fine. I'll kill you all myself," Leo said. He drew a small knife and walked forward.

"No," said Bekendorf. Then he whirled around and hit Leo in the head with his hammer. Annabeth turned away, slightly sickened. There was no blood, but the dent in Leo's head was obvious. The canon fired. Bekendorf turned back to Reyna.

"If you drop the net, I'll let her go," Reyna said.

Bekendorf nodded. "At the same time." He walked over to a switch on the wall. "One."

"Two," said Reyna. They looked at each other.

"Three." Bekendorf flipped the switch and Reyna withdrew her knife. They detangled themselves from the net and stood together. Silena and Bekendorf looked at them in a awkward stare down. Then wordlessly turned and walked away. Annabeth half expected Reyna to attack them from behind, or chuck a knife, but she didn't.

"Let's get out of here," Piper said softly. Annabeth tried not to look as she stepped over Leo's body.