Annabeth

Well it was official. The gods loved screwing things up!

Ok, maybe she should recap what had happened so far, just to make sure she had things straight.

Well first their ship, the Argo II, had arrived at Camp Jupiter, the Roman demigod camp. It had been a bit tense when they had run into the exploding talking statue named Terminus, the god of boundaries, before they managed to get the ship parked, for lack of a better term. She had reunited with her boyfriend Percy Jackson (which she had been very happy about) then talked with some of the Romans while Leo Vladez, their pilot of the Argo II and son of Hephaestus, had shown around some idiot named Octavian. After a decent meal and getting a prophecy from a harpy of all things, she had talked with the leader of the camp Renya about this plan of Hera's (or Juno if you were Roman) to being the camps together to stop the awakening of Gaea.

Then their ship had started firing on New Rome, destroying buildings, making fires, and causing general chaos. For some reason that made their hosts upset. After fighting her way back to the ship through crowds of angry demigods trying to capture her. After some events happened, which resulted in Jason Grace being knocked out by a brick to the head and them arriving on the ship to find Leo loading the ballista to fire again but he looked and acted...off. Long story short, they had ended up having to run away from New Rome with their ship damaged. Now Leo was trying to find a place to make repairs, Jason was below decks being tended to by their satry/chaperone/crazy gym coach Coach Hedge and looked after by his girlfriend Piper.

So, to recap. The Romans were angry and would be wanting revenge against them, one of their friends was hurt, their ship was damaged, and they had to get to the ancient lands alone to stop an earth goddess from waking and destroying the world. Oh, and she had her own problems with her mother and the gift she had been given to deal with, can't forget that.

Sometimes being a demigod sucked. Wait, scratch that, it always sucks.

Annabeth had just finished checking on Jason, Piper, and Hedge with Percy and it sounded like he just needed rest then he'd be back up and on his feet in no time. Now she was coming back on deck to check on Leo, and Frank while Percy took a quick look around. Before the Argo II had been something to see. It was a Greek trireme that was two hundred feet long with a bronze-plated hull, mounted rotating crossbows fore and aft, their metal dragon head named Festus that could breath fire, plus two rotating ballistae amidships that could fire explosive bolts. But now it look much sadder then before, with the aft crossbows were destroyed, the foresail was shredded and a groaning was coming from the port side while the ship kept listing to the side and shuddering as they flew through the clouds. Leo and Framk were both near the front, the former talking to Festus while the later was apparently just listening. As she approached, Leo told Frank something before Frank shrunk into a eagle, flapped his wings, then dove over the side towards the ground with a cry.

"Where's he going?"

Leo jumped slightly before turning to look at her, but he seemed hesitant to meet her stormy gray eyes. He must still be scared of her after her questioning earlier.

"Uh, he's going to let Hazel know where to go. Festus found a place where we can make repairs to the ship." The Latino teen said, fiddling with his ever present tool belt and drumming his fingers. They never seemed to be still, but were in constant motion just like his mind.

"Where?"

"The Great Salt Lake in Utah." Leo answered before he asked nervously, "How's Jason?"

"Coach says he'll be fine with some rest. Piper is looking after him." The blond shook her head, trying to think straight. Being wisdom's daughter didn't mean she had clear thinking all the time, even if she was clever. "How long to reach the lake?"

"About twenty minutes according to Festus. Once we get there we'll need lime, tar, and Celestial bronze for repairs."

"Where are we supposed to get that?"

"Hope we get lucky?" Leo didn't seem to have anything better. Plus dumb luck did seem to pity them once in a while so, who knew. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Annabeth rubbed her brow. "Let's just hope nothing else goes wrong."

She had to say it.

Festus suddenly started creaking and clicking quickly, catching Leo's attention. The mechanic had programmed him to communicate with a language only he understood because he thought it was cool.

"What's wrong boy?" The dragon clicked and clacked for a few seconds. "What?"

Annabeth's right hand unconsciously drifted towards her dagger on her hip. "What's wrong?"

"Festus says the sensors are picking up something on the ship, right behind..."

SNAP-CRACKLE

Reflexes born from years of experience and practice meant the blond whirled around while also pulling out her bronze weapon from its sheath, ready for anything. Leo acted slower than her, but he used his special power to cause both his hands to burst into reddish orange flames. Annabeth's eyes scanned the ship before the sound repeated itself, followed by a tendril of electricity jumping from mid-air and reaching for her dagger, but dying before it could reach it.

What the... Annabeth wasn't able to finish her thought before there was one more crackle and tendril of electricity, followed by a bright flash of light that forced her and Leo to shield their eyes. Annabeth heard three pairs of feet hit the deck before the light faded.

"Well, that was fun." A female voice Annabeth didn't know spoke up, sounding playful and amused, but it sounded older than she was.

"Ugh, I don't know how River deals with that all the time." Another voice, this one male and sounding closer in age to her, spoke up while sounding slightly uneasy. "I feel like I just got sucker punched."

"You'll be ok, just give it a minute." A third voice answered, again female but younger than the first and laced with some light concern. Annabeth lowered her arms and took in the owners of the voices. Her throat closed up and she felt like she was walking into a previously unknown batch of trouble.

The first woman, whom she assumed had spoke first, had a curvaceous body that would put just about anyone to shame with a chest that was almost beyond belief. She had long purple hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and the sides of her face were framed with long bangs. She wore a short maroon one-piece dress that was opened in the front to expose her navel and her amble cleavage. It ended just below her hips, barely low enough to cover her butt cheeks. Annabeth didn't know how she could stand wearing that, since she would die of embarrassment just thinking about wearing something like that, but she seemed comfortable in it. In regards to height, she was a head or so taller than her, but she was also wearing heels.

The second woman looked younger, only a few years older then herself, but she was still stunning. Her skin was dark, somewhere between milk chocolate and mocha colored. Her hair was jet black, falling to her lower back while some was cut shorter so it hung above her shoulders. Her clothes were also more practical, a black blouse and blue jeans, completed with black boots. She also had a sheathed dagger on her left hip, which Annabeth was very aware of. One other thing that caught her attention were her eyes, which were a light shade of purple.

The third member was the only boy of the group, but he was the most dangerous according to Annabeth's instincts. He looked a year older than her, but no more. He had black hair, lightly tanned skin and was a few inches taller than she was. The clothes consisted of a black hoodie that was unzipped, showing a black shirt that had a white wolf head design that was looking to his right, while also having heavy duty black jeans and running shoes. His right wrist had a worn looking piece of leather wrapped around it with a number pad and small screen above that. But Annabeth really noticed his sword, which was in a black sheath that was etched with silver in flowing, swirling patterns, and it had a black handle. His eyes were also closed like he was trying to get his bearings (or apparently trying to get over the feeling of being sucker punched). He took a breath and opened them.

The only other time she had seen eyes like that had been when she had met the goddess Artemis. But his eyes didn't glow like moonlight, they just had the same silver color as her. Deep, alien, hinting that he had seen things she could scarcely imagine and that he was more powerful then he looked.

The teen shook his head and pressed a hand to his temple. "Ok, I think I'm good now."

"Great. So...where are we Tobias?" The dark skinned girl asked looking around the ship in interest.

Taking a quick look around, Tobias, which was apparently his name, whistled in impressment. "The Argo II."

If the arrival hadn't set Annabeth's nerves on end, that certainly did. "Who are you?" She demanded.

Tobias looked at her like she was a science experiment that had done something interesting.

"And who are these two?" The taller woman asked.

"Annabeth Chase and...hey Leo, stop gawking at Kazehana!"

Annabeth snapped her head around to see, yes, Leo was gawking at the woman, or rather his eyeline suggested he was looking at her...chest. His fire had also gone out. Feeling righteous feminine anger rear it's ugly head, Annabeth stomped on his left foot. Hard.

"OW!" Leo jumped up and down while keeping his injured foot off the ground. "What was that for!?"

"Guess," Annabeth growled before bringing her attention back to the group in front of her. "And how do you know our names?"

"Right, introductions." The teen paused then snorted. "Huh, so this is what he feels like when he does that. Anyways, Tobias Song, Yahan, and Kazehana." He pointed to himself, the dark skinned girl on his right, then the woman on his left. "As to how I know your names, you wouldn't belive me if I told you."

"Try me. Or we can throw you off the ship, in mid-air."

They all stared at her for a second before they started snickering. "I'd love to see you throw us off." Was the amused response.

Before Annabeth could response, three people came on deck. Percy and Coach Hedge from below decks, the later carrying his trusty club over his shoulder. Frank, still a eagle, flew up and landed next to them, shifting back to human form.

"Hey I talked to Hazel and she said..." He stopped when he noticed the new arrivals, at the same time Percy and Coach had. The Coach went for his typical response.

"INTRUDERS!" He charged, goat hooves thumping against the deck while he waved his club. "DIE!" Percy was right behind him, pulling out his trusty pen Riptide. He popped out the cap and the pen grew longer and thicker until he held his sword.

"Yahan, take the goat." Tobias said while turning and charging Percy, drawing his sword to show it was tinged green instead of bronze. Yahan drew her dagger as she got in range of the satyr's club, which he swung at her head in an attempt to brain her. She ducked underneath and knocked his feet, or hooves if you preferred, out from under him. She then pressed her weapon to his throat.

"That's it?" She actually sounded depressed and slightly stunned at how easy that had been. Annabeth had to agree, for all the supposed training the coach did and how much he watched mixed martial arts videos, that was...pathetic.

Meanwhile Tobias and Percy crossed swords before breaking off, Percy swinging at the right leg of his opponent. He was parried and Tobias attempted a thrust at the stomach. Percy sidestepped and elbowed him in the chest. His breath whoofing out, Tobias took a step back as Percy pressed his advantage with more swings. Sadly he didn't get any more hits as he was blocked and misdirected.

"Stop!" Everyone did and looked, which let them see Annabeth was standing next to Kazehana while pressing her dagger flat against her neck. "Or I kill your friend."

She wasn't a fan of taking hostages but if it worked, she'd do it. She expected them both to back away, but what actually happened was Tobias's eyes hardened. The smile and light chuckle that came from him was cold.

"She's not my friend." Annabeth blinked in confusion before he continued. "Yahan..."

She looked down, apparently looking at something before nodding. She pulled away her dagger, suddenly dropping into the deck and vanishing. Annabeth heard a gasp from Frank and Leo before cold metal touched her neck.

"Nice try." She heard breathed into her ear. She looked out of the corner of her eye to see Yahan right behind her. "But you'll have to do better then that."

"Ok, let's all just...calm down. We didn't come here to fight."

"Then why are you here, and who are you?" Percy growled. He got like that when Annabeth was threatened she knew, and it always made her feel a bit warm.

Tobias slowly lowered his sword and looked at his companions. The cold metal disappeared from her throat while her own hand was gently pushed away from her captives throat. Kazehana stepped around her and she felt rather then saw both her and Yahan vanish, only to raise up out of the shadow behind Tobias. Annabeth's eyebrows shot up.

Shadow travel!?

Tobias sheathed his sword and let his arms fall to his side.

"Who we are is long and complicated, so that'll have to wait until after repairs and Leo gets this thing working properly again. As to why we're here...we're here to help you defeat Gaea."

A/N: Well, this is the start of something new in my book. My own OC inserted into a universe I love reading about and think I could do a decent job of writing myself. Now, for those who want information on who Tobias is, I direct you to my profile page where I have posted a profile of Tobias. If you want more information on who Tobias is then just that, please direct yourself to the story included near the top of the profile. As normal, Review please and let me know what you think!