Half-blood Assassins, one of the terms that could make a demigod's blood curl. Ruthless, bloodthirsty and unpitying, each of them are trained everyday of their lives since the age of seven to kill a demigod after receiving orders to do so. Their rules? Simple. Kill when ordered, be assured that Kronos's army is always right, and never, ever let a target live –unless you want to be on the victims' list.

Annabeth Chase knew those rules by heart and never doubted them. That's why people considered her one of the best assassin trainees. Or well, second best. Luke Castellan always took first place, a fact she earnestly tried to change. Annabeth loathed second places. They screamed Hey! I nearly won but I'm still a loser!

A cold metal gun landed on Annabeth's extended hand.

"Use it wisely," Siv, the head trainer, said to the four trainees on the obstacles room, which was normally used to tell whether a trainee was ready to be an assassin or needed a year more of training.

Annabeth defiantly inspected the room. There were over fifty target spots, obstacles, and the red flag at the end of the room. Whoever got to the flag first became leaders of an assigned group of assassins. If there was a tie, the amount of targets shot would determine who won. If –no, when Annabeth won, at seventeen, she would become the youngest leader.

The lights slightly dimmed and the windows of the Princess Andromeda's training room closed.

"Ready," Siv began.

The air suddenly filled with an indifferent air. This would not only determine if they were ready to be assassins –but trainees only got one chance to fight for the leader's spot. And Annabeth was sure that the rest wanted it as much as she did.

"Good luck," someone whispered next to her.

Annabeth offered a mere glance at Luke, who was looking at her expectantly. His polite actions toward her in the most competitive moments were beginning to annoy her. She understood that they were childhood friends, but he didn't have to hide his wish of winning and making her lose.

"Get set."

Annabeth made sure her gun was charged before positioning herself to dash toward the end of the room. As older and stronger as the other three young men in the room were, Annabeth would never accept defeat. She would win this thing.

"Go!"

Annabeth felt her athletic legs move before her brain could react. She was already shooting targets and diving closer to the end of the room when her brain processed the fact that the competition had begun.

She risked a glance at Luke as she crawled under the spiky cables. He was a few steps behind her, but gaining speed and strength with each second that passed, his pale face turning scarier and angrier.

Annabeth quickly stood up and resumed her rapid running. She smirked as she jumped over an elevated bar. She was ahead of everybody. However, a stabbing pain on her thigh interrupted her small moment of victory. Before she knew it, her palms met with the hard, wooden floor and almost instantly, pain began to spread throughout her body. She quickly shook it off and began to stand up. One of the trainees –lanky Johnny Rivers –had kicked her as she jumped over the bar.

Before picking herself up, she grabbed Johnny's ankle and pulled him down with all her ten years of training's strength. With a surprised gasp, he landed on the ground in front of her. She swiftly kicked his ribs before continuing her journey. Johnny should already know that no one dared to cheat her. She'd always return the deed with ten times the pain that they caused.

With a grunt, she pulled herself up the wall standing between her and victory. Grabbing her gun, she aimed it at the target on the roof and shot, making her count of fired bullets ten. As she landed on the ground, pride began to swell up on her as she spotted the red flag on the roof. She only had to run a bit more, climb up a rope and grab then be declared the winner.

Wiping away the amounts of sweat on her forehead, she ignored the pain on her legs and ran even faster, dodging more obstacles and shooting two more targets. The flag was even closer now, and the anxiousness to feel the red fabric on her hands bubbled inside her.

Just a few more minutes…

Someone got in step next to her. By the flash of blonde she spotted in the corner of her grey eyes, she already knew who it was. Luke. But this time, he wouldn't win. She would. And she would leave him to bite her dust. Clenching her teeth, she ran as fast as she could. But Luke only increased his speed and was once again next to her.

She clasped her hands around the rope and began to climb up, feeling her arm muscles aching as she climbed up. Her face tightened as she began to feel the familiar feeling of air not being enough to fill her lungs. Climbing the rope had never been her strong fort. She prided herself of being able to attack monsters swifter than most of her classmates, though.

As she got closer and closer to the flag, she could already imagine the feeling of victory and becoming a leader. Almost there, she told herself as she climbed faster and faster. She breathed in as she reached out to grab the flag.

"Yes!" she gasped out as she felt the rough fabric in between her hand and fingers.

But another hand grabbed it, too. Luke was smirking as he tried to pull it down.

Angrily, Annabeth snatched it away. Her hands began to slip, and soon, she lost her grasp and began to fall down. She tried to grab the rope once more but to no avail. Before she knew it, she fell on the floor and pain immediately exploded. She didn't care, though. She'd grabbed the flag.

But Luke had too.

"Well played," Luke murmured, showing her his grip on the flag.

Siv approached the two with a satisfied smirk on his face. He held up a small screen on his hand –each of the trainees' bullet trackers were monitored there.

"I'm happy that you both caught the flag. But you know that only one will be able to become leader," he said, his stern eyes inspecting both of them.

Annabeth pushed away strands of her blonde hair that had stuck on her face thanks to the sweat. She tightened her jaw as she glanced at Luke, whose eyes sparkled with mischievousness. He'd always been the best at shooting, even Annabeth had to admit it.

She wearily stood up, ready to hear Luke be announced as the winner.

"According to our tracker," Siv murmured. He swiped his fingers on the screen before increasing the tone of his booming voice. "With fourteen shots…"

Annabeth held her breath, gulping.

"Luke Castellan wins."

Luke pumped his fist in the air, grinning widely.

Annabeth blinked back tears of frustration as the other trainees congratulated the twenty-three-year-old. All those years of training, all the pain endured, all the tiring afternoons of conditioning… all for nothing.

She silently made her way to the door leading to the hallways and stomped out of the room. Once she was out, she sighed, trying to relax. She leaned against the walls and tried to find something to do now. It was obvious she'd passed the test with flying colors, but being just an assassin would not cut it. She needed to be the leader –she was born to lead.

She got ready to leave before she heard the door open. It was probably Luke coming to rub his victory on her face. But she was wrong.

"Chase."

Not recognizing the voice she'd heard, she turned around. A balding, tall man was standing in front of her, his eagle-like face staring down at her.

Annabeth, sensing that he was a superior, straightened her shoulders. "At your orders, sir."

Annabeth wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a hint of a smile on his face. "I saw you out there… you weren't bad."

Annabeth stood up even straighter.

"In fact, I was thinking that we could have two leaders in a group."

Even though she tried to conceal it, the surprise was evident in her face. Never in the history of assassins had there come out two leaders of a same training group.

The man gave her a curt not. "Of course, if you pass the test."

Annabeth nodded. "I'm sure I'll be able to."

"Good," the man replied. "Please follow me."

The man turned around and began to walk away. Without hesitation, Annabeth fell into step with him. After walking for a few minutes, the man stopped and opened a large, oak door. The door led to Head Campbell's office, one of Kronos's best assassins and therefore, the leader of the whole organization.

"Campbell," the man said once they were inside. "I think I got the perfect person to do the job."

Head Campbell, a man who could scare you to death even with his soft features, inspected Annabeth.

He chuckled. "I knew you'd bring someone like her. Annabeth, please seat down. Jones, you can leave."

The man –Jones –bowed his head before leaving.

Annabeth remained silent as Head Burns wrote something down. After what seemed like hours, he finally looked up at Annabeth.

"You and Luke are what we call true trainees. We are more than sure that you'll be able to follow orders neatly, securely and simply the best way," he told her. "Which is why I've got a job for you."

Annabeth nodded.

"I've assumed that Jones told you that if you succeeded, you'd become a leader?"

"Yes, sir."

Head Campbell nodded before opening a drawer from his desk. He searched through some files before picking up one and plopping it open on the desk. Annabeth found herself staring right back at a humbly smiling, green-eyed boy of about her age.

"This is Percy Jackson. He's a half-blood who's meddling with our business." Head Campbell paused. "I need you to get rid of him."

Author's note: Hi! I'm a Elizabeth, brand new to the whole world of FF :) I just wanted to thank you for reading my story (and possible reviewing), and also to point out some stuff:

1. Obviously, this is AU, so some events in the actual series might not be considered. Annabeth is probably OOC, but she's supposed to be that way in this.

2. My teachers have this hobby: make sure to load their students with all sorts of homework. So my updating might not be as quick as I'd want it to be.

Once again, thanks! Hopefully you guys liked it. Also, if you spot any mistakes, don't keep them to yourself. I welcome constructive criticism :D