Annabeth tapped her foot impatiently. "A minute? Yeah right," she muttered. "Real efficient on the whole 'saving the world' business." She took out her phone. She knew Percy was in the area, and wanted him in on the action. They were a team, after all.

She speed dialed Percy and brought the phone to her ear. "Damned idiot isn't picking up." She muttered a few choice words under her breath. She hoped Percy was alright. He probably just didn't hear the ringtone.

She heard the heavy thudding sound of running and turned to see a boy with brown hair and brown eyes skidding to a stop in front of her. "Are we ready?" Annabeth didn't recognize his face from anything, but the voice was the same.

"Of course I am, but it took you long enough," she complained, hastily stuffing her phone back into her pocket. As she studied him a little more closely, the boy squirmed under her intense gaze. And he really was just a boy. He couldn't have been older than 16.

They had their little staring contest for a while. Gods, this is so awkward, she thought.

"All right," she said, because the silence was really stretching on for a long time. "If we're going to be working together, we need to know each other's names. I'm Annabeth."

"Uh," Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't think that's going to work. See, it's bad enough that you've seen my face. If you know what my name is too, you could track me down easily."

Annabeth let out a frustrated groan. "You think I'm going to do some 'big reveal' on social media or something? As if. Fine, let's just get this over with. I'll call you Simon. Alright?"

She was sure it wasn't his real name, but nonetheless, he gave her a dopey smile and said, "Sure. Whatever you want. Simon's cool." Annabeth really hoped that he wasn't developing a crush on her.

"I have a boyfriend," she said suddenly. She cringed inwardly. That was really untactful. She was still foreign to the fact that some people actually found her attractive. When she was younger she was always ostracized for being 'scarily' smart and weird. Now she attracted admiring stares from woman and men alike, as well as jealous glances. But Percy was still the only person who was accepted and loved her as she was.

"I mean...not that this is useful information for our quest...what I meant was ," she quickly backtracked. "Speaking of which, what do we know about the evil mastermind behind as this? How do we find him and track him down?"

'Simon' scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure, actually. I usually wait for another baddie to show up then follow them."

"Good plan, but it might not work this time," Annabeth said. "But perhaps this might..." She reached down to pick up a card her sharp eyes had caught sight of. It was a monster call card:

Monster Sandra

Currently gainfully employed at Cain Corporation

12 Peking Road, New York City

sandra1352

There was a photo of the now deceased monster on the left side of the card, presumably the most attractive shot.

"Well, that gives us a start. To Peking Road!" Simon cried enthusiastically.

"And just in time too," Annabeth observed drily. "Let's scram before the cops question us.


"Why are we running there again? We couldn't have taken the bus, or the train?"

"Because public transport means crowded and confined places. It's harder to fight, and to escape. It would be a monster's fantasy for us to do that."

Annabeth had to hand it to the kid. He had stamina. But he still had his limits, and he was starting to tire out. Annabeth, on the other hand, was still going strong. Years of running away from things was the best training she'd ever had.

Holy jeez, Peter thought as he huffed and puffed, trying to keep up with the stunning blonde. She's good at running.

That was the understatement of the year. As he felt himself slowing down more and more, she gave an extra burst of speed, pumping ahead of him.

"Look," he panted. "How bout we cut a deal? You keep running, and I'll put on my spideysuit and get there myself."

She must have felt sympathy for him, because without even turning around, she said, "Sure."

Annabeth was a practical person, and Simon was slowing her down. She felt more inclined to trust him now because she had seen his face, and she usually had a good judgement.

From behind he shot some spider web. Annabeth winced as her ankle throbbed in memory of her injury.

Gods, she had to get over it soon. Demigods often bounced back quickly from their injuries and harrowing experiences. Annabeth would have to learn to let go of it, or let her fears control her for the rest of her life.

A block away from Peking Street she halted, grabbing her water bottle from her backpack and taking a swig.

Spiderman disappeared behind a huge trash can and emerged once again as Simon.

"So...what now?" he asked as he moved to stand next to Annabeth, who was staring up at an ominous black building. The headquarters of Cain Corporation, perhaps.

"Well, we can't just walk in there completely clueless. What are your theories?" She turned to him. "You seem to know about the evil mastermind."

"I have a feeling that it's the Tinkerer. After I defeated the Vulture he escaped justice and has been on the low ever since."

At Annabeth's blank look, he hastily explained what happened a few months ago during his battle with Vulture, and his underground network of selling dangerous weapons to villains. "And his crew hasn't been heard of since, but I know the Tinkerer ultimately works for himself. He only cares that his business has been dismantled, and by me, so he holds a grudge against me for foiling his plans."

"Are you scared of him?" Annabeth asked gently.

"What? No!" Simon objected immediately. "A little worried what he might send after me, but definitely not scared." He seemed lost in thought, then shook himself a bit. "Ok, now will you tell me about the whole monster turning to dust thing? I'm very confused."

Annabeth could see that he was about to burst from curiosity. "The Greek mythological monsters don't have a soul, so when they 'die'," here she made air quotes, " they don't actually go to the afterlife, they just enter Tartarus and wait to be reincarnated. So the Minotaur, who died centuries ago, could come back once again. And it has."

He blanched. "You mean they don't just stay dead? They could come back to life?"

"That's right. The monsters just keep coming back, again and again, and our whole purpose is to kill them before they kill us."

"Jeez, aren't you a ball of sunshine. What are you anyways?"

"I'm a Greek demigod, daughter of Athena. I entertained the thought that you might be one of us as well, but I think you're just a particularly gifted mortal."

"Yeah, by the way, don't you live in New York? How come you don't know about the Vulture? It was on everywhere.

She looked a little uncomfortable. "I've been busy, these last few months. Recovering from injuries and all." She looked sad for a moment, then turned to him again. "Soo, what's our plan?"

"Ok, we go in there, I'll shoot my web thingies, you throw ninja stars or whatever, and we take as much people down as we can, though preferably without killing anyone."

"Um, I usually like to go into battle with a more well formed plan. You know, try to find out what we're up against first, how many enemies there are, and what weapons they have."

Simon nodded. "True, true. So how do we..." He trailed off suddenly, eyes widening at something that was behind Annabeth's back. He waved his hands in front. "No no no! Don't turn around!"

"What are you..." Annabeth turned behind to see what he was so eager for her not to lay her eyes upon.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH A SPIDER!"

To be continued ~

A/N

Sorry this took so long. I had midterms :(