Chapter 9: Annabeth Enters Rage Kill Mode
Annabeth seethed as she packed a backpack for Camp Jupiter.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Her sister, Ariadne asked.
"If I don't take care of this, it's only going to escalate." Annabeth said, examining her knife and attaching it to her belt. Ariadne had a worried look her face as she watched her sister pack, but said nothing else. A knock at the door and a quick entrance lead to Thalia flopping down on Annabeth's bunk with an excited smile.
"So if this ends up in a blood bath and you going to prison, can I have your iPod?" She asked, with a broad smile close to laughter. Annabeth responded by trying to smother her friend with a pillow as playfully as she could muster through her genuine fuming rage.
"One, it won't. Two, if it does, I'm giving my iPod to Ariadne. Three, get off my bunk; I actually made it this morning." Annabeth said, slinging her backpack onto her shoulder. "Alright, you make sure nothing happens while I'm gone. I'll be back by tomorrow afternoon if everything goes right." She instructed Thalia.
"Yes ma'am! I can't wait to see the Facebook statuses for this one!" Thalia said excitedly and clapped her hands.
"This can't and won't end well." Ariadne remarked, shaking her head.
Ariadne and Annabeth walked down the path towards the fairly new portal that had been erected in order for fast travel between both the camps in silence. Annabeth's demeanor made it perfectly clear to her sister that lecturing was not wanted, and Ariadne had no idea what else to talk about. Annabeth paid attention to the path in front of her, until the sound of running shoes hitting the ground came closer.
"Hey Annabeth! I wanted to talk to you before you left!" A voice from behind sounded. Annabeth turned around to see Apollo's newest camper, August, running up behind them. August turned off her iPod and moved her shaggy blonde hair out of her face and caught her breath. "I've heard that you and Reyna don't see eye to eye, but I don't think you should kick her ass just yet." August said, trying to reason with Annabeth.
"Oh? And who told you about my problem with Reyna?" Annabeth said, turning towards Ariadne, knowing that she and August were attached at the hip most of the time. Ariadne looked away sheepishly.
"Relax, she didn't tell anyone else." August said, diverting attention away from her friend. "Have you ever heard of Live Journal?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow at the name, hearing Piper mention it before.
"I don't know, maybe? What does this have to do with Jupiter?" Annabeth asked, annoyed with the interruption.
"It doesn't, but it's a nice place to just go and vent. I think I'd rather read your venting that have to get a note back from Jupiter about how to ended up in the middle of a massacre." August said, walking backwards in front of the duo down the path.
"Why does everyone think I'm going to kill her?" Annabeth mumbled with a face palm. August responded by moving to the right side of Annabeth and removing her knife from its sheath, cocking an eyebrow. Annabeth grabbed the knife back. "That's for protection! Nothing more!"
"Uh-huh, sure," August nodded her head, not convinced. "Anyways, I've got classes to go to and people to sing Journey songs with. But seriously, when you get the chance, check out Live Journal." With that, August took of down the path back to Half-Blood as the two sisters approached the portal.
"Please don't be too drastic." Ariadne begged right before Annabeth stepped through.
"Trust me when I say that this trip is purely business." Annabeth responded, trying to look convincing. Ariadne just rolled her eyes.
Once through the portal, Annabeth found herself face to face with a very angry Piper and a frustrated Nico.
"Annabeth! Thank the gods you're here!" Piper said, tugging Annabeth's arm towards the golden gates of New Rome. "They're having a meeting to discuss the progress and we need you to come and mediate before Percy loses his shit!"
"Whoa hang on," Annabeth stopped Piper from tugging her away long enough to ask a question. "What the hell is going on?" Nico stepped up to explain.
"Talk while walking," He motioned over his shoulder towards the gilded gates of New Rome. Annabeth and Piper followed. "The five cohorts have always treated each other like family. A dysfunctional family. Long story short, cohorts remain loyal to their heads more than each other. That speaks true in terms of Reyna versus Percy. Percy's got 5th and 4th Cohort on his side, but Reyna took the other three. The better three. Their loyalty will forever be to her unless Jason and Percy can prove otherwise." Nico explained as they walked up to the gate. Dropping their weapons off before entering, Annabeth was trying to calculate the best way to deal with things in her head.
"Option 1," She thought to herself, "I talk this out like a normal, diplomatic person and hope for the best. But that would never work because Reyna would prefer to talk over me… Option 2, I get Jason and Percy to side with me, and we politely but assertively ask her to stop being an awful person. But Percy's too nice and Jason knows better than the piss Reyna off…" Annabeth was quickly running out of options as the trio approached the conference hall. Annabeth had to think fast and efficiently, something she was literally born good at. Unfortunately, her brain quickly switched to rage kill mode upon entering through the double doors. Jason was sitting to the left of Percy in the middle, with Octavian sitting on the opposite side of the table. Two other Roman campers, Frank and Hazel took the two spots to the left of Jason. None of those campers were a problem, but Annabeth wasn't paying attention to them. Reyna was sitting at the round table to Percy's right, also known as Annabeth's spot. Annabeth had one last thought, "Option 3, kick ass and ask questions later."
"Annabeth?" Percy looked up from the animated discussion he was having with Reyna over blueprints, surprised to see Annabeth standing in the doorway, arms crossed with Nico and Piper standing behind her.
"Nice to see you too Percy." Annabeth said with obviously faked happiness, fuming that Percy let Reyna take his right hand side when she wasn't there. "Oh and hello Reyna." She said turning towards her rival. "I need to speak to you." She let her face go still, but obviously angry. Annabeth could have sworn she saw Reyna go slightly pale, but wasn't too sure. Reyna motioned for the trio to take a seat.
"I can see that you're not happy. Perhaps you'd like to discuss it with us?" Reyna said with a grin that only made Annabeth's anger that much worse.
"I didn't come here to discuss things, Reyna." Annabeth snapped, walking over to the table and taking a seat next to Octavian, who looked genuinely confused as to what was going on. "I came here to tell you that your leadership skills aren't working." Reyna cocked an eyebrow.
"Annabeth," Percy said in a calm tone, trying not to stir the pot, "I'm sure whatever it is you're mad about can be…"
"Percy, this isn't about you right now. This is between Reyna and I, and I think it's time for a new lead in this project." Annabeth said, cutting him off. Percy didn't dare challenge Annabeth in this kind of mood, and sunk back down in his chair.
"Not working? All that hard work we've been doing is not working?" Reyna half hissed through clenched teeth. Frank and Hazel looked ready to run, knowing that getting in the middle of this battle would be the last thing they would ever do. Octavian half smiled, waiting for the blood bath.
"Hard work? You call procrastinating on building any sort of Greek section hard work? I'd like to see the Greek housing and library section you put up if that's alright." Annabeth demanded, leaning back and crossing her arms. Reyna's eyes darted towards Percy for a split second, almost pleading for advice on what to do second before answering.
"I've been trying to get the job done, but some of my campers just don't want to pull their weight for such trivial things." Reyna answered, looking to the side like it was no big deal. From across the table, Percy could almost hear the fuse got off in Annabeth's head.
"Trivial? Really Reyna?" Annabeth asked with an angry, sarcastic tone. Reyna just shrugged from across the table, which was like waving a red flag at an angry bull. Annabeth lost her cool seeing Reyna act so smug. "You know what? Fuck you! That's it get up! I'm going to kick your pretentious Roman ass!" Annabeth snapped, jumping up from her chair and storming over to Reyna. No one was fast enough to stop Reyna from doing the same.
"Bring it you blonde haired spray tan bitch." Reyna responded, throwing a punch that Annabeth ducked. Annabeth managed to get in a swift claw to Reyna's face after straitening herself up. Nico and Piper were almost giddy with excitement.
"This is completely out of character for both of them, and I'm totally loving it." Nico leaned close to Piper and whispered.
"Your mother is a frigid prude!" Reyna choked out from a headlock Annabeth managed to trap her in.
"Better than a war hungry whore!" Annabeth managed to yell back before Percy ripped her off of Reyna.
"Holy shit! Ok, I don't know exactly what's going on here, but can we at least try and talk this out?" Percy begged, trying to contain Annabeth as she struggled against the death grip he had around her waist.
"This bitch is trying to ruin everything!" Annabeth yelled, trying to fight her way out of Percy's grip. She looked Reyna right in the eyes and continued. "Do you know how much time I spent planning New Greece out so your team wouldn't have to? Do you?" Annabeth snapped, still struggling. Jason had gotten in front of Reyna, in case she decided to take advantage of Annabeth's current position.
"Do you know how much time we spent correcting your mistakes? We could barely get passed the first blueprints!" Reyna snapped back, pointing viciously at Annabeth, as if to accuse her.
"That's not true! You've spent the last few weeks messing up the perfectly fine blueprints in favor of your own designs!" Percy argued. Reyna looked hurt at his words, but Annabeth hadn't listened as she ripped herself from Percy's arms and slam tackled Reyna to the ground.
"Is this how most arguments are settled these days?" Hazel asked her companion, Frank as the two girls ended up in an almost cartoonish catfight. Frank was too busy watching in shock to respond. Percy and Jason had given up trying to stop the fight, as getting the middle of flying fists and claws was a sucide mission.
"This is very unladylike of you and I will have you evicted and suspended from new Rome once I win!" Reyna yelled, putting Annabeth into a headlock and collapsing her knees, forcing her to kneel. Annabeth wasn't having any of it as she elbowed Reyna in the stomach, causing the grip to ease up. Annabeth quickly stood up and proceeded to spin around and swift kick to Reyna's ribs, sending her tumbling sideways. Just as Reyna stood up and was ready to backhand Annabeth, a booming voice sounded through the chamber.
"ENOUGH." The owner of the voice sounded angry and proud; a voice that Annabeth knew too well. Annabeth hesitantly turned around to see a fuming Chiron standing in the doorway, with an equally angry and equally fuming Lupa standing next to him. Reyna stopped mid punch and quickly stood up strait, not wanting to further her punishments.
"You two do realize that you're in New Rome? A sacred, non-violent city dedicated to the protection of demigods?" Lupa barked, looking like she may kill someone at any second. Annabeth glanced over at Percy, who looked like he might faint. It was pretty clear that she had messed up, big time.
Annabeth sat in a chair opposite Chiron at the table in the big house. After breaking up the fight, Chiron had all but dragged Annabeth back to Half-Blood, with Lupa doing the same to Reyna, both leaders looking like they may snap at any minute.
"How did you find out I was there?" Annabeth asked after getting fed up with the silence of Chiron just staring at her, deciding what to do.
"Ariadne told me." Chiron responded, not letting his face show any expression. Annabeth squirmed under his gaze, knowing that Ariadne had been right. This did end just as badly as she said it would. Annabeth broke the silence again, trying to get her punishment over with.
"So I guess I'm in for a world of hurt now aren't…"
"What happened? How could you possibly think getting into a brawl with Reyna was a good idea? I know you're a fighter Annabeth, but I'll be damned if I've ever seen you do something so…" Chiron shook his head trying to think of the right word, and settled on one that cut like a knife, "Stupid. What you did was incredibly stupid and impulsive. I'd expect this from a child of Apollo or Ares, but a child of Athena? Not to mention the favorite of Athena? Annabeth, what on earth could have gone through your head?" Chiron finished, looking at Annabeth with a face that was more worried than angry. Annabeth didn't dare look up, hot, angry, and more prominently, embarrassed tears stingy the side of her eyes.
"You have no idea what she's done to me, my work, and my friends over the past months." Annabeth growled, still not looking up.
"Then why don't you explain it to me?" Chiron demanded, folding his hands on the table, waiting.
"She's ignored all of my plans, there was no progress being made in New Rome towards the Greek section, belittles the Greek campers, and has pretty much wrapped her cohorts around her finger. Without their lead, the rest of us are powerless!" Annabeth explained, getting angrier with each point.
"Calm down, Annabeth. I understand Reyna hasn't exactly been your best asset in this project. I too haven't seen much in the ways of work on her part, and by the looks of the "progress" she's made," Chiron said, using air-quotes around the word progress, "she's probably slacking off just to spite you." Chiron finished, looking a little more sympathetic.
"Why on earth would she do that?" Annabeth asked. "She has no reason to be spiteful, I've done nothing to make her angry at me in the first place until now." Annabeth whined, not sure how that was possible.
"Maybe because you're a threat perhaps?" Chiron asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Out of all the campers in both camps, you're the only one who can out smart her, out fight her, and out do her in any match. Did you ever stop to think that maybe Reyna doesn't want to take your lead because she thinks the other campers know that?" Chiron asked rhetorically. Annabeth sat there in silence, not knowing how to respond. She felt an overwhelming sense of pride wash over her; Reyna feared her for her greatness. But, Annabeth let her hubris be taken over by an underlying but equally strong current of guilt. Annabeth knew what it was like to not feel good enough, to feel like no one in the world was listening, and yet here she was having beaten up someone who felt the exact same way towards her.
"I think I get it." Annabeth sighed, feeling really bad about how she acted today for the first time since she had gotten back to camp.
"I thought you might. I understand that letting someone take over for you is hard, but I also understand that things haven't panned out as we've planned. I'm letting you off easy this time. Stable duty for a week, and you're not allowed back to New Rome during that time." Chiron concluded, standing up and leading Annabeth towards the door. "Once the week is up, you may go back and take over the building process along side Jason."
"Fine." Annabeth said, walking towards the door. "Anything else?" Chiron looked at her pensively, then nodded.
"Maybe you should think about taking your anger out in more… creative ways?" Chiron half asked, half instructed. Annabeth nodded and headed back towards her cabin. She felt awful and ashamed of herself, and knew that killing some Sims in brutally horrible, SAW like ways might make her feel better.
AN: I… I think I updated. Holy crap guys, I never thought I'd see the light of updating ever again! So, let's get this over with: I'M MORE SORRY THAN ANY OF YOU COULD EVER KNOW. PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR BEING A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE UPDATER, AND LET ME MAKE IT UP TO YOU. That being said, but to updates. So, the past month has been filled with more work that should be legal, with leading up to finals next week starting on Wednesday, and I've been absolutely deadlocked and in no position to work on my fanfics at all. In fact, I've been pretty much sapped of all creativity, so this chapter admittedly kind of sucks. BUT, there are some early bird cameos in this chapter from my next fanfic coming in January, and after this week, expect 2 updates a week! Next chapter gets back into more computer/nerd/gaming/internet culture, so it will be a little bit more like the earlier chapters. Also, there won't be so much drama going on for a while, but a whole lot more comedy. I'd like to take this time to thank you all for sticking with me through this hell hole of a month, and I dedicate this chapter (even though it kind of sucks and I'm sorry) to the user by the pen name "windharmony", because she had a birthday on the first of Dec, which was my original planned update day! Thanks again for your support guys!