Hello!
If you have questions, pm them to me and I'll answer them. If you guys are enjoying this story (for some reason) then I will keep updating!
Also, if you have any stories, I'm going to read them. Just a heads up.
Alright, enough of my rambling. On to the story!
Hey, Sweet, I was just wondering, when am I going to get paid?
As they approached, the girl turned around, having previously been staring at the ever growing silhouettes of the helicopters.
"You'll want to be leaving soon," she warned.
"We know," Annabeth told her. She heard Lance's breath hitch at her side, and saw the girl's frown deepen slightly upon seeing Lance.
"Figured it out yet?" The girl asked Annabeth, who had no idea what she was talking about.
Lance stepped forward.
"Chances are, they did. But we don't have time for that," he said. Piper frowned.
"Figured what out?" She asked. Lance looked Annabeth in the eyes.
"That's what you and Keith were talking about, wasn't it?"
Just like Leo, Lance could be easily underestimated due to his humor and dumb questions. Obviously, he was smarter than he let on.
Annabeth nodded.
"You're Cuban, aren't you?" She asked him.
Everyone started studying Lance closer, maybe noticing the details between Lance and this random girl.
"Do you want the story, or not?" She asked.
Annabeth felt a stab of annoyance at her, but the wistful look she was giving Lance cooled her down.
"Yes, please," she said. The girl nodded.
"My name is Maria. I was only a baby when they attacked, but my parents told me everything. About 15 years ago, the Plokhiye Parni attacked Cuba. Apparently, the Russians were mad at us for never using those missiles.
"When the Parni arrived on the island, Cuban fathers from every province came together and herded them onto this beach, including my own father. They fought as hard as they could to keep them over here, allowing other families to escape. Some made it, others couldn't leave. They were born here, had lived and grown up here, and they decided they would die here.
"Only one Cuban man made it out of the slaughter: General McClain, but even he was in bad shape. His family had made it out safely, and they sent him there. I don't know what happened to him from that point, but I do know that he received a bullet to the spine. Somehow, he didn't get paralyzed, but temporarily, he lost his brain," she said. Lance was silent and staring at the ground.
Annabeth felt sympathy towards the kid. One glance at Frank, and she knew he felt it too. After all, his mom had been lost in a war in Afghanistan.
"I don't know about right now, but when the General arrived in America, they had to leave him in the hospital for 3 months. All he remembered how to do was breathe and blink. He couldn't feel anything-and I mean, feeling-wise."
Lance wiped at a tear and looked up at everyone.
"Dad started getting better when he came home. I decided to join the Galaxy Garrison in the hopes that I would become a fighter pilot, that way I could come back here and take out those Russians."
Leo shared a glance with Frank, silently asking him a question that Annabeth couldn't quite catch.
Leo turned back to Lance and said something in Spanish, to which Lance smiled. Annabeth knew a little Spanish, and was wondering why Lance said "I'm sorry."
Later, she told herself. Get this information here, now.
She searched for the helicopters again. They were even closer now.
Maria looked up at them too, and she paled.
"Hope the information helped you," she said hurriedly. She tried to rush off, but Lance grabbed her arm.
"Wait," he said. "I have something for you."
He pulled something out of his pocket: a little seashell necklace. He put it in Maria's palm, and closed her fingers around it.
Maria clasped it tightly, and Annabeth could tell she was fighting back tears.
"Que Dios pelee contigo y te bendiga con una larga vida," she said to him. Then she ran off.
The helicopters were within firing distance now. Annabeth didn't like that… not one bit.
"Anyone know how to speak Russian?" She asked. Hunk looked at her curiously.
"Why? You aren't going to try reasoning with them, are you?" He asked her.
"As a child of Athena, I strive for information."
She turned to the paladins, then locked eyes with Percy. He nodded encouragingly.
"There's a lot you need to know before we fight. It will be a lot to take in, and I hate to drop it on you, especially now, but you need to know: the Greek gods are real."