One day, Percy and Annabeth were in the city of Queens, New York for their four year anniversary. Percy decided to take Annabeth to an authentic Greek restaurant called Akrotiri.
They were walking hand in hand on the sidewalk when someone ran past them, shoving Annabeth.
"Hey!" Percy shouted. "Watch it man! That's my girlfriend."
The person kept running with a bulky black bag, not looking back.
Suddenly, he was thrown into midair and tossed onto a building a few feet from them.
Annabeth looked at Percy for confirmation that they saw the same thing.
"Did you- did that- huh?" Percy stammered.
"Come on. Let's check it out." she said taking off down the street.
Percy followed her.
They made it to the building, which was a beautiful hotel. The arches. The colors. It was stunning. But Annabeth didn't have time to admire it.
She and Percy raced to the roof.
When they got there, they didn't see anyone, just spiderwebs.
Annabeth shrieked at the sight and jumped on Percy's back.
"Sp-spiders!" Annabeth yelled, digging her nails into his skin and kicking him in the ribs as she climbed his back.
"OW! Calm down, Annabeth. There's no spiders on the webs." Percy said laughing slightly.
"Are you sure about that?" a voice said from behind the rooftop ac unit.
Percy put his hand in his pocket and gripped Riptide, in case he needed to defend himself and Annabeth, who was still on his back, incapacitated by the sight of the spiderwebs.
"Who said that? Show yourself." Percy said.
The voice chuckled.
Out from behind the ac unit, someone in a red and black suit with a spider symbol on the chest came out.
Percy couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Bro, why are you dressed as Spiderman." he said. "He's a comic book character."
Annabeth relaxed enough to let go of Percy.
She took a deep breath calming herself.
"What are you doing up here?" she said.
"First of all, ouch. I'm not just a comic book character, okay? And secondly, I'm not dressed as Spiderman. I am Spiderman." the guy said. "And to answer the lady's question… I've been up here on a stakeout for the past few weeks. That's all the information I'm giving."
Percy laughed.
"Okay, Spiderman." Percy said waving his hands in mocking gesture. "I'm Thor. Nice to meet you."
"No you're not. I've met him. He's much taller, got lighter hair, different accent. Hot headed at times. Pretty cool though. His brother, Loki, on the other hand... That dude has some serious issues. Wants to kill his brother, then doesn't, then does. He can't make up his mind. He got his butt kicked by Hulk once. It was hilarious!"
"Yeah okay. And I supposed you can shoot real webs and incapacitate criminals, too?" Percy asked, crossing his arms, smirking.
"Percy. Stop. I have a bad feeling about this." Annabeth whispered, putting a hand on his arm.
Spiderman scoffed. He reached behind the ac unit and picked up the guy they just saw being tossed in the air. Spiderman pointed at the guy, who was covered in webs, unable to escape. Only his head was visible. He also had webs covering his mouth.
"Is that proof enough?" Spiderman said.
"No. I want to see it. Shoot your webs at something." Percy said.
Annabeth face-palmed and sighed.
"Please don't encourage him." Annabeth said to Spiderman.
Spiderman fired a web ball at Percy's feet, plastering them to the roof.
Percy had the look of utter confusion on his face as he tried to move his feet.
"Whoa. That's cool."
Annabeth's eyes widened as she stared at the webs. Her skin began to crawl and itch. She shuttered. This guy really freaked her out.
Percy narrowed his eyes.
He reached into his pocket and uncapped Riptide. He shredded the webs and freed his feet.
"I still don't trust you. Let me see under the mask." he said.
"Woah, dude. That sword is amazing!" Spiderman said, stepping closer. "How did you do that? Where did you get it?"
Annabeth and Percy looked at each other.
"Wait, you can see his sword?" Annabeth asked.
"Yeah. Why? Am I not supposed to?"
Annabeth raised her eyebrows.
"Percy. I need to talk to you. Um…. Spiderman, don't go anywhere." she said. It sounded weird calling him Spiderman.
She pulled Percy to the side.
"There is no way he's a mortal. He shouldn't have been able to see your sword. What if he's a demigod?" Annabeth said.
"Annabeth, don't be crazy! He can't be a half-blood. No half-blood I know has powers like that."
"I know. But we're bringing him back to camp anyways. Now shut up and follow my lead."
"So, uh, Spiderman…." Annabeth said. "I was just wondering if you would come with us to Long Island. There's a place where people like you, like us, can train. I have a feeling you'd fit right in."
Annabeth couldn't read his expression under the mask. After a moment of silence, he finally agreed.
"Yeah. Okay. But I can't stay long. I have a job to do."
Annabeth smiled with relief.
"Great! I'm Annabeth Chase." she said, holding out her hand. "This is my boyfriend, Percy Jackson."
"Nice to meet you." Spiderman said, taking her hand.
He took his mask off revealing a handsome, brown haired guy with striking grey eyes. He couldn't have been more than twenty or twenty-one, the same age as Annabeth.
"I'm Peter." he said. "Peter Parker."
Later, after Peter, or rather Spiderman, had turned the thief in to the cops, they all headed for Camp-Half Blood.
On the way, Peter told his story of how he got his powers.
"Yeah it happened when I was fifteen. I was bitten by a spider. But it wasn't an ordinary spider. It was a radioactive spider or something. I'm not sure." Peter said, waving his hand dismissively. "Anyways, after I was bitten, crazy things started happening. I gained super strength, enhanced speed, amplified scenes and reflexes…. Yeah. Crazy stuff."
Annabeth shuttered.
"I hate spiders." she said.
Peter laughed.
"You know what's really ironic? Me too. I hate spiders. Have ever since I was a child." Peter said.
"Why?" Percy asked.
"You wouldn't believe it." Peter said, looking away.
"Oh yeah?" Annabeth said. "Try me. I have a feeling I'd believe anything."
Peter shrugged.
"Well, it started when I was a kid. Spiders seemed to have it out for me. Any spider within a mile radius of me would make their way and find me. It was worse at night. I would wake up to hundreds of spiders crawling on me. They would leave bites everywhere." Peter said.
Annabeth looked at Percy with her eyes wide.
She cleared her throat and held up her hand.
"Let me guess, when you tried to tell someone, they didn't believe you? The bites would disappear as soon as you said something?" Annabeth asked.
Peter looked at her with a blank stare on his face. He blinked twice and creased his eyebrows.
"And their webs too. How did you know?" he asked, caution in his voice.
"Just a guess." she said quickly.
"It was crazy because every night the spiders would come back. They would cover me in their webs so I couldn't escape. I felt as though I would suffocate in their prison of webs. Then, the next morning, there would be nothing showing that they were there. No bites. No webs. Nothing." Peter said.
Annabeth shifted nervously.
"So when that radioactive spider bit me, it didn't really shock me…. Until I got my powers." he said.
They'd made it to camp.
Finally, Annabeth thought. Peter's story really freaked her out.
They walked through the archway. And just as Annabeth had predicted, Peter was able to walk through without any problems. If he was mortal, he wouldn't have been able to.
"He has to be a demigod." Annabeth whispered to Percy. "And I'm pretty sure I know who his godly parent is."
Percy nodded.
"I have a pretty good idea too."
They showed Peter around and explained everything to him.
They told him about Greek and Roman gods. Told him about powers each cabin may have. They showed him the ropes and even introduced him to a few campers.
He didn't seem surprised. He took the news pretty well.
Then it was dinner time. At the beginning of dinner, Chiron beckoned Peter to the front and introduced him to the rest of the campers. They were ecstatic to meet a real life superhero.
"Apparently saving the whole word multiple times isn't 'real life hero' enough for these people." Annabeth huffed crossing her arms.
Percy scoffed.
"You're still a hero in my book, Wise Girl." He said.
Annabeth stabbed him in the ribs with her elbow and they turned their attention back to the front.
Chiron's speech seemed to drag on.
Suddenly, a glowing grey owl appeared over his head and Annabeth's suspicions were confirmed: Peter Parker was a child of Athena.
The dinner pavilion was filled with cheers and claps.
"Peter Parker, the child of Athena, has returned home!" Chiron announced.
More cheers filled the air.
"He's a child of Athena?!" an Athena camper said out of either disgust or shock. It was hard to tell. "Is that some kind of joke?! The dude is basically a spider in human form!"
It made sense to Annabeth. Spiders always came after the children of Athena because of what happened to their mother, Arachne. Swarms of spiders would follow a child of Athena and torture them. The one that Peter got bit by just so happened to be experimented on in a science lab. Its DNA was modified, giving Peter powers when he was bitten.
Peter returned to his seat beside Percy and Annabeth.
"This is amazing. I can't wait to dominate that lava rock climb! I've always wanted to take up sword fighting. That could come in handy if another war breaks out and the Avengers have to handle things."
"Welcome to camp, brother." Annabeth said, smiling.
Peter smiled.
"Thanks, Annabeth."
Percy let out a loud sigh of relief.
"OH THANK THE GODS!" Percy said.
Annabeth and Peter looked at him confused.
"What? I'm just glad you're an Athena kid." Percy said putting a hand on Peter's shoulder.
Annabeth looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Why?" she said laughing.
"Because! He's devilishly handsome! I didn't want you leaving me for Mr. Spiderman over here." Percy said defensively.
Annabeth looked at Percy, then at Peter, then back at Percy.
Both her and Peter burst into laughter.
"That would never happen, Seaweed Brain." she said kissing Percy.
"It better not, Wise Girl." he said. "You better not leave me for any other Avenger either!"
Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Not even for Thor?" Annabeth said, batting her eyes and making a pouty face.
"Especially Thor!"
They all laughed again.
Later, Annabeth showed Peter to the cabin.
"So, are you staying or are you going back to Queens?" Annabeth asked.
Peter shrugged.
"I guess I could stick around for a while. Someone's gotta teach all of you some real combat skills." he said smiling.
Annabeth laughed.
She was glad her new brother was sticking around, even if his powers did make her skin crawl. She could deal with a few spider webs if it meant getting to know him.