Disclaimer: We do not own the characters or concepts from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or MARVEL. Those rights go to JK Rowling, Rick Riordan, and MARVEL Studios respectively.

AN: This story is co-written by shadowphoenix55. Read and review!

Chapter Three

by shadowphoenix55

"Hello." Annabeth said, attempting to push her nervousness down as she looked the person at the front desk in the eye, "My name is Annabeth Chase, and I am here to interview for an intern position."

The woman typed something on her computer and waited for a few seconds before nodding.

"Welcome to the Stark Industries, Miss Chase." She said before pointing to the left, "Go through that door to start your interview."

Annabeth gave a weak smile.

"Thank you." She replied, before turning to the door. She forced her feet forward. She was probably going to get the job - she was the daughter of Athena, of course - but a twinge of doubt was stirring within her. Working at the Stark Industries had been her dream job, before… before. Now, with Percy's "break", she had a chance to get her dream. But failing… failing was Annabeth's fear. The embarrassment of Percy knowing that she didn't get the "nerd job" was too much - and her mother! Athena would kill Annabeth if she didn't get the job. Well, if Athena even noticed.

Annabeth paused at the door.

This was it.

She reached for the handle.

She took a deep breath.

She closed her eyes.

She opened to door and stepped in.

Eyes open, Annabeth noticed that there were fifteen other people in the room already. When she'd called, they had said there would be twenty.

"Five minutes early." The man to the side said, writing something down on his clipboard, "You see that? A respectable time to arrive. Anything before that, and we won't be ready for you. Fortunately for the other fourteen of you," The man glared at the rest, "I have been doing this job for years, and I am prepared for anything."

Annabeth stood there for a half of a second, before quickly sitting down.

They waited in silence. Annabeth watched the clock slowly tick towards 9. When the short hand finally hit the number, the man tisked.

"Six late." He said, "Not the worst, but not the b-"

Suddenly, a boy with blond hair and blue eyes burst into the room, panting.

"Sorry I'm l-" He started, but the man was having none of it.

"We do not tolerate lateness." The man interrupted sharply, "You may leave. You are not fit for this job."

The boy looked as if he was about to argue, but decided against it. He simply turned and left.

"Now that that is taken care of, please turn to your computers…" The man started. All of the hopefuls proceeded to take a test on the computers that was a sort of mash-up between computer science, science, math, and in-this-situation-what-would-you-do. Annabeth whizzed through the test - it was all easy. She'd heard of all of it before. She finished and clicked out of the application. She looked around. Everyone else was still working.

"Miss Chase." Annabeth looked to see the man staring at her, disapprovement in his eyes, "Did you not understand the questions?"

Annabeth frowned, confused.

"No." She said, "I understood them all. Sir."

The man looked disbelieving.

"No one has ever finished as quickly as you have." He shot back, "This test is supposed to take hours, not forty minutes."

Annabeth looked at the clock. The man was right - she had only taken forty minutes. That didn't matter though - she was smart, and when people insulted her intelligence...

"Well, sir, I do like to break boundaries." Annabeth replied shortly, attempting not to let her anger show, "That is what you do here, correct?"

Whoops.

The man gritted his teeth.

"If you are so confident that you succeeded," The man replied, "You may wait in the lobby, Miss Chase."

Annabeth stood and left the room. All of the other test-takers watched as the door slammed, leaving them in silence.

Annabeth walked to the nearest chair outside and slumped into it. She cursed herself for letting her emotions get the better of her. The man would probably choose someone else just because of her attitude. Annabeth was left to ponder her actions for a whole four and a half hour while the others finished. People slowly trickled out, murmuring to each other as they did so. Most of them looked at Annabeth, pointing and gossiping. Annabeth, used to gossip from Aphrodite's spawn - uh, they were just awful - simply lifted her chin and pretended it didn't get to her.

When the last person came out, sweaty and shaking, the man who was in charge of the interview told everyone to come back into the room. They did, and everyone sat down except the man.

"Only one of you will walk out of this room with the knowledge that you are worthy of working at Stark Industries." The man started, "The rest are failures. The computers have calculated your scores. The winner's name will be shown here in exactly thirty seconds, along with their percent score." He held up a tablet-type machine, "And, to the winner: keep in mind this does not mean that you will stay at Stark Industries as long as you wish. You can be fired at any time."

The man looked over the group. Annabeth stared at the tablet, anticipation thrumming within her.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

A name flashed on the screen, along with 100%. Fourteen people groaned and immediately started protesting.

Annabeth grinned.

The man looked shocked.

Annabeth's grin turned into a sound of relief and excitement.

She was an intern at the Stark Industries.