In which Luke's scare tactic backfires and you'll start to realise just why Annabeth is so vulnerable when they properly meet for the first time. Also- sorry I can't see reviews right now so I have no replies for you readers.
Then, before their enemy could move to get a good look to check on the roof there was a voice coming from the mouth of the alley.
"Luke! Luke what are you doing?!" and Percy twisted her head slightly to try and get a good look.
There was a girl stood there, long blonde curls, orange tee. Was she the girl Percy had spotted right before their chase had begun? She had to be right?
"Who's that?" Piper hissed the words, and Percy managed a very slight shrug, mouthing.
'I dunno' back to the daughter of Aphrodite.
"Annabeth?" the boy- presumably named Luke, looked startled. "Shit Annabeth what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" Percy could hear the annoyance in the girls voice. She couldn't see her face of course, not from so high up but she was willing to bet good money that this Annabeth girl was glaring at Luke. "What am I doing here? I followed you! You've been acting so weird lately and I saw you sneaking out of camp so I decided to follow you."
"You shouldn't have done that-"
"Luke what is going on? Why were you chasing those girls?"
"It's nothing for you to worry about." Luke was shaking his head, "Please Annabeth you need to go back to camp. Now."
"No. Not until you tell me what you're up to- and-" there was a moment of hesitation, and there was an undercurrent of fear in her voice when she said the next part, "And why you've got a sword like that."
"It's just a sword Annie-"
"No, no it's not. That's Celestial Bronze and steel forged together I'm not stupid Luke- but why, why would you ever- the whole point of Celestial Bronze is that you can't hurt mortals the only reason for a sword like that-"
"Then why are you asking?" the boy sounded like he was struggling. Clearly he wasn't enjoying this conversation at all.
"Please-" Annabeth's voice cracked very slightly, "Please tell me this doesn't mean what I think it does."
"Annabeth-" Luke was shaking his head. "You have to understand- I'm doing this for us. For Thalia-"
"How can I understand if you won't explain! What are you doing Luke! Please just be honest with me."
"They don't care about us Annabeth. About any of us. Look at my Cabin, look at all the kids there, how many of us ever even find out who our godly parent is. It's not right they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it."
"Luke-" Annabeth's voice faltered but Luke was speaking again.
"And think about Thalia." and that made Annabeth step back like she'd been physically pushed or something. "Think about what they did to her- she deserved better than that Annabeth we all do! They don't give a shit about any single one of us. They can't keep treating us like this, someone has to stop them-"
"Who? You?" the girl's voice was incredulous, "Luke you can't be seriously- they're the gods! You can't stop them-"
"Not on my own. But I won't be on my own. I know how it sounds but Kronos has-"
"Kronos?!" Annabeth's voice was almost a screech at that, "The Titan of Time? Luke no- no you cannot be that stupid-"
"I'm not stupid!" Luke shouted the words. "Lord Kronos-""Lord Kronos!" Annabeth was stepping back, "Gods Luke listen to yourself even if the gods are bad- the stories about his time as king- you can't really think that he wants to help you-"
"He gets what he wants and I get what I want- for us-"
"I want nothing to do with this!" Annabeth was shaking her head, and Percy gripped the lip of the roof tightly, her whole body was tense. Gods but this could go very very bad very fast and she and Piper were just up here watching.
She had a hysterical thought that this was kind of what it was like watching her movies and knowing that they'd actually happened.
And Piper was just as tense as she was by her side. "Percy-" she whispered the name, "What do we do-"
"We wait." Percy gritted her teeth. Hopefully Annabeth could handle herself. If not Percy and Piper wouldn't have much choice but to intervene.
"Annabeth please-" Luke was stepping forward, "I want better for us, Lord Kronos has swore that-"
"He's Kronos!" Annabeth yelled the words. "You have to be out of your mind to trust him Luke. I know you've been hurt and angry lately- I know that- I know that it's not easy but working with Kronos- that can never end well-"
"It will! I admit that things- things didn't go to plan-"
"To plan, oh wow you actually have a plan!" Annabeth threw her hands up, "I'm in shock because you're sounding pretty unhinged right now Luke, I wouldn't have thought you were capable of making a plan."
"That is not fair." Luke snapped, "Annabeth-"
"What was the plan then. Please explain it to me because I cannot for the life of me understand what you're thinking!" she paused, "You- whatever's been angering Zeus and Poseidon- please tell me it's not- of course it is. What did you do Luke? And what does it have to do with those girls you were chasing?"
"I-" Luke sounded like he was grinding his teeth. "I'm tired of being a pawn of the gods. Kronos made a good case- you know how it was after my quest-"
"Luke that quest was-"
"All I got was pity." Luke spat the words, "So this time I decided to steal something worthwhile. Something no other hero could ever steal-"
"Oh gods-" Annabeth was shaking her head, "Please tell me you didn't-"
"It was easy Annabeth. While everyone else was asleep I snuck into the throne room and took Zeus's master bolt right from his chair. Hades's helm of darkness, too. You wouldn't believe how easy it was. The Olympians are so arrogant; they never dreamed someone would dare steal from them-"
"That's because it's an insane thing to do!" Annabeth yelled. "Oh gods that's what they're fighting about- Luke do you have any idea what you've done-"
"Of course I do- I was going to take them to Lord Kronos- that was the plan but-"
"Luke the gods are on the verge of war! It'll kill millions- no, no, billions of people!" her voice was horrified.
"I don't care! All I care about is protecting us and rebuilding a new future- Annabeth I know you, you would be such an important part of that-"
"I want nothing to do with killing so many people." Annabeth spat the words, "I- how could you do this how- what went wrong? What happened Luke what do those girls have to do with this?"
"I-" Luke shook his head, "I'd made it out. I was doing well and then-" he grimaced, "I ran into these two girls. I don't know how they knew but they did. They grabbed the backpack I had the Bolt and the Helm in- I tried chasing them but they got away. I've been looking for them ever since."
"And you found them." Annabeth swallowed hard, "The Bolt and the Helm- Luke if you take them back now you can fix this- Kronos is manipulating you they'll listen we should go-" she turned around but Luke grabbed his arm tightly.
Percy tensed, thrusting her arm to the side, pulling her khopesh out of thin air. At least she'd have a weapon now if they needed to help Annabeth.
"Now you're the one talking crazy." Luke snapped, "They don't know how to be merciful Annabeth. Zeus would kill me on the spot- besides I don't have them."
"But-"
"They had the bag but it was filled with crap." Luke snapped the words., his anger very clearly directed to the two girls who had screwed him over- it was a very good thing he didn't know that they were above him "I have no clue what they've done with the Bolt and the Helm and they got away."
"Okay- okay-" Annabeth tried to pull her arm free. "Luke let go of me-"
"No-no I can't." Luke's voice was desperate, "Because if I let go of you, you're going to run off and you're going to tell the gods-"
"I won't Luke you're my- it was supposed to be us against-"
"Us and Thalia." Luke snapped, "And she's gone Annabeth. She's fucking gone because of them! How can you want to help them. Please just- you could join me. You'll be safe I promise. We can't have her back but you and I- it could be like old times-"
"If I say yes will you let me go?" Annabeth asked desperately, and Percy felt sick to the stomach the the sheer desperation in the girls voice.
She sounded almost broken- and it was clear that the two had once been close, the betrayal in her tone made Percy want to strangle the boy.
"You'd be lying." Luke was shaking his head, "Annabeth please- please tell me you understand I am doing th-" a sharp cracking sound filled the air and Percy resisted the urge to cheer- she noticed Piper doing a tiny fist pump of victory.
Annabeth had slapped him, had slapped him real hard too, that had to hurt, and she was ripping her arm free, stepping back.
"You aren't doing this for me or for Thalia and don't you dare! Don't you dare ever claim that this is for her-" and her voice sounded like it was damp with tears. "She wouldn't like this any more than I do. Even if I agreed with you about the gods- how many people are going to die because of what you did Luke? How many more will die so you can get what you want-"
"As many as it takes!" Luke yelled the words, "I- this is for us Annabeth and- and I can't just let you run off and tell everyone-" he pointed at the ground- and Percy's eyes narrowed.
They were too far up to see anything too well but she thought she could see the flash of fire, maybe a foot away from Annabeth. And Annabeth let out a horrified noise. "I-is that- Luke you- you can't-"
"I can call it off- come with me and I'll call it off-"
"A pit scorpion?!" Annabeth's voice was high, terrified, "You'd- you're not my Luke-" and then she was spinning, clearly making a break for it.
Luke must have not expected that because he let out a horrified scream.
Percy couldn't see exactly what happened but she heard Annabeth's terrified cry as she swatted at something- something small that had jumped towards her, and then her cry turned pained and she was dropping to her knees- and Luke was sprinting towards her, sword flashing in a short sharp arc, slicing through the thing he'd summoned, presumably the pit scorpion- and that didn't sound good.
And Percy didn't even think, she was on her feet and leaping off the roof quickly, landing on top of the dumpster with a thud, and the impact sent a shock up her legs but she'd had worse and she was leaping off the top of the dumpster, landing in a forward roll and coming up in time to catch the stunned Luke's blade with her own- and Annabeth was practically led on her stomach, trying to drag herself away from him.
"What the fu-" and Percy's fist smashed into his face hard and she brought her leg up and around, driving her foot into his stomach.
He staggered backwards and Percy was whirling around, sprinting towards Annabeth.
The daughter of Poseidon dropped to her knees next to the other girl- who'd stopped moving, and Percy felt horror flooding through her.
The scorpion must have been venomous.