Annabeth

I just stood there, gawking at the metal giant that crawled out of the crater. I was thinking, 'I would have been crushed by that thing if it wasn't for Percy.'

If I wasn't so scared of it, I would be impressed. Its body struck the perfect balance between broad and sleek. It looked agile and fast without looking weak or flimsy. It looked strong and durable without looking slow and sluggish. It was painted with brilliant shades of blue, gold, silver, and red. The thing didn't even have a scratch. Whoever made it was seriously skilled.

Its body was steaming, probably from the water. Once it got out of the crater, it just stood there. But, I swear on the River Styx, it looked me right in the eyes.

As we were standing there, just staring at it, it seemed to be staring at us. It wasn't doing anything, just standing there. I thought it was dormant, until Clarisse came marching up, shouting, "Wanna fight big guy?!"

She shoved me out of the way. I stumbled, but not enough to break my eye contact with it. When I stumbled out to the side, its head followed me. It was staring at me.

Everyone besides Clarisse and Percy moved out of the way when they noticed this. Clarisse was just staring at it, while trying to challenge the thing to a fight. Percy came closer to me, ready to fight if it came to it. I wanted to thank him, but I couldn't stop staring at its eyes. Before anyone could do anything else, it spoke. Sort of.

"Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong."

None of us knew what it meant. For all we knew, it was just sputtering mechanical nonsense. I decided, since it was staring at me, i'd talk to it.

I walked up slowly, getting in front of Clarisse to talk to it.

"Um, hello there! I'm sorry, but we don't understand you. Can you understand us?"

It perked up, and spoke again.

"Greetings, I am Soundwave. I come in peace and mean you no harm."

We all just stared at it dumbfounded. We didn't expect it to be able to speak. We just thought it was sputtering mechanical nonsense, not trying to speak. Along with that, its voice was also surprising, at least at the time. Its voice sounded like a male voice put through a synthesizer, with the faceplate moving along with the syllables. It was monotone, but polite. It was, strangely, cool.

"Alright," I asked as politely as I could, "if you don't mind me asking, what are you, and where did you come from?"

"I am a robotic organism hailing from the planet Cybertron. I am not an 'it,' I am a 'he.'"

Its answer shocked me. An alien? I never thought they existed. I heard gasps from around the crowd behind me, so I could tell it shocked them too.

"Well, hello, Soundwave. I am Annabeth Chase, daughter of-"

Before I could say anything more, Soundwave scanned me. After a few seconds, he stopped and finished my sentence. In my voice

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and warfare."

Everyone was dumbstruck after that. Soundwave had not only mimicked my voice, he finished my sentence perfectly.

"Cor-Correct. How did you know that?"

"Simple," the alien explained, "I read your mind."

"Wait," Percy butted in, "you just read Annabeth's mind?!"

"Affirmative, 'Seaweed Brain.'"

In a different context, Soundwave calling Percy "Seaweed Brain" as seriously as if it was his name would have been funny. But in the context of, "Soundwave read my mind and ripped every personal detail from it," it was pretty startling.

In the meantime, I took the opportunity to ask him something.

"So, Soundwave, do you have any other abilities?"

He seemed startled, as if he wasn't expecting me to ask this. After a moment to process, he answered.

"My abilities include exceptionally heightened hearing."

"Wait, when you say, 'exceptionally heightened hearing,' what do you mean?" I asked.

Soundwave responded, "I am capable of hearing sounds outside the hearing range of most organisms, as well as hear as far as across a galaxy."

Percy jumped in, "Whoa, across a galaxy? Dude, you must have super sensitive hearing. How do you not go deaf from all the noise?"

Percy's question seemed to strike a nerve with Soundwave, as he flinches. Despite being uncomfortable with the question, he answered.

"I did not almost go deaf. I almost went insane from all the noise. That was, until I learned focus."

Then, without warning, he scanned Percy next.

Percy stammered out his objection, but it was too late.

"Greetings, Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses."

Before we knew it, Soundwave had read both of our minds. For all we knew, he knew everything about us. That's when Chiron stepped up.

"Now, Soundwave, your mind reading capabilities are impressive, but I can't let you go around invading the privacy of my campers."

"Affirmative."

"Hey, tin man!" Clarisse shouted out.

Soundwave finally looked at her. "Come again?"

Clarisse yelled, "Yeah! I ain't scared of you, so go back to whatever planet you came from or else!"

"Now, hold on," Chiron tried to intervene, "while he should respect our privacy, we should show him some respect! After all, he is from a foreign planet, so-"

It was too late. Now , several of the campers, Greek and Roman, began throwing weapons at Soundwave and yelling at him. It seemed like they couldn't stand the tension, and just threw everything. Even some Roman eagles got in on attacking him.

This shouldn't have happened. We were negotiating, but the campers attacked anyways. I felt sorry for him. All of this noise mist be painful. I silently pleaded with Soundwave in my thoughts, hoping he was reading my mind.

'Soundwave, I'm sorry.'

"You don't belong on this planet, piece of junk!"

'This wasn't supposed to happen.'

"Scram, freak!"

'Please understand.'

"Get lost, you-"

Suddenly, Soundwave had enough. He let out a guttural roar before yelling out.

"RUMBLE, FRENZY, RAVAGE, LAZERBEAK: EJECT, EJECT, EJECT, EJEEEEECT!"