"Back for more, Babe?" Marty McFly asks, placing an expert kick to Annabeth's gut.

She cries out in pain. Damn, what is it with this guy and her gut?

And he's wearing her Yankees cap.

She's not mad about that per se. It doesn't even turn her invisible anymore; it hasn't done that in years. She doesn't care about how that punishment from Athena completely exposed her. She had felt so vulnerable at the time, but that doesn't matter now. Annabeth doesn't care that it's the only thing she has left of her mother, who essentially disowned her.

She doesn't care that it's a stupid hat with a weird stain on its flattened brim, or that people seem to assume things about her when she wears it.

Anyway, there's no time to contemplate that; it's time for a fight.

"What the fuck, man?" Annabeth shouts.

She scrambles to her feet, retrieving her chopsticks, golden hair cascading down her shoulders and back.

"No need for dramatics," Marty teases. "Besides, it makes you look like a-"

"Fuck you!" she shouts before he can call her... that.

They run at each other.

He looks insane. His eyes are glowing, despite them being brown before, and he's practically frothing at the mouth. Did he look like this the night they met?

Annabeth begins to wonder if she would have slept with him in the first place had she been sober. She hates herself for enjoying the sex.

Chopsticks aren't the most effective weapon against Marty's short double-edged blade. If she still had her Drakon bone sword, she'd be winning with ease.

But that's not happening, now, is it? Because Annabeth's got her chopsticks in a criss-cross, trying to disarm somebody who saw her naked. This isn't working.

She drops to the ground and lays a kick to Marty's shins, sending him flat into the fake grass next to her.

Annabeth wants to force herself back to her feet, but something's definitely up with her ankle.

Marty's back in action before she can even come up with another insult.

"Oh, shit!" She ducks and Marty McFly's sword clammers against the Dutch windmill.

She's gotta get that sword, so she takes the pain and runs towards the discarded weapon.

Marty laughs like a real villain. "You didn't think it would be so easy now did it?" He holds up a small jar, its contents bright and green. Greek fire.

Before Annabeth can react, the jar collides with the windmill, and glass shards spill onto her face, surely leaving cuts.

Flames erupt around her, and the smoke affects her instantly. Not to mention she's still got a dud ankle.

C'mon, get back up again. Walk it off!

"Well, well..." says Marty. "What a shame. I supposed you'll be dead soon. I was truly hoping you'd stick around to see my plan succeed."

Annabeth has a feeling she's going to be worse than drugged this time.

Marty continues his evil monologue: "Thanks to my alliance with Pothos, you've been too clouded to see what's going on around you."

Annabeth can't believe she slept with this guy.

"Ahaha... I've been working on this plan for the past ten years! You see, that's when I got my perfect opportunity. The daughter of Athena would never notice my plan when she's got time for more... fun things, shall we say?"

That makes a lot of sense. It is a little weird how she went from being such an annoying shit to suddenly being the whore of the century.

No, you're not a whore. You're liberated. You're powerful.

But someone's tampering with her brain. It would explain her tendency to fuck like a rabbit.

She rolls onto her side and coughs. Smoke inhalation is probably not the best thing for her at the moment.

"You..." Annabeth starts, looking for some retort, but all that comes out is, "You went down on me!"

"And you still didn't figure it out! Pothos sure does work wonders, doesn't he?"

Marty winds his leg back, no doubt ready to land another blow to her throbbing gut.

Annabeth catches him by the ankle. "You forgot one thing," she says, hoisting herself upright and yanking him down to the ground next to her.

His eyes widen. He sure wasn't expecting this, it seems.

Annabeth, with her knee pressed to Marty's chest, takes back her Yankees cap from him and puts it on, twisting it backward. Who cares what she looks like in this thing? It makes her feel like a badass, even though the last time she saw a baseball game predates the last time she saw her mother.

"I've always got a plan." Annabeth raises a throwing knife she duct-taped to her hip earlier, ready for a kill. It's hard not to hesitate; this was a last-resort plan. The idea of killing another person, whether this guy is a demigod or not, isn't the most enticing.

But she doesn't get the kill because a bunch of harpies dressed like United States Postal Service mail carriers swoop in and drag Marty into the air in their talons.

What the fuck?

Is it too much to hope that maybe the harpies are on Annabeth's side?

Evidently, yes.

"Looks like we're both making it out of this one, Babygirl! See you in Europe! Or not!"

She watches Marty McFly disappear into the horizon, and then watches some more, just to be sure.

"Woah," she says to herself. The Dutch windmill is still on fire; it'll probably burn to the ground. Oh well. This takes glow-in-the-dark mini-golf to a whole new level.

She rubs her wrist. That's a burn that Will can look at later.

Oh, shit. Her friends are probably looking for her unless they haven't killed Marty's Cerberus yet. In that case, it's just Percy that's looking for her.

The dragon hovering above the venue lands and then shrinks down to practically nothing. Must have been Frank that saved the day. The giant dog corpse lays in a heap. It makes Annabeth kind of sad to think about when she was a kid playing fetch with the real Cerberus.

It shouldn't be possible to make a carbon copy of a one-of-a-kind monster, right? And Cerberus is special to Hades.

That's not the real Cerberus. It's gone now, but this just proves that there's someone out there that can replicate the most powerful monsters in the universe. Who's to say there can't be a made-from-scratch monster that could take down all of them?

Fuck, that's a scary thought.

So is Annabeth going to Europe?

It's likely to be a trap, and it's definitely a suicide mission.

"Annabeth!" Percy appears from behind an alligator. He's running towards her, and for some reason, her heart starts pounding.

He envelopes her in a massive hug. She can barely breathe, but she decides not to object. He probably needs this.

And maybe, deep down, she needs this too.

"Oh, my gods! Are you alright?" Percy tugs on Annabeth's arm.

"Ow, c'mon!" Annabeth shouts when he makes contact with her burn.

Percy drops her hand. "Sorry," he says. "What happened?"

"Eh, there's a lot to unpack"

"Okay? Can we start with the Greek fire, maybe?"

"Hold on." Annabeth bends backward over and handrail and cracks her back. "Okay, so, Marty McFly was there-"

"Is his name actually Marty McFly?" Percy asks.

"I'm not actually sure."

Percy arches an eyebrow. "You slept with this guy and you have no idea what his real name is?"

Annabeth shrugs. "I just know that he's definitely working with Pothos on some sort of plan, and they see me as a major threat, and I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Back to The Future again."

"Okay..."

"Percy!" Nico runs up to them. "The windmill is on fire! We gotta make sure she's not like, inside or something!"

Nico starts to jog towards the windmill.

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Percy asks.

Nico turns around. "Oh, you know, just Annabeth probably on the brink of death or something, no big deal!"

"She's... Nico, she's right here."

"Percy, are you delusional? I think I'd be able to see her if she was here," says Nico.

"No, I'm looking right at her."

"I'm not dead am I?" Annabeth asks. "Nico, you'd know if I was dead, right?"

Nico jumps and turns even paler than usual. Annabeth had no idea that could happen.

"Okay, not funny guys," says Nico. "Where is she?"

Percy smacks his hands against his forehead. "Right here! Stop pranking us!"

"No! You stop pranking me!" Nico shouts. "This is really insensitive, guys!"

"Whatever," says Annabeth. "Let's just, uh, figure this out when we get back."

Percy doesn't move. He just studies her intently.

"Percy?"

Percy cups her face in his palm.

"Hey, maybe a little less on the intimacy," Annabeth says.

He grabs her hat and yanks it off.

Annabeth snatches it back. "C'mon, I just got that off of Marty!"

"Oh," says Nico.

"Oh, damn," says Annabeth. She was just invisible. Looks like her cap works again.

But why can Percy see her?

She points the cap at Percy. "You put it on."

He obeys.

"He's gone now," says Nico.

"I can still see him. Give it to Nico."

Percy takes the cap off. "Okay, this is weird."

Nico takes a turn to wear Annabeth's Yankees cap. He spreads his arms and looks at them expectantly.

"You're still there," says Percy.

"Cazzo," Nico mutters. "I'll let everyone know you guys are good." He hands the ballcap back to Annabeth and hustles back towards the venue.

"Well, I guess I'll just carry this then." Annabeth starts to walk back towards the banquet hall, trying to hide a slight limp.

"Do you know what, uh, Marty, is planning next?" Percy asks.

Annabeth stops to grip the handrail. She's got to catch her breath a bit. "He said... something... about Europe... Oh, shit. I think I'm about to pull a Jason..."

Percy grips her waist and then her vision blurs.