WATER RAINED DOWN as if being sprayed from fire hoses. The agents were yelling in confusion, trying to figure out what was wrong. Annabeth wasn't really paying attention to them—her main concern was trying to wake up her boyfriend before he brought the plane down with everyone in it. He was still sitting there, staring at her. She couldn't help but relate this to the eidolon experience, but it was him. His eyes were as green as ever. She pushed down the memory and tried to ignore the water dripping from her clothes. She went to hold his face in her hands, but he jerked away in favor of scanning the room full of people running about, shouting to one another.

"Percy, can you hear me?"

He started to get up, but the wires pulled him back. He looked at them as if they were chains.

          "Leave them there," Annabeth ordered. "You need them."

          Instead of listening to her—why did he have to do that all the time?—he tore them off, effectively getting rid of them and sending a monitor crashing to the floor.

          "Percy, stop! Listen to me," she pleaded. He ripped the IV out of his arm. She winced, but he showed no sign of discomfort. He stood and headed towards the doors, oblivious to the storm engulfing the others. She ran after him and grabbed his arm in desperation, hoping against hope that this would pass.

He looked like he was about to cry. "Annabeth."

Annabeth let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Yes, Percy, it's me, okay? Please—"

Percy grabbed her face, cradling it in his hands, water dripping from his dry hair. "You have to go!" His voice broke. "We can't both stay!"

Annabeth let out a sob. She remembered this. She'd lived this over and over again. But she couldn't pull him out.

𝚫

          Jemma was soaked.

         Unfortunately, so was the rest of the med bay, and the people in it weren't faring much better. Fitz was trying to deactivate the sprinklers, but the look on his face said they were acting on their own. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on around her, just that there was yelling and confusion.

          The boy was by the doors, talking heatedly with Annabeth. He clamped down on her arm, and they exited to the hangar.

         Jemma rushed forward. "Stop!" she called after them. Annabeth turned in Percy's grip, looking as though she wanted to listen, but her feet kept moving. In the middle of the hangar, water streamed down Lola's doors—and it was in front of the car that Percy whirled around to face them, the anger of a thousand soldiers etched on his face. Startled, Jemma took a minuscule step backwards. She couldn't help but think of Mack when he'd been infected at the alien city. Clearly, Percy wasn't himself.

She shook off the revelation and forced herself to take in the situation—agents, sopping wet, on edge and ready to move. She knew what they saw. A hostage situation. But it was more (or less?) than that. It was complicated. Coulson, loud and rational, as always. Daisy, hands out towards the threat. Mack, big and intimidating, nearest to the centre. May, strong, subtle, coiled like a spring, or a snake. They were conversing tensely, but Jemma felt as though there were two hands clamped over her ears. Nothing was sticking. If Fitz asked later, she would have no idea what had gone down in the hangar.

Fitz. Where was Fitz? She glanced over her shoulder. She couldn't quite see through the water running down the glass doors, but that was definitely Fitz, still in the med bay. She carefully slunk off as fast as she could, slipping through the doors like a whisper.

There he was, struggling with the only thing that could come to their aid right now—an I.C.E.R. He barely looked up at her. "Water resistant," he spat, frustrated. "Not waterproof." He went to slam it on the table, but stopped himself and set it down. "These hands," he whispered almost incoherently. "They can't. . .they don't remember. You need to do it, Jemma."

"Fitz, there's no time," she said, urgent. "They have seconds, if that." Her eyes darted around, looking for an idea. There—"Fitz, are there any syringes in that cabinet?"

He nearly fell over trying to get there quickly enough, but her assumption rang true. He tossed it to her and Jemma got to work. She dumped the I.C.E.R.'s magazine out and plunged the syringe into the end of one of the rounds. It took too long to fill up, but as soon as it did, she was gone.

The situation had escalated only slightly. She speculated she hadn't been gone as long as she thought, but it didn't matter. She was almost directly behind Mack now, concealed with a clear view of the two teenagers, the syringe gripped in her hands. Percy stood his ground between Annabeth and her team, his girlfriend's arm still clutched in his hand. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Annabeth appeared to be calculating everything she could see—and she was looking right at Jemma.

Her eyes flicked from Jemma's face to her hands and back up again. Jemma thought she made a gesture, but it was too quick and subtle to have been intentional. Annabeth's lips pursed and her hand moved again, the same way, as if catching something small. And Jemma understood.

The syringe sailed through the air in a wobbly, imperfect arc, catching the attention of everyone else in the room. As soon as it hit Annabeth's open palm, it was over.

Quick as lightning, Annabeth tore her arm free of Percy's grip. She launched herself off of the car and locked her legs around Percy's neck like a deadweight and then he was on the floor, Annabeth straddling his chest, and she plunged the needle into his thigh. If Jemma had blinked, she would have missed it. The sprinklers died down immediately.

The team looked almost dumbfounded. Daisy lowered her hands and ran to Annabeth to help her up, but she was on her feet already.

Mack moved forward, too. "Damn, girl," he said appreciatively. "It's like Black Widow learned it from you."

Annabeth let out a breath and rubbed her palms on her jeans. "Thanks, I guess." She looked past him to Jemma. "You. What's your name again?"

"Jemma. Simmons."

"Thank you for that."

Jemma swallowed. "Well, I figured you were. . .struggling."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I don't struggle." She turned back to her boyfriend, spread-eagled on the floor. "Where can I put him?"

"Well, I mean. . .we could put him back in the med bay, but. . ." Jemma looked at the soaked room and trailed off.

"Lead the way."

Jemma faced Annabeth, who, having brushed off Daisy's helping hand, was draping Percy over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. Mack looked impressed. Jemma could only stare. "Er, yes. Of course." She opened the doors again and gestured towards the stretcher. "It's all wet."

Annabeth plopped him down anyways. "He won't mind." She sighed heavily.

"Wait. He's completely. . ." Jemma wasn't sure what to say. Was she crazy? Hallucinating, even?

"Dry," Annabeth finished for her. "It's. . .kind of his thing."

Coulson looked from Annabeth to Percy and back again, looking skeptical. "Okay. . .we'll need an explanation for that."

Annabeth bit her lip. She'd unconsciously reached for Percy's hand and was now clasping it in both of hers. "I guess we owe you that." Her eyes moved from Coulson to Daisy. "A trade. One explanation for another." Her eyes narrowed threateningly. "And no holding back."

Mack chuckled, his arms crossed but his expression light. "You sure about that? Not everyone can handle—"

"I can handle more than you, that's certain," Annabeth snapped suddenly, glaring at him. "What you just saw is nothing—nothing—compared to my daily life."

Jemma was reminded of Bobbi just then. A reckless but carefully strategizing force of nature.

"Don't assume you know anything about me just yet," Annabeth spat through clenched teeth. "I know things—I've seen things that would drive any normal person insane. And I'm still standing."

Daisy stepped forward. "You know, you're not the only one who's gone through. . .things. I'm like that, too—"

"You know nothing," Annabeth repeated, her voice low and dangerous. Out of the corner of her eye, Jemma saw Fitz take a step backwards.

            "Let's all take a deep breath," she suggested, her own breathing rather fast. "Obviously we have to clear the air. How about we start over." She stuck her hand out to Annabeth, nervous but trying not to show it. "Hi. I'm agent Jemma Simmons of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D. We are curious about you and Percy and are only seeking to gain some knowledge of the world."

          Annabeth looked at Jemma's outstretched hand warily, as if it were potentially biohazardous. After a long pause, she reached out and shook it. "Hi. I'm Annabeth Chase, combat extraordinaire. You kidnapped me and my boyfriend, but I'm willing to forgive that little misunderstanding if you'll let us go." She smiled innocently, as if she weren't vaguely threatening an entire agency and its director while sitting right in front of them.

          Daisy shifted next to Jemma. "Daisy Johnson.  Hacker. My parents were both psychopaths and I'm not human, so that's fun, I guess."

          "Daisy!" May snapped, but it was too late. She'd said it. Shell-shocked, the team's attention gravitated towards Annabeth.

          Jemma smacked Daisy's arm lightly as a form of chastising and rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her," she told Annabeth. "She's just—"

          Annabeth's shoulders shook. She put her face in her hands, hunched over as if she were upset. It took Jemma a moment to realize she was laughing. Annabeth threw her head backwards and the first bout of audible laughter bubbled from her mouth. It was such an unexpected reaction that Jemma could feel the tense atmosphere alleviate a little. Coulson, who had been uncharacteristically silent this whole time, was smiling in spite of himself.

          ". . .joking," Jemma finished in a whisper. She must have came to the conclusion herself.

          Annabeth tried to compose herself, wiping under her eyes with a thumb. "I'm. . .I'm sorry, it's just. . ." A laugh escaped, and she forced it down, but kept the smile. "Wow. I can't believe you think I wouldn't have been able to handle that. Haha, wow. Tough luck." She let out a breath, a hand over her chest. "Oh gods, that was great."

          "Gods?" Coulson interjected, in light spirits. "You believe in gods?"

          Annabeth rolled her eyes. "No, I don't 'believe' in anything. There are a bunch of assholes in the sky."

          "Wh—" Fitz started, but right then a loud CRACK resounded through the plane, causing a few things to move around or fall off shelves. The team startled—Mack slipped and landed on his posterior. Jemma had to laugh despite her racing heart.

          "Come on, you know it's true!" Annabeth shouted to no one in particular, unfazed. "After all the shit we've done for you, you should at least recognize that!"

          A low rumble could be heard outside the plane, but nothing happened after that. The agents pulled themselves together—Daisy put her hands down after a moment, Mack peeled himself off the floor. Jemma looked sideways at Annabeth, who had her arms crossed. "Assholes," the teenager repeated.

          Jemma didn't know where to point, so she vaguely gesticulated upwards. "Was that—"

          "Thor," Mack finished for her, sounding sure. "Man, he seemed a lot less ill-tempered last time we crossed paths."

"Although if you're on his bad side. . ." Coulson trailed off with a good-natured shrug.

May rolled her eyes, smirking. "That man has no bad side." She earned a small laugh from Daisy.

          Annabeth knit her eyebrows, glancing at each of them in turn, thinking. Finally, she spoke. "Do you guys know a Magnus?"

          "No, I don't believe we've ever met a—met a Magnus before, really," Fitz answered, his voice steady. Jemma had almost forgotten he was there. "Why?"

           Annabeth shrugged as if it didn't really matter. "My cousin. He's met Thor a few times, so I thought. . .yeah. Nevermind. But no, not Thor."

          "Not Thor?" Fitz said confusedly.

"No. Definitely not. Although some might say. . .nevermind. Di immortales, this is complicated." Annabeth took a breath, running her fingers through her hair. "Okay, well, let's say—"

She was interrupted by a cracking over the plane's intercom. "Landing in five," May's voice informed them. Jemma looked around the room, perplexed—when had she left?

          Coulson sighed, exasperated. "Well, I was hoping to hear the juicy part, but I guess we'll have to wait until we land." He started to walk off with the rest of the agents. Jemma went to follow, but Annabeth stuck out a hand to stop her.

          "Jemma? Where are we landing, anyways?"

          Jemma looked down at the girl. For once, she was close enough to her to notice the small details. Her honey blonde curls framed her face beautifully—she had a smattering of freckles across her already tanned face, and her eyes were intellectually gray, the color of pencil graphite, or the moon. "I'm. . .not supposed to say. It's classified."

          "Anything," Annabeth pleaded. "I'm just. . .I'm scared."

          Jemma sighed. She didn't even have to think before responding. "It's one of our bases. Its name is Providence."

★

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL YALL WHO LIKE TO CELEBRATE DAYS IN DECEMBER CAN I GET A WOOT WOOT

YEEEAAAAAHH

Anyways I APOLOGIZE AGAIN SO FROM NOW ON LETS JUST ASSUME THAT EVERY AUTHORS NOTE FROM ME EVER HAS AN AUTOMATIC APOLOGY IN IT EVEN IF I DONT EXPRESSLY SAY IT OK

holy heckin hephaestus there's a whole lotta crapola goin on in this chapter but hey i think it turned out pretty ok :)))

MY COUSIN WHO LIVES 2,000 MILES AWAY IS COMING UP TO NY TOMORROW UNTIL NEW YEARS AND IT SNOWED GOD BLESS!! WHAT DID YALL GET AND DID U HAVE HAPPY TIMES WITH UR FAMILIAS???

MY gift to YOU is a NEW CHAPTER so you're WELCOME and i LOVE YOU

ALSO SINCE MOST OF THIS IS JEMMAS POV I TRIED TO MAKE IT BRITISHISH SO IF YALL BRITS SEE ANY AMERICAN WORDS/TERMS THAT BOTHER YOU BUT YOU NORMALLY IGNORE PLEASE GO TO TOWN I WANT TO BE AUTHENTIC™️

ByE fOr NoW
cajoling