Before I Die (Split Souls part 1)

45: YES! I Did It Oh My Gods I Did

TONY POV

Watching Percy do that to Fury was... Terrifying. His power wasn't the scary part. It was his face. He was completely calm, except for his eyes- they were calculating, protective, a controlled rage. Percy knew exactly what he was doing.

He seemed almost like a completely different person. The protectiveness was always there, but at that moment it was unparalleled. I can see why the gods might be afraid of him. I now completely understand why he needs Annabeth. 

Sure, they're soulmates. But she keeps him human, in the moral sense. And the world be damned if something happens to her.

So when Percy showed up with a girl passed out on him, I might have gotten a bit defensive, or overbearing, whatever you want to call it. As awkward as that misunderstanding was, I'm relieved. 

Percy left in a hoodie with messy hair, and came back looking like a model. My guess is it's Thalia's doing. I wonder how she got him all prettied up. Well, however she did, it might be just in time. 

Pepper has been putting together a thanksgiving gala fundraiser event. Oh, dear gods, the press we'd get for Percy. So, maybe not have him come. Especially with the Valdez dubbed 'Mr.Pit' after him.

Honestly, I'm really worried about Tartarus. Or his affect on Percy. I can't stop thinking about what he might be able to do now that he's... You know, here. 

Percy left about seven and a half hours ago now. I really hate it when he just disappears like that. When he gets back we're going to have to have a talk about not doing that while someone is out for him.

Percy was right about Valdez. He's a genius. We've made a ton of progress on projects I was stuck on. Calypso, like the actual Calypso, has been helping us make armor, gear, all the like. 

Bruce got here a couple hours ago. Telling him that Loki was probably under mind control had his head spinning. He's working with Will in the infirmary. I think Nico's there too.

Poor Steve. Thalia and Clarisse dragged him down to the gym. Natasha and Clint have been looking for anything about Tartarus. No dice so far. Annabeth is looking over blueprints for me.

"But if we adjust the angle here-" Valdez pointed to a specific part of the armor we were working on.

"Then the structural integrity would be compromised, but if we adjust right here, just below that-" I interrupt.

"Then the integrity will be fine, and there'll be more room for the wiring or whatever you need to do." He finishes my sentence.

"Exactly." I say, adjusting the hologram model. "JARVIS, how's that?"

"Just as you said, Sirs."

"Awesome! So if we go back to the helmet, I was thinking about the plume. We gotta give her a plume." Valdez insists enthusiastically.

"Okay..." I pull up the helmet hologram, and we look over it. "We'd have to adjust the shape here to support the weight, and the angle here-"

"Make this bit longer to balance it out-" Valdez figured out how to use the hologram and made his own adjustments.

"For the plume, we could use-" 

And that's how we work. He is a genius. Some things take a little explaining, but then he's ready to go again. I'm better at things like coding, but he has this remarkable ability to know exactly how a metal would behave, or the wiring.

He's severely ADHD. Which often means we just bounce around between projects a lot. He focuses on the work in front of him, but all of it, at nearly the same time. If he gets a little stuck for a minute, he jumps to a different thing and when he comes back he has a solution.