Hello, and welcome back to...my horrible explanation for being absent! Coming up on this episode, you'll see me explain that I had my first 2 lacrosse games of the season and was left with bruised ribs. If anyone ever says that women's lax isn't a real sport cuz there isn't contact, you can tell them that someone from a fanfic website said they had bruised ribs from playing.
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. We're starting to get some actual plot movement I think so have fun with that. Honestly, I kinda forgot what happened in here so...yeah. Please comment, vote, and add to your library! Stay safe & happy reading!
- your author
Ω ♆ Ω
Percy and Annabeth woke up to the sound of a startled shout. Frank's startled shout, to be specific. They both shot up right away, their battle instincts kicking in, but Frank had seen enough.
"Seriously guys!? Again?" he exclaimed.
"Nothing happened!" Annabeth reassured, "We just fell asleep!"
"We did kiss a little," Percy muttered, and Annabeth shot him a death glare.
"Not. Helping," she whispered scathingly.
A sense of complete déjà vu washed over Percy. Except this time, the rest of the Seven were standing in the doorway, watching on with various amused expressions on their faces.
"Oh, this is perfect. Coach Hedge is gonna love this," Leo smiled in maniacal glee.
"No, Leo," Piper ordered, "You're not going to do that. Instead, we are going to get this meeting over with so I can get some sleep."
"Aw...you ruin all my fun!" he exclaimed.
"Someone's gotta do it when Calypso isn't here," Piper said.
It was true. Calypso and Piper are probably the only ones who could actually control Leo. Calypso because of Leo's fear of losing her or just general fear of her, and Piper because of her charmspeak.
"Ok! That's enough. We're getting sidetracked. We need to start this meeting." Jason clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
He gave Percy a meaningful look; one which said to 'take it from here.' So Percy did.
"Um, well, Annabeth and I wanted to talk to you guys about what's been going on. We need to come to an agreement on what we are allowed to say and do with the Avengers. I don't think we should show them the full extent of our powers because it seemed like those spies were looking for a reason to lock us up," he started, "And I'm not particularly fond of being put in a cell. How about you?"
"Yeah. And we need to figure out a way to deal with the bombings without them figuring us out. The mortals seemed pretty Hades-bent on releasing the big secret, and that never bodes well for people like us. I know that we need their help, but I don't trust them." Annabeth said.
"We can just say we were born with the powers, and have no idea why. I mean, it's technically true," Jason offered.
The others all nodded in agreement.
"Ok, now what about the pattern? What is it?" Piper asked.
"All of the places are big parts of the Greek and Roman world. Brooklyn Bridge is near Manhattan, the home of the Gods, Portland: Mt. St. Helens, where Typon used to be held, LA: entrance to Hades, Long Island: Camp Half-blood, and San Francisco: Camp Jupiter," Annabeth answered.
"Woah," Jason whispered, shocked.
"Yeah, but that's not our biggest concern. We also need to figure out how to hide our identities from the world while we're fighting with the Avengers," Annabeth said.
Everyone else there hadn't even thought of that. It comes in real handy to have a daughter of Athena around sometimes. Ok, not sometimes, all the time. All of them would be really dead without her quick thinking and planning.
"Um, I could try to see if the Aphrodite cabin could cook something up?" Piper suggested, "But most of them are still getting used to fighting, so they won't really know what to make. They need help with the designs."
Leo shot up from where he had slumped down into the desk chair, "I can help! Well, the Hephaestus cabin can. We can help design it so it's battle-ready."
"Good. We'll need those soon, I think. I have a feeling that we're going to have a lead soon, so we need to be ready when it comes. This is just one quest, so there is no need for people to think we're some kind of superheroes," Annabeth said.
"Aw! But I already had a name picked out!" Leo exclaimed.
He looked like he was about to let them in on his superhero name, but Annabeth held up a hand with a glare that clearly said to not speak unless he wanted to lose some very important parts of him. That kept him quiet, for sure.
"Is that all?" Frank asked, towering over them all.
"For now, yes. Remember, say the absolute minimum and stick to twisting the truth. If you reveal any new information without the others knowing, call a meeting to let us know," Annabeth confirmed, nodding her head.
"Great, now I can go back to sleep," Percy said, pulling Annabeth back down with him.
The others filed out soon after that, already hearing Percy's soft snores as they left and returned to their respective rooms. Ok, so Jason and Piper stayed in the same room like Percy and Annabeth did, but nothing happened. It was just nice to be in the arms of someone who cares about you, you know?
Ω ♆ Ω
"Up and at 'em, kiddos! It's training day!" Tony gleefully exclaimed over the speakers that Percy was absolutely sure he did not see in his room.
Percy groaned when he saw what time it was: 6:00 AM. He knew he wasn't allowed to (and that it was wrong, of course), but he wanted to kill Tony so badly in that moment. It would be quick! Nobody would suffer!
But, alas, he had to actually work with the man-child. It might not come off like it, but Percy takes war very seriously, and this was starting to feel like a war. Or at least, it would become one if they didn't stop it soon. And to do that, they needed the Avengers, apparently.
That was the only reason that he followed Annabeth in getting up and ready for the day. He took a little longer than Annabeth, but at 6:30 AM, they were stepping out of his room. They saw that the others were slowly doing the same. They were all tired. There weren't any big dream incidents, but that doesn't mean that staying up until midnight and then waking up at six in the morning won't do something to you. Even Leo looked exhausted, with big puffy eyes from rubbing them in an attempt to wake himself up quicker. If Leo Valdez was tired, then you knew that it was too early for this.
Also, you have to remember that they'reteenagers. Teenagers aren't meant to be up super early- it's a scientific fact, Percy thinks. Annabeth once told him something about their melatonin not releasing until later at night, so they could stay up and sleep in later.
What? Percy pays attention to what she's saying sometimes.
"I hate Tony," Piper grumbled, practically falling asleep on Jason.
"You and us all, chica," Leo mumbled before letting out a huge yawn.
"What did he say was going on? Training?" Jason asked, looking over at Annabeth for answers because she seemed the most awake of the group.
"Yep. Training, whatever that entails. I don't know, so be prepared for anything. I really hope it has nothing to do with electronics, but knowing our luck, and how Tony has been so far, it will, so just try not to get too close," she answered.
Leo tiredly saluted her, "Yes, ma'm."
Hazel rolled her eyes, "Come on, Repair Boy."
She grabbed his arm and started leading the way towards the living room, which was their best guess at where the Avengers were.
As they were walking, they were interrupted by the disembodied voice of JARVIS, "Excuse me, but I was told to direct you to the training room, where the Avengers are currently assembled and waiting for you. Shall I proceed?"
All of the demigods were still really weirded-out by the AI, and there was no way it was ending soon. It's just a reminder that they were currently in a building basically composed entirely of technology, one of their greatest liabilities. Liabilities were a dangerous thing in their lives.
"Yes..." Percy answered hesitantly, unsure where to look.
"Then please follow the arrows projected on the ground, sir," JARVIS said.
Sure enough, there were large white arrows pointing them away from the living room, so they followed them. It was about a two minute walk to the elevators, where they were told to go to the 60th floor, which was apparently one whole training room by itself.
Ω ♆ Ω
"So let me get this straight, you guys want us to...play a video game?" Frank asked, gesturing to the giant room around them.
The Seven were quickly ushered by the Avengers into a big room with a bunch of white, padded tiles all around them as soon as they had reached the training floor. There was only a viewing window and an exit that disappeared when the door was closed. Then, Tony explained what they were going to be doing. None of them really understood it yet.
"No! I want you to fight the LMDs! The robots! They will simulate different levels of skill to evaluate your skills. Understand?" Tony punctuated each word, quickly losing any sense of patience he had started with.
"Yeah. We got it," Annabeth sighed.
Ok, she was sure she was the only one of them who realized that they were about to break one of the rules they established last night on the first day. They were about to fight robots. TECHNOLOGY.
This should go well, Annabeth thought.
Steve interrupted before Tony could make a snarky comment, "Good. We'll start with fighting separately and then together as a group. Afterwards, we'll see how you work with different weapons."
"Aye aye, Cap," Leo joked.
"Leo, focus. We're about to fight ROBOTS." Annabeth tried to get the son of Hephaestus to understand the severity of the situation. "You have a back-up plan, right?"
He could talk to machines. Robots were machines. Therefore, he should be able to get them out of this mess if anything went wrong.
He gave her a nod of understanding, and Annabeth settled back into her natural stance rather than her tense one. Well, she's always tensed for battle. At least in her natural one it's less obvious.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" Tony asked over the intercom.
"Uncle Leo will go first, right?" Percy joked, referencing to one of Leo's favorite nicknames for himself.
"Sure! I just need to know how much damage I'm allowed to do," Leo said, looking up at the Avengers.
Annabeth was shocked that he had even thought to ask that, and apparently the Avengers were, too.
"Um, just let go. There's nothing you can do to break this room. I designed it myself," Tony answered, still arrogant even through his confusion.
"Come on out, the rest of you," Natasha instructed.
Once the rest of the demigods had exited the room and stood next to the Avengers at the viewing window, Tony pressed a button on a screen that made a compartment in the walls of the room open up, revealing a row of floating LMDs.
"Now, I'm going to start you at Level 2, okay? It gets harder as you move up. The LMDs should stay the same form throughout every level, though. Ready?" Tony said.
Leo pulled his war hammer from his magical toolbelt and lit it and his arms on fire, "Ready."
Tony had to shake himself out of his shock before he pressed the start button, but when he did, every one of the mortal heroes had sat on the edge of their metaphorical seats, eager to see just how powerful these kids could be.
Plus, the kid had just pulled a giant war hammer from his normally-sized toolbelt, and then proceeded to light himself and the hammer on fire. They were bound to be curious after that display.
They knew the very basics of the young heroes' abilities, but most of that stuff was based on just what they had been told. Actual, visible proof is what they wanted.
All at once, the LMDs transformed into the Avengers minus the Hulk. Repeat, they changed into the Avengers. Leo had to fight a copy of the Avengers, alone.
Percy was freaking out inside. Sure, he trusted his friend, but Leo was a joker, and he tended to not understand how serious things were. In this case, he hoped that didn't happen.
"This should be interesting," Natasha remarked.
"No, this should be terrible. Tony, you never told me you were using this setting," Bruce said, rushing up to the other scientist, "He's just a kid."
"I think they've made it clear they aren't just kids, Jolly Green. It's fine. If they wanted to be treated like the rest of us, then they need to pass this test," Tony said.
Bruce looked like he wanted to say a lot more, but Jason stepped up to stop him, "He'll be fine, Dr. Banner. Leo may not look it, but he's powerful and he's smart. He can handle this."
Jason looked so sure of himself that it was enough to convince the doctor that it would be okay.
In truth, Jason had no idea how this program worked. There was a good chance that Leo did not, in fact, have this handled.
While this was being discussed, Leo had already started to fight the Iron Man LMD. He was currently alternating between swinging his hammer at it and firing balls of fire. The LMD had only been hit a couple of times because it kept maneuvering around the attacks by flying away.
It was getting tiresome, and Leo wanted it to be over with. So, he dropped his hammer and set a determined look on his face, glaring up at the robot.
The Seven were grinning, already figuring out what was happening, while the Avengers were just plain confused. What was the kid gonna do? Glare them to death?
Then, Leo started grinning and they knew it was all over.
He crouched down onto the ground and placed a hand on the floor, closing his eyes in concentration. The LMDs seemed to be as confused as their originals.
Three seconds passed before Leo's grin grew even more, and then he spoke a single word, "Stop."
And they did. Every single LMD lost their form and fell to the ground, limp and unmoving. Leo stood up, dusted his pants off, and turned to the viewing window to see his teammate's reactions.
They were priceless.
"That's how you do it," he said, "Am I done?"
Tony literally shook himself out of his stupor, "Yeah, sure. I need to reboot the LMDs."
When Leo came through the door, the rest of the demigods crowded him, patting him on the back and laughing at his dramatics.
"What was that?" Natasha demanded, breaking through the teens to tower over Leo's elf-like form.
Okay, maybe tower isn't the right word. She was taller than him, but not by much. Natasha was just very intimidating.
"Uh...fighting?" Leo tried.
Natasha's glare hardened, "You know that's not what I mean. What did you do to make the LMDs stop attacking?"
Leo glanced at Annabeth, who nodded in consent, "I talked to them."
"You did what?!" Tony exclaimed.
"I talked to them. They were pretty boring, to be honest, but I was able to shut them down," he answered.
Tony let out an incredulous laugh, "That's not possible! You can't just TALK to machines!"
"He can, and he did," Piper said, smiling proudly at her best friend.
"But–" Tony's voice died out.
"How come you never told us of this ability?" Natasha asked.
"You never asked," Percy answered simply, not liking her interrogatory tone at all.
The spy looked like she wanted to continue the conversation, but Clint whispered something in her ear and she stepped back with one last glare.
"Welp! That was fun! Who's next?" Tony clapped his hands.
Everyone turned to see that he had gotten the LMDs back online and back in the Avengers' form.
Piper sighed and started to walk to the door, "I guess I'll go next."
Before she could enter, Steve asked, "What weapon are you going to use? Your powers won't work on the robots."
Piper smirked at him over her shoulder before pulling Katoptris from its sheath on her thigh. Apparently, the Avengers had yet to fully break through the Mist, and they could not see her having that strapped there this entire time. But when she pulled it out, they seemed to finally be able to see it for what it truly was. It makes you wonder what they thought was there before. A ruler, maybe?
"I've got this," she stated before slipping into the training room.
Ω ♆ Ω
It was obvious Piper had been taking more lessons on dagger-fighting with Annabeth. As soon as the first person attacked, she was slashing and stabbing like crazy. Her lithe form was swisting out of the way of punches from Steve's copy, while Clint's arrows were shooting at her from behind.
Tony had clearly upped the level of difficulty after seeing what Leo could do.
Piper ducked under one of the arrows, and then shot back up to land a finishing blow to the center of LMD-Steve's chest. Then, she ripped Katoptris out of the robot and turned to throw it at Clint's copy, which just barely managed to avoid getting stabbed.
She was running on pure adrenaline now. It was best to imagine these opponents as monsters. Sure, when they actually fought humans, they would need to not kill, but these were just robots.
Cilnt's robot shot it's last arrow, and it exploded right before her face, stunning her into stillness. In that couple of seconds it took for her to recenter herself, Natasha's copy jumped onto her back for a chokehold. Piper struggled, but the LMD had been designed to know all of Natasha's known skills, and it was working. The Iron Man LMD landed and shot a stunning shot at her chest: the final straw for Piper to finally surrender.
She knew they wouldn't kill her, but she was not in the mood to be knocked-out. It left you with a massive headache.
So she tapped out.
"Ok ok, I'm done. I'm done," She panted as she was released, rubbing her neck.
Piper was not happy about having to surrender, but it seemed like the Avengers had been thoroughly impressed with her skill with such a small weapon.
"I'll do next," Annabeth declared, high-fiving Piper on her way out.
"Good luck," Piper said.
"Don't need it," Annabeth responded, pulling out her drakon-bone sword.
Out in the control room, Tony said, "Is that a bone?!"
"It's whatever you want it to be," Hazel grinned, manipulating the Mist just a bit.
"You scare me sometimes, Miss Metal Detector," Leo muttered, glancing at Annabeth's sword, which had shifted into a machete.
He wasn't sure whether to be impressed by Hazel's skill, or weirded-out by Tony's brain.
"Make sure to move to difficulty up a bit," Percy told Tony, "She'll be insulted otherwise."
The billionaire seemed to be getting used to the teens' weird ways because he didn't even flinch when he heard that, and instead moved to comply.
"And...here we go," Tony said over the intercom, "Good luck, Annie."
"My name is Annabeth!" she shouted before going into the fight.
In this level, every single one of them attacked at once. Annabeth back-bended under Steve's copy's punch, and then kicked up into LMD-Natasha's face. After, she turned and sliced the Iron Man armor on the side, just under the armpit. She had picked that as a point of weakness before she had even stepped into the building.
"She's good," Natasha relented, watching as the daughter of Athena thrusted her sword into Steve's robot foot.
Seeing that Clint's LMD copy was not going to get any closer to her, Annabeth pulled out a hidden dagger and threw it in a perfect line to hit it in the center of its forehead. Then, she turned and blocked a punch from Natasha's robot, who had recovered from the face-hit. The spy copy used the Iron Man LMD to jump up and wrap her legs around Annabeth's neck, trying to do a scissor hold, which failed because Annabeth rolled forward, slamming Natasha's head into the ground. The left a big enough dent that the LMD wasn't getting back up.
That only left Iron Man to deal with.
She settled into a fighting stance, but didn't attack, choosing to wait for her opponent to make the first blow.
Percy was grinning. This was what they needed: a good way to blow off steam without it possibly ending with one of them dead.
"What is she waiting for?" Steve asked.
"She's playing with it. It's fun for her," Jason answered, "It's Annabeth."
Finally, the robot got impatient and attacked. It sent a stun blast at her, which Annabeth quickly avoided. After, she ran up to the wall, kicked off of it, and jumped up to drag the Iron Man LMD down to the ground, where she sat down on it and landed a few punches. But she quickly realized punching wasn't doing much good.
"Judo flip! Do the judo flip!" Leo exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.
When it wasn't him being the one attacked by Annabeth, it was super entertaining.
Annabeth sighed, but a smile was pulling at the edges of her lips. She hauled Iron Man up, who was still recovering from being slammed down to the ground, and got a good hold on it's arm. Then, she flipped it over her shoulder with an ease that only came from years of experience.
With a huge smile on her lips, and a last glance at her carnage, Annabeth walked back out to the control room.
"How was that for a kid?" She asked Natasha.
"Not bad," she got for an answer.
Ω ♆ Ω
Jason, Hazel, and Frank's individual tests went-by pretty quickly. Jason electrocuted all of the robots, rendering them immobile.
After that, and with another new batch of LMDs, Hazel used her Spatha to slice and cut through the robots. In the end, it proved too hard for her to do it with just a sword, so she pulled a chunk of the wall out and smashed it against the LMDs until they were in many different pieces.
Frank ended up having to forfeit, but not before getting every single Avengers copy but Steve down. Steve ended up having him in a chokehold that was just too difficult to get out of. And Frank had already transformed into many animals, so he wasn't sure if he could've changed back if he had transformed again.
If it wasn't obvious, Percy was avoiding doing his turn. He was trying to stay in the corner, and out of the notice of any of the adults. However, that wasn't possible with two spies in the room. They notice everything.
"Percy? Your turn," Natasha said.
So much for that plan.
Percy hesitated, "Um...about that, I don't think I should go."
Natasha raised her eyebrows in mock-surprise, but it was actually Steve who spoke, "You have to go, son. In order to work well together, we need to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. This will never work without you doing this."
"Plus, we promise it's completely safe," Bruce added in.
Percy sighed, admitting that he wasn't going to be able to worm his way out of this one. Instead of fighting, he turned to whisper to Annabeth, "Don't let me get out of control."
Annabeth gave him a sad look, "Percy, I know you have control. I trust you. You just need to trust yourself. You would never hurt us. I know that for certain."
The Avengers were watching this interaction like hawks, but the other demigods were averting their attention. This happened sometimes, Percy and Annabeth going into their own world that only they could understand, and it was best to just let them be. Plus, privacy is a real thing people. The moment seemed almost too intimate for them to interrupt.
Percy still seemed to be having trouble believing Annabeth's statements, but he went into the training room without another protest. His shoulders were sagging in defeat, and he seemed to be folding in on himself. He was never one for attention, but that was a bit much in Leo's mind.
However, Leo and the rest of the Seven didn't have a full grasp on just how uncomfortable Percy as with using his powers now. They didn't know what happened in "that place."
"Are you ready, Percy?" Tony asked, readying the LMDs again.
"Yeah, I guess," Percy answered.
Annabeth was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, "Just breathe, Perce," she whispered under her breath, "You can do this."
She had to put on a brave face for her boyfriend, but she truly was terrified of Percy's potential. She had seen it first-hand in their trip underground, and it was nothing to be underestimated. The Avengers didn't know what powers they were playing with here. She only hoped that her insistent trust she was putting in Percy was going to amount to truth.
"We'll start you on Level 5? Based on what your friends can do, I think this will be a good start," Steve asked.
"Sure," Percy responded, bringing Riptide from his pocket.
"What's he going to do with a pen?" Bruce whispered to Clint.
The Seven all smiled at each other. Little did the mortals know, that pen was definitely not just a pen. It was always amusing when people saw what Riptide truly was for the first time.
"Alright. Here we go," Tony said, starting the simulation.
Percy closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and popped the cap off of his pen. Opening his eyes, you could tell something had shifted in him. He was in his natural element now, and nobody could stop him from achieving his goal.
That goal just so happened to be mutilating some billionaire's robots.
"Let's have some fun," Percy said, charging the first LMD.
He was a flurry of motion. His fighting style was a mix from Greek, Roman, and modern martial arts that he had learned from Annabeth. He'd kick one adversary just to turn and thrust his sword into another one trying to attack him from behind.
"He's amazing," Bruce said in wonder, mesmerized by Percy's skill.
The son of Poseidon was relying only on his hand-to-hand and swordsmanship skills, rather than his powers, but that barely slowed him down. If the mortals wanted a display of his competence, then he would give them one.
Annabeth had a proud smile on her face as she watched Percy judo flip Natasha's robot over his shoulder and slammed it hard enough to the ground that it "died," ending his fight.
That had gone well, considering Percy's worries.
However, he knew better than to let his guard down just yet. As all demigods know, life never gives any breaks. That, and the Fates are cruel.
Ω ♆ Ω
"Ok, guys. Let's take a lunch break, and then we'll do some more training, but this time, with only abilities," Steve said.
Percy had put his sword away, and was not standing in the viewing room with the rest of the heroes, mortal and demigod alike. All of the teens looked and felt exhausted, so it was a given to take a break.
"Got it, boss," Leo saluted, turning and exiting the room, heading no doubt in the direction of the kitchen.
"I guess that means we're leaving," Percy laughed. A real, genuine laugh.
It made Annabeth smile larger than she had in a long time. Improvement is always good.
Soon, everyone was gathered around the kitchen and living room area. Percy and Leo were scavenging for food while the Avengers and the rest of the Seven talked. So far, the hunt was not going as planned.
"Tony! Are you seriously telling me you're a billionaire, and you can't afford some decent Cheerios?!" Percy yelled.
"Yeah! Who goes grocery shopping around here?" Leo exclaimed, holding up the near-empty jug of milk.
The Avengers all looked at each other in confusion, "Who DOES go grocery shopping?" Bruce asked.
"Pepper, sometimes, I think. She must've been busy this week," Tony answered, "We can just order some Chinese or something for now."
"That should work, but if you're going to house these boys," Annabeth pointed to Percy, Leo, Jason, and Frank, "You're going to need a lot more food around at all times. Their appetites could rival that of an elephant."
Hazel let out a tiny laugh, realizing Annabeth's little pun about Frank. She received a small smirk in response.
"Teenagers," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes, "Always hungry."
"Now wait a second, Tony, I remember seeing you eat an entire large pizza by yourself just a couple weeks ago," Natasha remarked, smirking at her teammate.
Tony only glared in response, and then he told JARVIS to order lunch.
"Well, while we're waiting, I'll explain what our next exercise is," Steve said, "Basically, we're going to see and document your powers, but in a more controlled environment. You won't be fighting anything, but this will be more focused on precision than quantity. We need to know your full capabilities so that we know where to put you in a fight. Is that okay?"
He was asking their permission as more of a courtesy than an actual question, obviously, but the demigods still nodded their heads in confirmation. It wasn't like they couldn't leave at any time if things ever got too out-of-control.
Or at least, that's what they told themselves. In all honesty, nobody trusted each other yet. They could be shot down by the Avengers if they tried to run away, for all they knew, and that's what the scariest thing was. Neither group really KNEW the other group's intentions, only what they had told each other.
Everyone was walking on thin ice, whether it was known to them or not.
Ω ♆ Ω
I hope you liked it! Remember, this is also on FF, Ao3, Inkitt, Webnovel, and Tumblr.