*House of Hades Spoilers
Percy
As hard as I tried I couldn't control my grin. Their reactions were just so funny! As soon as I spoke, many pairs of eyes widened. All of the people who had identified themselves as spies looked shell-shocked and a bit exasperated. Steve looked bewildered, again, and Bruce looked like a weird mix between Annabeth and Octavian: calculating, with a hint of dissection. Thor looked very nervous, but also like he was expecting it.
Nick Fury recovered first, "Who are you?"
I thought about it for a second, "Do you want all of my titles, too?" he nodded and I continued. "Alright, I'm Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon: Greek god of the Sea, Stormbringer, Father of Horses, Earthshaker-"
"Greek gods?" Tony asked in an incredulous voice, "They're real?" I nodded in affirmation.
"Yup," I said, popping the 'P', "All of them, and the Romans, and maybe even the Egyptians, too." I said that last part quietly, thinking about that kid Carter.
I think I may have broken the superheroes. Everyone except Thor seemed to be having mental seizures, if their facial expressions were anything to go by.
"So, you are a demigod. Unless, of course, your mother is also a god?" asked Bruce.
I nodded appreciatively, "Nice, but no. My mother is moral, but I'm immortal." I was still a bit uncomfortable with calling myself a god, It made me feel like the jerk Hercules. "I'll tell you more about how it happened later, but basically the Olympians rewarded me for something I did by granting me and my friends with immortality."
This seemed to cause even more confusion.
"The Olympian council is real? Are they actually on top of Mt. Olympus?"
"There are MORE OF YOU?"
"What could you possibly do to be rewarded with being a god?"
My head was swimming but I responded, "Yes, in a way, yes, and I said I'd tell you later."
"Okay, I think we need to have a full assessment of your abilities and physical condition, then we can tell you our story." And you can tell us yours. He didn't say that last part, but I could tell that Fury was expecting me to reciprocate.
I nodded, I seemed to be doing a lot of that today. "Sure, I don't care." I was actually kinda curious as to what a medical examination would say about me. I had never gone to a doctor before -unless you count the infirmary- because luckily the godly blood in demigods meant that we never got sick. I was a bit nervous for my first exam.
Fury looked pleased, but raised his eyebrows, "Well, It'll have to be tomorrow, it's getting late."
I looked at the windows in surprise, I hadn't even realized how dark it had gotten. I hadn't even realized there were windows, to be honest. Sure enough the wall to the right of the circular table was broken up by 6 large panes of thick glass.
I yawned in agreement.
"And tomorrow I expect an explanation of how you all were beaten by one person, god or not," threatened Fury. Everyone else's faces got considerably whiter.
"I'll show you where you can sleep," said Natasha as Fury left the room. "Tony's tower has a ton of rooms. All of the Avengers sleep on floor 13. Tony's idea of a joke, don't ask. You'll get used to him."
I shrugged as they led me back to the elevator. They seemed a lot more relaxed now that they had confronted their leader, though they seemed tense about tomorrow's report. It was still extremely awkward for me. The elevator plunged down a few floors and the doors dinged open and everyone got out except Tony.
"I thought all the Avengers lived on one floor?"
"Tony gets the penthouse because he designed this place. And his ego demands it," said the mostly-silent Steve. He received a playful shove from Tony. It made me smile, thinking about all of my friends who responded to teasing with violence. Quite a few actually.
I shrugged and followed Natasha's retreating figure. She led me past door after door, all plain wood. They were dull, but a welcome change from the stainless steel of everything else. Natasha stopped at a seemingly random door and opened it.
"This is your room," she said. I was worried that it would be closer to a prison than a room, but I was dead wrong. I stopped in the doorway and saw cream-colored, plush carpets, a four poster bed with warm brown sheets, and very light brown walls covered with generic paintings. The light fixtures were upside-down half-domes that spread warm light to all corners of the room. There were two other doors that I assumed led to a bathroom and a closet.
"Close your mouth, Perseus," said Clint, a bit mockingly. I flinched some at the name and shut my mouth, a little embarrassed. I walked in and sat on the bed, looking around.
"We'll see you when you wake up. Just follow the hallway until you reach a kitchen, that's usually where we meet in the morning," Natasha answered the question I didn't realize I had.
"Thanks," I said nodding. She shut the door and everything was silent. The walls must be soundproof because I didn't hear their footsteps. I was a little worried about why they would need soundproof walls, but it would be helpful for what I was about to do, so I wasn't complaining.
I immediately scanned the room for security cameras. My slight paranoia paid off when I located a tiny camera above the door. I knew they would be alarmed if I did anything to disrupt the feed, so I made it extremely obvious that I didn't appreciate the surveillance, hoping they wouldn't press it. I wagged my finger at the camera, giving my best condescending face. Then, I conjured a can of black spray paint and covered the camera. I nodded in satisfaction. I looked around one more time, sighed regretfully at the nice furnishings I wasn't going to use, and then I flashed out.
See, even though it had been two years since the Giant war, I still had flashbacks and horrible nightmares. They had gotten better once I took the job as camp director, but if my mind wasn't constantly occupied -like when I was sleeping- the visions came back. The horrible flashes of darkness and rivers of fire seemed so real and terrible. The only thing that kept them at bay was Annabeth. We have slept in the same bed every single night since then, and I knew I couldn't survive without her company, and vice versa.
Tonight was no different, and this was the only reason I had been OK with Annabeth going on her quest. When I reappeared, I was in a stone room, almost like a dungeon, but it was covered in tapestries of red and gold. There were no windows and the only light source was a few candles. I almost thought I had Traveled to the wrong place -or time- but Annabeth sat on the bed in the middle of the room, nose-deep in a book on different types of plants. She looked up happily when she heard me pop in.
"Hey, Percy!"
"Hey, Annabeth, why are you in an awesome dungeon?"
She looked around and gave a short, surprised laugh. "Only you, Percy. My quest is in a castle right now, so this is my room." She shrugged.
"Ok, sure, whatever. How's the quest going?" I sat on her bed and wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
"Oh my gosh, it's great!" she said excitedly, "This place is beautiful and there's so much to learn! Plus, there's a no-monster border, just like camp!"
I smiled at her enthusiasm. "That's great Wise Girl! I got a quest too, sort of. I met some weird people, but they shouldn't be a problem." She looked at me, surprised, but happy. I pulled her further into my arms and she threw her book on the floor (after she bookmarked it).
"I'm glad we're both safe," I said. She sighed in response.
We silently broke apart and flashed into our pajamas. Annabeth had a gray tank top on, with gray-and-blue plaid, flannel short-shorts. I had chosen to be bare-chested with thin, blue, flannel, long shorts. We flopped down on the bed and snuggled into each other. Soon I was swallowed by dreamless sleep.
*****************
I blinked my eyes open. I was a bit disoriented, wasn't morning usually brighter than this? Then I remembered that I wasn't at camp, or my home on Olympus. The candles in Annabeth's room had burned down to stubs, so I knew it was much later. I sat up suddenly, had I slept too late? I had no way of knowing. Annabeth slowly regained consciousness and rubbed her eyes tiredly. My heart melted and I decided I didn't care if I was late, they could just sit there waiting.
I hugged Annabeth and she kissed me on the lips. We both sighed and slowly rolled out of bed. I kissed her one more time and flashed out, after saying goodbye and promising to return tomorrow night.
When I reappeared in my new room, I was wearing dark, faded jeans, a gray hoodie, and black converse. My camp necklace stays with my appearance no matter what. It had followed me through everything, and I sure as Hades wasn't going to leave it out. I fingered it now and thought about how far I'd come. 8 years ago, who would've thought I'd be living with the Avengers, enjoying immortality, and dating Annabeth Chase? It still blew my mind.
I shook my head. I needed to go meet said superheroes. I left my room and walked to the right, down the hallway. About 30 seconds later the hallway emptied into a large kitchen. All of the Avengers, including Tony, turned towards me.
"Um, hi," I mentally cringed at my eloquence. "Do you have much food? Maybe pancake mix?"
They laughed. "Much food? If we don't have something tell us," said Clint.
"PopTarts are good," agreed Thor.
"The pancake mix is in the first cabinet to the right of the fridge. The skillet is in the cabinet beneath the stove," said Bruce, slightly sympathetically. I nodded my thanks and got the supplies. I found all of the ingredients I needed except two.
"Where is the oil and food coloring?" I said it without thinking, but their expressions told me that food coloring wasn't a normal request.
"The oil is in the cabinet to the left of the sink; I think the food coloring is right above that," said Natasha with curiosity.
"Thanks," I said and continued my production. Once I had finished, there was enough for everyone to have one or two. Unfortunately for them, they were all mine. I put the pancakes on a plate and set it on the table in front of me. Two minutes later, the plate was relieved of 15 pancakes.
"I have so much respect for you," said Clint with awe. Tony and Steve nodded, while Natasha looked slightly disturbed. "Is there any reason they were blue?"
I shrugged and stood up, "Inside joke, sort of. Pretty much everything I eat, I turn blue."
"Whatever floats your boat, kid," said Tony, quirking his eyebrows.
"Please don't call me kid," I said through gritted teeth. Tony held up his hands in surrender, but the rest of the group looked intrigued, and a little scared.
I stretched my arms over my head, groaning, "Let's get started with this exam, shall we?"
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Holy crap this is long, nearly 2000 words! Thanks for all of the votes and reads!! You guys are so amazing. Every time I get a comment or vote, it makes me so happy!!!! I hope this chapter is good. It has a lot of fluff, but I just couldn't contain myself :) I spent probably 3 hours on this, right before my birthday, but I have no regrets! I have never really been a writer, well, not a good one, but writing this is so much fun!! If you find any mistakes AT ALL tell me, don't be shy, I won't hate you, I promise! Please comment and vote!!!!!!! Happy reading! <3
Oh, some of you may be wondering if Annabeth's location (no hints) is going to affect the story. It won't, but I just wanted to add that to make me happy. It was just a good way to remove her, plus it opens the story up to a companion book. No promises, though. If you don't know where she is yet, either you live under a rock or you need to think harder. A castle, 9 months, gold and red, candles....(OK, some hints)
I kinda just want to update you on my life, so you can tune out {*by turning on the radio*} if you don't care. First: while I was writing this I was listening to mix CD that included 'Teenagers' by MCR, 'I write Sins Not Tragedies' by Panic! At The Disco, 'Thanks for the Memories' by Fall Out Boy, etc. Yay for awesome music!!! Second: my speech tournament went really well! I was really happy with how I did. It was so stressful, but I lived! Unfortunately I'm in the Original Oratory category which is like persuasive speaking. All the speeches are 8-10 minutes so I had to listen to about 280 minutes of other people's speeches!!!!!!!!!! It was agonizing!! Yay for doing this every weekend :( OK, I'm done now.