Hurricane- Fem Percy/ Avengers

Ch. 26

There had only been a couple times where Percy felt as she did now. 

The first was when she found out she was a demigod. She remembered in that moment how her stomach lurched, every part of her body begging for what she had heard to be a lie. She had thought of her mother, of stupid smelly Gabe- and the worst of all, how someone as strong as Poseidon didn't care about her or her mother's suffering at all. 

The second was probably when she saw Annabeth fall, seemingly to her death at that time. She had just met Nico and Bianca, and a normal mission had all of a sudden turned into one of the worst moments in her life. 

There were a handful more too, such as when she had seen Annabeth begin to fall to Tartarus, or when she saw Leo go up but not down. 

And then there was now- where her wide eyes gazed down upon one of her oldest friends, Will, chained- up and beaten until black and blue. She felt her stomach churn and her throat close, nothing but anger and sadness coursing through her veins. 

Though Tony never understood other's emotions well, he knew the look on Percy's face all too well. So much so that he put his prejudice aside to grab one of her pale, shaking hands, ignoring the enchantment that made them look different. 

"Percy?" He asked, snapping his fingers in front of her face. His eyes drifted back over to the boy, who had greyish pale skin and a shock of blond hair that was stained with dried blood. Ah. Tony thought to himself. She must know him.

The daughter of Poseidon, with hatred staining her eyes, reached for her sword- only for Tony to grab her wrist. 

"Are you forgetting the stone?" He asked, trying not to feel unnerved looking into her hate-filled eyes. "I understand-"

"Do you?" She asked, her voice a low growl and wavering with anger. She knew what he meant- saving Will would mean nothing if they all died at Eberus' hands. But something still stung at her soul. 

"Believe me. I wish I didn't," he responded , easing up on her as her arm fell back to her side. 

The announcer from before, who continued to billow smoke, kept a wide grin as he paced around the sun of Apollo. 

"Now all we have to do is wait. Wait for Persephone Jackson and her league of idiot friends to come to us, where we have the upper hand," he said, a satisfied look on his face. The rest of the monsters turned to talk amongst themselves, whispering in hushed voices that echoed around the large hall. 

"Okay..." Percy said, restraining her voice to a cool tone. "Okay. New plan. We can't just kill everyone here, not with Will." Her voice trailed off as she saw a monster to their side dish a strange glance to the duo, forcing her to add, "Metaphorically, of course" before grabbing Tony and moving him further from the crowd.

Tony looked down at his hands, the Mist not affecting his own body to himself. He thought of the crowd, of Percy's abilities, of his own- and tried to craft a quick idea. 

"I have an idea. but listen- for this to happen, you need to keep a cool head, okay?" He said, putting a hand on Percy's shaking shoulder. She nodded and turned away, only to be pulled back into looking to Tony's serious gaze by the strongly grip he had on her shoulder. "Listen, I know you're upset. I am too. But being an idiot will get us nowhere. To be honest, your title means nothing if your brain can't think."

Percy let out an amused huff of air. "I'll trust you on this, metal-man."

Tony let out a small smile, releasing his grip on her arm. He explained his quick-thinking idea to Percy, who couldn't help but compare the hero to her blonde friend back home. And as she turned to move into action, he added one more thing, his voice steady and assertive as always.  "I didn't trust you before. Prove me wrong."

***

Steve wiped his brow, standing upwards after the massive lurch of the plane. His eyes widened in awe as his eyes refocused on the plane flying despite it's condition, and more specifically the scarlet smoke pouring off the sides as if a magical fire had been set off on it's underside. It took him one more second to re-adjust his gaze to Wanda, making his throat close up in awe at what he saw. 

Her eyes glowed a beautiful fire-y red, the color of the embers of a long forgotten fire. She was on her knees, her hands laid across the floor of the ship, the same magenta  seeping from her fingertips into the ground- no doubt causing the plane to continue to fly. For any other super, this could be considered a big deal- but for Wanda, she looked like she was hardly breaking a sweat. 

Upon realizing her companion was gone, Steve refocused his eyes once more- this time to the windows of the ship, where out the front he could see Vision clearing through small flying black projectiles being flung all around the airship. The golden rays from his head did little to cut through the thick black smog that weighed heavy around the ship- but it did just enough to allow for sight.

He checked the data on the front of the ship, rubbing his aching head as he did so. Across the room, Natasha and Bruce were tending to Clint, who was awake and looking much better- his wounds being covered by the doctor with thick white gauze. Natasha and him were joking- probably about Budapest, Steve figured- as he walked over, stealing glances back to Wanda as he walked. 

"Oh, Cap! How are you feeling? You took quite a fall," Bruce asked as he continued to tend to Clint. 

"Went a lot better than the last time you went down with a plane into the ocean," Clint piped up, earning a smack from Natasha on the back of his head. "Ow!"

"We're 20 minutes off the coast of New York. Flying low, just in case whoever decided to hit us tries it again," Bruce explained, ignoring Natasha and Clint's bickering. As he finished applying the last of the gauze, he rested his hands on the side of the bed- swinging a determined look to Steve which the soldier had missed. "I think since Tony's not here I can say it- it's time to suit up."

"Does anyone here even wear a suit?" Wanda questioned from where she was kneeling, the red smoke unwavering in it's hue. "I mean, most of us are already wearing battle clothes."

"Oh come on guys, you know what I mean!" Bruce said with a small smile. "None of you guys question it when Tony says it."

"I don't think Tony even says that," Natasha noted, earing mutters of agreement from the others. 

"And Wanda- don't you have to be flying the ship? It just- it sounded cooler in my head, okay?"

Vision stopped his work for a second turning to the others from outside and stating, "She's right you know."

"How can you even hear us?"

A beep from the monitor interrupted their banter as the New York City skyline cut through the clouds. The ship rolled slowly towards the city, which had a view that made Steve catch his breath. 

Deep, smoky clouds surrounded the city in a bubble- yet the city itself seemed untouched. Tendrils of black flew downwards towards the building, tapering out before they could reach anything, but growing in size each time they came. Steve could see a bright yellow beacon where the Empire State Building was- the apparent source of the bubble, as light radiated off of it in a circular, pulsing pattern. 

"That's where we're going," Steve remarked, pointing to the glowing light. "Take all we need- something tells me we won't be able to rest for a while."