Percabeth at Stark Tower

27. The junkyard pt 2

Nico's POV

They're all crazy, and Will is the worst of all of them. Our lives are already crazy enough and then they decided to go and challenge the Fates by coming back here. I know that Percy thinks he's immortal and so far they've been extremely lucky, but this is not a place where you get lucky, this is a place where you lose.

Speaking of the devil, he thinks it's a good idea to whisper in my ear, but I manage to avoid cutting his head off. "Are you okay?" he asks as I lower my sword. I'm glad I managed to stop myself, I doubt even Will could fix that kind of an injury and I will not lose both him and Bianca here. I won't lose him anywhere actually, I am the Son of Hades after all. I know I shouldn't and it would cause a ton of problems, but he is not allowed to leave me, and I can argue with Thanatos. I'd probably fail, but I am not going to let him be taken away without a fight.

"I'm fine, I just don't like this place," I answer, keeping my voice low so the others can't hear us.

"This is why I wanted to go alone," he says, the harshness not dimmed at the slightest by how quiet he's remaining.

"I am not going to let someone else I love come here and never return!" He reaches out and puts a hand on my back. Normally I would flinch away as we are in public, but right now I need that contact, even if I would never tell others.

"Everything is-"

"Code red, code red!" Tony shouts and I spin, but there's nothing there.

"What is it?" Annabeth says, perfectly composed.

"Some sort of cloud."

"How descriptive," I wince at the sarcasm.

"Basically colorless, flowing in it's own pattern, and spreading out quickly." Natasha quickly narrates. "We'll be inside it in...now. We didn't lose anything as far as I can tell and everything looks normal, although a bit dusty. I'm not feeling poisoned, although there is a bit of a strange floaty feeling. Tony?"

"Same, but it doesn't look like it's stopping, it'll probably hit you soon."

"There's something we're missing," I say and turn to Will. "Any ideas?"

"Put this on," he says and hands me one of his surgical masks.

"Why?" I ask as I slip it on.

"If it's anything like mortal dust clouds which is a bit of a stretch, this will keep you safe from inhaling most or all of the cloud."

"Brace yourselves," Annabeth warns as the cloud rushes over us before vanishing as soon as it's passed the entire group.

"How does everyone feel?" Will asks, going straight into doctor mode.

"Like I just rose to the top of the ocean too fast but otherwise good," Percy says.

"Like Natasha said, I'm feeling a bit floaty but otherwise ok." Annabeth says. "The cloud seems to have dispersed as soon as it was past the group, so it was most likely intended to be used on a person or a group. However it clearly failed to do that properly, so keep an eye out for any oddities."

"Especially numbness or blurry vision, they're common poisoning reactions. Unfortunately we don't have an entry point, but there are still things that can be done."

"Well we've got enough metal, so I'm going to stop for the day," Tony says. "If we do have adverse reactions we can deal with them at the hotel."

"Do you two have somewhere to stay?" Annabeth says as she comes over. There isn't a hint of dust on her, clearly the dust vanished once it had fulfilled it's purpose.