Shining Light- Nico Di Angelo and Will Solace meet the Avengers

The Testing Part II

Nico's POV

I could see the green tint in the older man's eyes, and my thoughts went back to when I had been shown photos of the Avengers; Tony the suit-man, Steve spandex, Clint bow-man, Natasha gun-girl, thor hammer-man, and...

...the Hulk.

I freaked out. I had heard stories of what that monster could do. I quickly pulled my shirt back on, and Will did the same. He looked at me questioningly and then gasped, coming to the same conclusion.

"Bruce... It's our line of work. It's fine. They don't hurt." I start, looking at Will for support. He was better at calming people down than me. I mean, he's the only person in camp (or the world) that can calm down Clarisse. 

Will puts a hand on Bruce's shoulder and smiles warmly. "Honestly, it's fine."

Bruce's eyes turned back to normal. I was sort of surprised that the people standing watching through the one-way glass window didn't notice this.

Then the door slammed open, and a dozen heavily armed mercenaries were surrounding us three. There we go. Took them a while to get organized- if Will hadn't calmed Bruce down, and if we weren't heavily trained, then we would probably be dead.

"Move away from Banner, kids." One of the agents said, slightly muffled through his helmet.

I rolled my eyes. "Idiots. Does it look like he's going to Hulk-out right now?"

Will shoots me a stop-being-a-sarcastic-annoying-husband look. I just roll my eyes again.

The agents change their posture from alert to mildly annoyed. I guess they didn't sign up for sass. Well, bad luck.

"Move out, people." The same agent said quietly. He seemed to be the team leader.

When they had left, I noticed Steve had come in with them but had hung around the back. "Will, and... Nico, where did you get all of those scars?"

Will looked at me, meaning he didn't know what to say and I had to step in. "In our line of work, exterminating the kind of monsters that you fought, it is Will, me, and our family's problem to destroy those beings. These scars are the times that we got unlucky."

Bruce frowned. "Nico, I noticed you had quite a few more scares then Will. Some of them looked like whiplash-"

My eye grew dark as Tartarus, and the air dropped a couple of degrees in temperature. My glare was so hostile that it made even Steve, who it wasn't directed to, gulp. Enough said about Bruce's reaction.

Will took my hand, and comforted me. He knew my past better than anyone, except maybe Coach Hedge and Reyna, and knew these kinds of things triggered my memories. 

"So we're not going to talk about that, sure." Bruce murmured.

"I think that would be best." Will replied quietly, looking at me with concern. The images of being struck over and over with that whip in Tartarus, for weeks, for months flashed before my eyes.

Will squeezed my hand, and the visions stopped momentarily. But I knew they would come back tonight. There was no way I could sleep with that on my mind.