A STORM IS BREWING | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Twelve

Peter stopped running across the rooftops and leaned down as he caught his breath. He pulled out his phone and quickly called Happy. He was surprised when the man actually answered the phone. It normally went to voicemail whenever Peter called. The man did sound distracted so it was probably an accident. "I just stopped these guys from robbing an ATM-"

Happy cut him off. "Hey, take a deep breath. I don't have time to worry about ATM robberies or the notes you leave. Moving day is coming up and there are still a million things to do."

Percy cursed. He had heard about Stark selling Avengers Tower on the news, but he had never realized what it might mean for Happy. It was probably futile to try and inform Happy about the weapons he had taken. The man would most likely dismiss whatever he said without even listening to it. Percy didn't blame Happy for treating him like a child. His demeanor was child-like and he didn't seem to take anything seriously but that was just his coping mechanism. After surviving two wars, jokes seemed like the best way to lighten the mood when everything was bleak.

Peter tried to warn him anyways. "No, Happy you don't understand."

Percy figured that the urgency in his voice was what caused Happy to pause.

"Okay, I'm listening. You've got one minute," Happy conceded.

"These guys, they had some serious tech. I saw them rip the face off of the ATM like it was made of paper. They had two guns. One seemed to grab things and the other was just a laser beam. It almost reminded me of the Chitauri weapons."

Happy sighed deeply. "Alright, I'll tell Tony about it. Don't do anything. We'll take care of it."

"But-"

Peter heard the phone call disconnect as Happy abruptly hung up on him. He scoffed to himself. He was definitely going to do something about it. He wasn't going to just let an innocent person get hurt by these weapons because he didn't look into them.

Peter started running again and was home in a matter of minutes. He quickly climbed in through the window of his room. He needed to tell Hestia and his cousins about what happened as soon as possible.

He was climbing on the ceiling towards the door when a crash sounded from below him. He looked down and saw Ned sitting on his bed looking at him in awe. The remnants of a LEGO Death Star were on the floor around Ned's feet. Peter cursed in his head. Hestia was going to kill him for letting Ned find out.

"What was that?" Hestia called out worriedly. She showed up in the doorway a moment later, looking frazzled.

Percy watched her process the scene before smiling sheepishly. Hestia just shook her head in exasperation but also amusement. Percy relaxed when he didn't detect any anger coming from her. He had no doubt that he would still be punished, but maybe she would go easy on him.

Hestia walked over to Ned and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Ned. I'm sure you have lots of questions."

She turned her attention to Percy. "Change and meet us out there. Your cousins are picking up Thai so we'll wait until they get home to explain everything."

Percy watched her lead Ned out of the room before he dropped to the floor. He started to mindlessly change his clothes as he mulled over the possibilities of the conversation that was about to happen. He had really screwed up. He never wanted Ned to be pulled into this life. If he got hurt or killed, Percy would never forgive himself. It would be nice to have a friend to talk about this stuff with though. He knew that he could always count on Thalia and Nico but he didn't want to burden them with all of his problems.

However, Percy swore to himself that he would never get Ned involved with the demigod aspect of his life if he could help it. It was too dangerous and it would involve revealing a part of his life that he was trying to move past. It's why he preferred staying as Peter Parker. Making the enchantments drop was tiring and reminded him of the dark part in his life.

Percy shook his head to clear his thoughts and walked out to the living room. Ned was sitting on the couch, still looking dumbfounded. Hestia was in the kitchen, most likely preparing tea or something to calm Ned down.

Percy took a seat across from Ned which caused him to flinch and snap out of his stupor. Percy saw Ned take a deep breath and prepared himself for the torrent of questions that Ned undoubtedly had.

"You're the Spider-Man. From YouTube," Ned stated.

Peter sighed, "Yeah, I am."

"You were on the ceiling." Ned looked on the verge of a breakdown. "How many people know?"

Peter took a second to think about it. "About five, I think. Six, if you include you. Aunt May knows, so do Nico and Thalia. This guy named Happy Hogan. Tony Stark, because he made the suit-"

Ned cut him off, "Dude, Tony Stark made your suit! Does this mean you're an Avenger?"

Peter grimaced, "No, and I don't really want to be."

"Dude, why not?" Ned exclaimed.

Peter was about to respond when he was cut off by his cousins entering the room. They each had a bag of Thai from the local restaurant. They took the food into the kitchen then came back, this time with Hestia following behind. She had a cup of steaming tea in her hand which she gingerly handed to Ned.

Thalia decided to answer Ned's question for Peter. "The Avengers are broken. Stark literally sold Avengers Tower. He may have that fancy facility upstate but the Avengers ended when they all fought in that German airport."

Ned nodded in understanding before changing it to a lighter subject, "How does the suit work? Is it magnets? What are the webs made of?"

"In order? A lot of tech, no, and you don't want to know," Peter replied.

"Cool, one last question. Can I try on the suit?"

Sorry for the late and short update. School has been crazy. I swear that the teachers are trying to literally drown us in work. I can definitely promise an update next Friday though.

I'm trying to get this story done before Avengers 4 comes out. I plan on making this story AU after Spider-Man Homecoming, so while it will have Infinity War and the main plot points, I'm going to fix everything else. Basically, I'm planning another book that shows what happens in the two years between CA:CW and IW that fixes all of the problems in the MCU. Then there will be another book that is just IW and will really incorporate the mythological aspects.

<3 S