Beating Hearts

Broken Glass; Shattered Eyes

Percy was now 100% convinced that he was the unluckiest person ever. Or maybe the Fates just hated him. Maybe some strange mixture of both. Anyway you look at it, Percy was in trouble, or more than normal at least. He'd just gotten back from the cemetery and was once again outside the doors to the tower when he recalled what had happened one of the last times he was here, with Steve. Bad idea. He'd heard growling from his right. A glimmer of red eyes in the darkness, and a hiss from behind him. An army of monsters consisting of empousai, hellhounds, dracaenas, and more surrounded him. Percy slashed, hacked and destroyed every monster that stood in his path. When he was done, the ground was covered in what could have been mistaken for golden sand. Percy himself was standing in the middle of it, with scratches and bruises. A dislocated shoulder and a deeper gouge in his stomach were the worst of it. Luckily, he'd grabbed some ambrosia earlier and was about to eat it when he heard a gasp. Crap. He'd jinxed himself when he'd thought 'luckily.'

~Bruce Banner~

Bruce had a headache. Tony had thought it would be funny to rig his room with a green paintball dispenser. By the time he'd gotten everything cleaned up, Bruce had also missed dinner and was restless, two things that could get people hurt, or killed when you're also the Hulk. He decided to go outside for a breath of fresh air; take a walk around the tower. He expected a nice relaxing stroll to take his mind of the tiring day- not an incredibly athletic teenager surrounded by aureate residue and covered in blood. Percy seemed to grab a small plastic bag from his pocket, but his head snapped up when he heard Bruce gasp. "Uh..." was his extremely intelligent response, as he spun around and made a feeble attempt at acting natural. "You're bleeding." Bruce stated. Percy's guilty expression transformed into a did-you-really-just-say-that look. "Thank you, Captain Obvious," he replied, "I totally didn't notice." Bruce shook his head. "No, I mean you need to go to the infirmary. And tell me what happened here."

"Well which one is it?" Percy asked. "What do you mean?" Bruce frowned. "I mean, that you're going to have to choose whether you want to stand here and listen to me tell a bedtime story, or if you want to drag me up into a hospital bed for no real reason. Choose." Percy crossed his arms. 

Percy ended up in the infirmary, with Bruce scurrying around looking for supplies and telling F.R.I.D.A.Y. to call the others down. "Why does everyone else need to be here. It's just a minor injury. At Bruce's alarmed look he corrected himself. "I mean, stomach wounds bleed a lot and the shoulder is pretty simple to fix, especially since you're a doctor," he remarked. "Maybe, but I want to hear the story you tell us about the dust down there. You're covered in scratches, so you must have been attacked. It could have been a one time thing, but if there's a new threat, we need to hear about it as soon as possible," Bruce insisted, handing over some bandages and a piece o fabric to put in his mouth while he fixed his shoulder, not missing the sudden paleness of the teen's face.

~Tony Stark~

Bruce had better have a really good reason for waking Tony up in the middle of the night. He'd spent the past few days updating some of the rooms in the tower, and he needed his rest. If this was just some kind of cruel payback for the paint launcher he'd planted in his room, it was going to be a hard(and very green) week for Dr. Banner. When he found him however, it was in the infirmary staring down at a body. The others were already there and were waiting by the wall for Tony. The man himself rushed over and looked between the doctor and the group. "What's going on?" he asked. "'What's going on' is that I found Percy here outside surrounded with dust and peppered with wounds. Now, he's going to explain to us the new threat," Bruce called out. From his place on the bed, Percy sighed and sat up, sending another dose of blood out of his stomach wound. "Alright...I'm pretty sure that Thor already knows what was out there, but I'll try to explain it to the rest of you. They were monsters- specifically monsters from the Greek and/or Roman myths. In those myths, there were gods, and those gods had children with mortals. Several years ago, I discovered that world still existed, and that these children lived on in secret. I've made friends with many of these, as they like to be called, half-bloods. That is why I have tried so hard to keep their existence a secret, and even now, I will not reveal to you where they are located, for both their safety, and for yours, as it is because of my relationship with the Greek pantheon that I am hunted by their monsters," he told them. Tony noticed that he was dealing with the deep gashes and other contusions like they were nothing. His face was as strong and imposing as ever, but his eyes were haunted. The boy wasn't even looking in Tony's direction, and yet he could feel the unrelenting hatred hidden behind those eyes as he spoke, like remembering someone who had wronged him in some way. The pain and horrors they had seen; the shattered look to them that he had glazed over with sarcasm. Like broken glass with a layer of frost. His beautiful green orbs were ever-changing and swirled with power and mystery, and Tony could tell he was still hiding most of his life from them. But why?

Harsh words cut through the silence. "One more thing. If you ever hurt one of them, I will personally hunt you down and make sure you suffer for all of eternity. Don't even think about betraying me. I. Will. Know. And even if I'm not like Nico, I can still hold a grudge, especially when it comes to my fatal flaw."

Okay, first things first: I'm sorry if I'm not using Wanda or Vision as much as I should be. I just can't find much use for them, at least, not right now. Same for Natasha, though she is easier to write into other characters' POV's, so she can stay. Just say that after this chapter, something came up and they left for some mysterious reason...Spooky spooks. I might bring 'em back later though. Anyway, I'm not sure exactly when this is taking place, but I like to think of it occurring before Hel came to Asgard, and obviously before Infinity War and End Game. I didn't really think this story through too well, did I? Maybe I'll go back and fix things up if/when I watch all the Avengers movies again. I need a refresher.

~DarkCooki3