Natasha's Secret

Chapter 28 - Golden Eyes

Will and Steve ran through the roads of New Rome towards the sound of Annabeth's scream.

Of course, Steve was faster than Will, which meant that Will was nearly out of breath after running across half of New Rome. When he entered the residential area of New Rome, he found Annabeth standing in front of the entrance to a building, both her and Percy white as sheets.

Steve was already there, his face filled with confusion. Tony flew over their heads, landing next to Annabeth, Jason not far behind. The rest of the groups came over, but Annabeth hadn't moved from her spot in front of the building, which Will recognized as the place that small families could live.

"Annabeth?" Will asked, stepping forward, unsure as to why she hadn't moved.

"Come look," Percy whispered, putting a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and still staring into the doorway of the building.

When Will saw what she had seen, he almost wanted to scream as well.

There was a chair in the middle of the room, but it wasn't a normal chair. It was black and made of metal, a helmet-like thing attached to it, which made it look more like a torture device than a chair.

But the thing that had made Annabeth scream wasn't the chair.

It was who was sitting in it.

"Hazel!" Nico yelled, running to the chair and pulling at the shackles on her wrists.

"Nico, wait, we need to-" Steve said, but Nico glared at him

"This is my SISTER! I don't care what we need to do," he looked at Hazel's unconscious body with a face of sheer panic.

Will knelt by Nico and tried to calm him down, but Nico's eyes were like a cornered animal. Frank slowly walked towards them, his expression similar to Nico's

"We need to help her, get her out of here, what if she needs a hospital? Will, can you heal her-"

Nico was cut off by a soft groan coming from Hazel's mouth, and immediately both he and Frank were at her side and looking at her with overwhelming worry and care.

"Hazel, can you hear me?" Frank asked, putting a hand on Hazel's arm.

Hazel's golden eyes blinked open slowly, unfocused and confused.

"I won't fall for this again," she muttered, looking at Frank's face and blinking slowly.

"Again? Hazel, what do you-"

"I won't tell you how to find them, no matter how realistic you make the dreams," she said, voice becoming more sure of herself.

"They've been showing her dreams of us?" Nico asked, looking sick as he held onto Hazel's arm.

"Don't act like you don't know," she said it like she wanted to leave, like she just wanted to go home and sleep, "Which one are you this time, Rumlow? Is the situation so dire they even called down Peirce? Who are you really?"

"Hazel," Nico's voice broke, the strong emotion that had been in his eyes two seconds ago, now replaced by a hollow hopelessness.

"Oh, Nico is a new one, it's usually just Frank- Wait, how do you know what Nico looks like?" A panic rose in Hazels' voice, "Frank I understand, but how do you know what Nico looks like?"

"Hazel, please listen to me, we're not whoever you think we are, it's Nico and Frank, the real us," Nico sounded weak, almost begging Hazel to believe him.

"No, no you're not! You got Nico, didn't you, where is he!" Hazel yelled, gold eyes shining dangerously even in the dim light, tendrils of The Mist wrapping around her fingers as she strained against the restraints on the chair.

"Hazel, please, listen to us!" Frank said softly, but the earnestness in his voice was clear.

"You can't trick me anymore," Hazel whispered through rapid breaths, looking like she was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Ma'am, please listen to us, we don't want any information that you're not willing to give. We just want to get you out of this chair," Steve stepped closer, putting on his 'Captain America Voice'.

Hazel sat still for a moment, looking at Steve in slight confusion.

Frank reached out to grab Hazel's hand and squeezed it slightly, making her look at him.

"I would never hurt you, Hazel, and neither would Nico,"

"Tell me something only the real Frank would know," Hazel said, almost like she was ready to fight them tooth and nail if they got it wrong.

"Um, alright- Oh! You tried to let Arion sleep in the living room once because it was cold out and he was acting pitiful," Frank said, looking back to Hazel who's eyes seemed more in focus than before.

She stared at Frank for a moment, then a single tear fell from her face, "Is it really you?" She asked, looking as though she would break into a million pieces if she was being tricked again. The last slivers of hope shined through her gaze.

"It's me," Frank promised, holding her hand.

"We're right here, and we're going to get you out of this chair," Nico promised, taking Hazel's other hand.

Hazel didn't say anything, but they all saw the emotion in her eyes: relief