Shards (A Percy Jackson and Avengers Crossover)

Debbie "Loki" Downer

"I'll see you again soon, boy."

And then Tartarus plunged the sword into Percy's chest.

Percy shot up with a gasp, pain shooting up from his stomach. "Holy Hephaestus!" he yelped.

His hands flew to his midsection. The god glanced down, relieved to see no golden ichor bleeding through his black 'I can't adult today' shirt.

"Percy!" Percy looked back up to see Steve striding towards him. "You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Like I was pincushion for the Hunters' target practice," Percy groaned out, rubbing his stomach.

It seemed Tartarus couldn't physically hurt him yet, at least not to any major extent. But he pressed down with his thumb on his lower chest and couldn't help the hiss of pain that escaped from his lips.

"Percy?" The Greek lifted his eyes back up to Steve's worried face.

"I'm fine."

Steve frowned, unconvinced.

"Really," Percy tried to convince the super soldier. A bit more desperate, and he'd be convinced himself, too.

At Steve's skeptical look, Percy lifted his shirt up and glanced down. "See, it's fine—"

He was interrupted by both his and Steve's identical sharp intake of breath.

"Yeah... that's not fine," Percy chuckled nervously, running a trembling hand through his rowdy hair.

"Percy..."

His abdomen was a myriad of bruises, or maybe it was one giant contusion—Percy really couldn't tell. At least, Percy assumed it was bruised. Instead of the bluish-red he was he expecting, his stomach was different shades of brown, almost blackish purple in parts of the middle area. Even with Percy's tanned skin, the discoloring definitely stood out.

"What—what happen?"

Percy stayed silent for a minute. "Tartarus stabbed me," he admitted finally.

"What?!" came the alarmed, but expected, reply.

Bruce took that wonderful second to walk in.

The doctor glanced from Steve's upset expression to Percy's bruised stomach. "I leave for five minutes," Bruce muttered dryly.

Percy grinned sheepishly at him. "How long have I been out?"

"Almost an hour," Steve answered as Bruce walked towards the pair.

"Let me see that," Bruce demanded, quickly assuming doctor mode.

Steve looked skyward. "JARVIS, please tell everyone Percy's awake."

Of course, Mr. Rogers, the AI replied smoothly.

Percy sighed but kept his shirt up. Bruce examined his stomach, slowly running his fingers over the discolored area. He prodded gently, erecting periodic hisses from Percy.

"Why are they brown?" Bruce asked.

Percy shrugged, but then immediately regretted the sudden movement. "Beats me."

Bruce stayed silent for a second before perking up. "Your blood. It's yellow, not red."

Percy nodded. At this point, he was just going with the flow.

Bruce poked and prodded a bit more, before finally pulling back and speaking again.

"Well, the bad news is that I'm pretty sure you broke some of your ribs. The good news is that it doesn't look like your ribs punctured any major blood vessels or organs."