Danica Stark: A Crossover

She was about to ask another question, but her dad got there first. "Alright kiddos. We're about to cross the border into Nevada. We'll get gas and stretch our legs, but we can't stay for too long."

The gas station they stopped at was fairly normal. A Maverick center. It was so far, the cleanest public bathroom she had ever used. This gave her some hope for calm stop. She should never have thought that though, because the fates had a silly way of showing that they cared.

While her dad was pumping gas and avoided people who may recognize him, Clove and Danica went inside to find some bathrooms, energy drinks, and hot food. They were luckily able to find a whole pizza stand! 

"Alright, Clove, you go get some pizza, and I'll find the energy drinks for Dad." Danica ordered. She was still a little bit salty that Clove had been lying to her.

So she left him at the pizza stand to go find some monster energy drinks. While she was debating on which ones her dad would like the most, she felt someone bump into her from behind. "Watch where you're going!" As she turned around, she noticed a boy who was probably the same age as Clove. He was a tall Asian boy with a mean look on his face. 

"You watch it shorty!" He yelled back. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. The dark circles under his eyes looking like bruises, his hair unkempt, and his clothes torn and crumpled. There was even blood on his skin in some places.

Despite her previous annoyance, Dani couldn't help but ask, "what happened? Are you ok?"

"What do you care?" He replied. "You're nothing but a spoiled brat who's never experienced the real world!" His anger was obvious. She guessed that he hadn't experienced much good in his life.

She did her best to ignore his mean statements, but she couldn't help but realize that what he said was true. "I'm Danica. What's your name? Are you alone?" 

He glared at her. "Geez, it's none of your business! Just leave me alone!" As he said that, she looked over his shoulder and paled. There was Mrs. Morton, the empousai that was staring right at her. The boy noticed her facial expression change and asked, "what's going on?" Much more calmly than he felt. He was a jerk sure, but he wasn't cruel.

"Shoot! How did she get out?" Danica panicked. The boy turned his head and finally noticed the monster.

"Why does that lady have fire for hair?" He asked, noticing the strange appearance of Mrs. Morton. "And she looks like she wants to eat you alive, scratch that, she's looking at us both that way!"

"She definitely does want to eat us," she said, finally realizing that Mrs. Morton was not just looking at her like a meal, but at the boy in front of her too. "We have to get out of here, come with me!" She managed to get them both out of the way right as the monster lunged to get them. She grabbed his wrist and they ran to find Clove. He was still waiting in line to get pizza, although he was also definitely starting to smell something off based on his facial expression. "Clove!" She shouted to get his attention.

"Dani! What's going on? And who's this guy?" Was Clove's response.

"There's no time to explain!" Danica whisper- yelled at him. "We have to get out of here!" Her dad was just finishing filling up the gas tank when she dragged both boys out of the store (not like either of them were putting up much of a fight). "Dad! We have to go now! Mrs. Morton is back!"

Her Dad didn't even ask why there was another kid with them, just ushered them all into the car, and then hopped in the driver's seat to speed off into the Nevada desert. When they were officially on the road, Tony finally asked his questions, "so, who's the new kid?"

The boy now looked completely different from what he had before. Instead of confident and mean, he looked confused and almost embarrassed. "My name's Ethan, Mr. Stark sir." He whispered, now very quiet and definitely out of his element.

"Well Ethan, we're heading east, do you need a ride home or something?" Tony asked him. A young boy wandering the gas station alone and willingly getting into a car with a complete stranger was a little bit worrying, but he'd help the kid in any way he could.

"I um, I don't have anywhere." He replied. Which was pretty sad. "You can just drop me off at wherever you stop next, I don't really care."

Danica suddenly remembered something from the gas station. "You saw her too right Ethan? The monster I mean?" She asked.

"The fire hair robot goat business woman? Yeah, she was kind of hard to miss." Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Clove, do you think?" She was suddenly curious and a little bit hopeful.

"Yeah." Clove sighed, but did his best to change his demeanor for the difficult conversation ahead. "Ethan, how much do you know about Greek mythology?"

. . . . . . . . . . 

"So that's why we need to get to New York as soon as possible." Clove finished. The demigod shpeel. Ethan was a much better audience member than Danica. He actually waited for Clove to finish before interrupting with any questions.

"What you're telling me, is that one of my parents is a Greek God, my life is a lie, and and I won't survive the world without going to this stupid camp?" Ethan asked. "Those are the main points right? Or am I missing something?" Ethan was getting more and more stressed by the minute, and really just needed a nap.

"No, that just about covers it." Danica replied. "Although I've only known for a few hours longer than you."

Ethan groaned while tugging the hair at the nape of his neck. "It sounds like we'll probably run into quite a bit of trouble on the way there. Are we prepared. Are there any weapons in this thing?" He asked.

"Come on kid, I'm Tony Stark. Do you really think I'd drive my daughter all the way across the country without any sort of protective weaponry?" Danica's Dad answered. "I'm not stupid. Quite the opposite actually."

"Sorry about my dad, he can be annoying sometimes." At this point, Danica ignored the protests from her father, and the consequential snickers from Ethan. "You look like you haven't had a good meal or nap in days." She said, digging through the bag of food. She handed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bag of Doritos, an d a Gatorade. "It's not much, but you really should eat it all, and then you can take a nap. The seats recline, and we could put on some calm music or something."

Ethan thanked them for all their help, gratefully ate his food, and immediately fell asleep. He was fairly certain that he'd freak out when he woke up and had the energy to freak out, but for now, sleep called to him and he was happy to sink into it's warm embrace. Three days on the run will do that to a person though. An adrenaline crash can always be expected once you've reached a somewhat safe space.