Hope

[In the middle of a dessert in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. A convoy drives of in the dessert playing "Back in Black" by AC/DC. A hand is shown holding a glass of scotch.]

“Shit.” Tony muttered under his breath as the first scene showed up on the screen.

“Back in Black!” Percy grinned before the main part of the song even started.

“You and AC/DC.” Nico shook his head.

“It’s the best and you know it.” Percy retorted. Nico sighed in resignation.

“You’re having whiskey in a…convoy?” Steve stared at Tony who shrugged.

The screen pans out to show that it is Tony.

[In the armored car where Tony is, he and the soldiers are quiet, then they start talking.] Tony’s the one to break the silence. “I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!”

Most of the people chuckled at that.

“Awkward silences are the worst.” Will popped up.

“I have to agree with that.” Bruce nodded at his fellow doctor who grinned at him.

The soldier tells him that they can talk, making Tony ask if its personal.

“They’re probably in awe. Its not every day you get to be in the same convoy as one of the most powerful people in the world.” Peter suggested. Tony looked at the kid. He’d seen a few images that Happy had shown him where he was swinging in between buildings in some red and blue suit.

“The young ones in the army were especially fascinated with Tony.” Rhodey admitted.

“Now the whole world is.” Annabeth stated. Tony gave his cousin’s girlfriend a small smile.

“No, you intimidate them”, the soldier driving the vehicle said.

“I’m not surprised.” Wanda said.

“I think she meant ‘intimidate’ in the sense Peter said.” Percy told her amusedly. The scarlet witch looked at the young now immortal with curiosity in her eyes. She understood the aura that was generating off of him seeing as he was the son of a god but what she confused her more than anything was that she was not able to get a feel of his mind.

“Could you please stop that? It’s a little annoying.” Percy told her with a lopsided smile once he realized what Wanda was doing. He couldn’t blame her, knowing that it had become a second nature to her to do that. But, she looked surprised when Percy called her out on it and nodded. Most of the Avengers in the room looked equally surprised that Percy was able to block her out of his head.

Tony is shocked to find out that the speaker was a woman and said that he couldn’t have called that. He told her that he’d apologize but he thought of her as a soldier first.

“You saved yourself there, Stark.” Natasha snorted.

“Good save.” Thalia agreed.

“Great, now there are two of you.” Tony told Natasha and Thalia in amusement and the duo smirked smugly.

“Well, you’re in for it now, my friend.” Thor laughed.

The soldier told him that she was an airman. Tony proceeded to tell her that she had excellent bone structure and that now he was having a hard time not looking at her and asked if that was weird.

Everybody laughed at that.

“Just a bit, I have to say.” Doctor Strange said dryly.

The soldiers in the vehicle laugh and chuckle. Tony smiled and told them that its okay to laugh.

“You’re a good guy.” Nico told Tony who hid his surprise.

“I know.” He said with a dramatic sigh, making Nico chuckle.

“I have a feeling that you and Percy are way too alike.” Jason told Tony, amusement in his voice.

“Possibly.” Percy grinned.

“Great, now there’s two of you. The world could handle one Tony Stark.” Natasha told Tony with raised eyebrows.

“Eh, well it doesn’t look like the world has a choice there.” Percy chuckled. Tony grinned at Percy.

One of the soldiers told Tony that he had a question and told him to go ahead and ask him. The soldier asked if it was true that Tony went 12 for 12 with last year’s Maxim cover models.

“Out of all things he could have asked.” Sam raised an eyebrow with a light chuckle.

“Wait. Is it true though?” Peter asked with wide eyes.

“Well, yes and no.” Tony answered.

“That clears it up.” Percy nodded sagely.

Tony told him that it was an excellent question and answered by saying Yes and No. He told him that he and March had had a scheduling conflict but fortunately the Christmas cover was twins and asked if there was anything else.

“Okay. Respect.” Clint told Tony with a nod and Tony smirked at him.

“W.” Percy and Peter laughed and high fived.

“What-“ Steve asked in confusion.

“It’s a slang.” Loki said.

“You know what that means?” Percy asked in surprise. Loki rolled his eyes.

“I do occasionally catch up with mortal slangs.” He said

“So you can eventually befriend teenagers and manipulate them?” Clint drawled. The mirth left Loki’s face as he looked at Clint but said nothing.

“Hey, come on. That’s unfair.” Percy told Clint with a frown. Loki and Thor looked at the son of Poseidon in surprise, not expecting him to be one to come to Loki’s defense.

“Come on. You know what he did in New York.” Clint told Percy

“I know but this was just a regular conversation. There wasn’t really any need to bring that for no reason.” Percy told the archer. Then he clapped his hands together “Anyways.” He said. “Lets continue.” He grinned.

[The Soldier next to him, Jimmy, raises his hand.] Tony asked him he was kidding him with the hand up.

“It feels like I’m in school.” Peter grumbled.

“You are in school.” Percy teased.

“Oh shut up. You’re only three years elder than me.” Peter pouted at him.

“So? You’re still younger than me.” Percy grinned at him.

“Its barely anything.” Peter grumbled again.

“A lot can happen in 3 years, buddy.” Percy sighed and clapped Peter on the shoulder, all amusement gone from his voice. Nick Fury looked analytically at the son of Poseidon. He’d heard about him but never actually met the kid and it seemed like he was more than just a young immortal.

“He’s right in that point.” Doctor Strange told Peter and the teenager sighed and nodded seriously.

Jimmy asked if it was cool if he could take a picture with Tony.

“Well, somebody’s a fanboy.” Sam chuckled. Tony hid a grimace. Now, he didn’t mind if people asked him that question because they were fond of Iron Man but at that point of time they were fond of the Merchant of Death and that was the time when he didn’t mind that title.

Tony told him that it was very cool. The soldier takes out a camera and gives it to one in front of him. Tony jokingly told him that he didn’t want to see this on his MySpace page.

“Oh gods, you’re so old.” Percy said to Tony with raised eyebrows.

“I’m literally 6 years elder than you.” Tony told him.

“That’s old.” Percy deadpanned. Rhodey and Pepper snorted in amusement at the indignant look on Tony’s face and Happy hid his smile.

“Finally somebody who can counter your sass. It’s refreshing.” Bruce told Tony with a grin.

“Thanks, Brucie Bear.” Tony grumbled.

[The Soldier puts up a peace sign for the photo.]

“Ironic.” Wanda scoffed. Rhodey and Pepper glared at the scarlet witch and Vision sighed sadly.

Tony told the soldier, no gang signs.

“You’re messing with them, aren’t you?” Natasha chuckled. Tony grinned and winked at her.

And then told him to throw it up as he was kidding. Tony looked at it said that he loved peace and that he’d be out of a job with peace.

“Couldn’t have that now, could we?” Wanda said nonchalantly. Tony grimaced at the memories of the destruction that he had seen because of his missiles.

“Back off, seriously.” Rhodey told Wanda with a glare which Wanda conveniently ignored but didn’t say anything else. Tony gave Rhodey a grateful look but his friend was too busy glaring at Wanda.

Jimmy told the other soldier to hurry up and click the photo without changing any settings. [As the picture was about to be taken, something hit and blew up the vehicle in front of them. Gunshots and such were heard and hitting the side of their vehicle.]

A few people jumped up in surprise while Peter gave a light high pitched scream as he fell backward from the backless couch.

“Ambush.” Bucky sighed. This was the first time the winter soldier had spoken and had shot guilty looks at Tony, knowing that it’d be better if he told the billionaire the truth before it came out in one of the movies but then again he wasn’t sure if Tony wanted to hear it from him or from Steve, seeing as he’d known Tony much longer and the genius had a level of trust with the captain.

Tony on the other hand, winced, really not wanting anybody to see the events that followed. Heck, he didn’t want to see them again. Living them was bad enough and now for them to be brought back to refresh the memories was going to be nearly as bad.

Tony asked what was happening in fear and shock and the female soldier said that there was contact left. Tony asked what they had but nobody answered as the driver stepped out to go into combat but was shot down.

Everybody winced at that.

“Stay in the convoy.” Steve told Tony and by the look that he received, Steve knew that Tony had done the exact opposite.

Just then there was a bright flash and the campers were on their feet in a few seconds with their weapons drawn. But the people that came out of it were not a threat.

There was a choking sound in the background as Loki had gone deathly pale and Thor looked like he wanted to wake up from whatever dream he was seeing. The demigods had sprung to their feet, weapons drawn, further making the rest of the avengers jump in surprise.

“That’s not possible.” He murmured, his voice laced with pain. Then he shot up as he went into the smoke which had started to clear and once it did, everybody saw the god of thunder hugging the figure with everything in him. Loki’s knuckles had gone deathly pale on his chair handles and yet his hands shook as he stared without blinking at the woman.

As Percy got a clear look at the woman, he spun his sword on one side and knelt, with his head bowed and his sword tip pointing the ground as he held the hilt. The rest of the demigods frowned as the saw Percy, knowing that Percy did not kneel without reason and so they followed their leader as the knelt in their arrow formation.

The lady saw the group of demigods with a curious expression on her face.

“Rise, my children.” She said. As the demigods rose, Percy bowed with a hand on his chest.

“Lady Frigga.” He said and it was at that moment that everything made sense to everybody in the room.

“Perseus Jackson.” Frigga smiled. “It’s an honor.” She said.

“Honor’s all mine, my lady.” Percy smiled. Frigga and the rest of the demigods got acquainted as Frigga joined her sons where they sat. Loki looked like he wanted to cry but there was no way in Hel he was going to let that happen in front of all these people.

In the meanwhile another woman had stepped out of the smoke and Peter had immediately run to his aunt, explaining everything and Percy grinned at Aunt May and the woman chuckled at her nephew’s friend as she joined him and the gang.

Wanda’s eyes widened as she saw a person who looked exactly like her brother step out of the smoke as she ran to him, her eyes shining with tears as she held onto her twin who hugged her back with the same emotion in his eyes. Hawkeye looked at Pietro, guilt and apology written on his face while the Maximoff looked at him with a small smile.

“You didn’t see that coming?” he asked him, his Sokovian accent coming out. Clint couldn’t help but give a small chuckle at that.

Once everybody was now aware of what was happening and new introductions were made, the continued watching the movie. They’d accepted that it was now totally normal for dead people coming back to life during this watching of movies. There was just no point in questioning it.

A soldier told Jimmy to stay with Tony who told him to stay down which he did. The other soldier then got out as well but was also shot.

Rhodey swore.

“It’s turning into a bloodbath.” Sam said grimly. Tony winced. This was happening because of him and he couldn’t stop blaming himself.

“Son of a bitch!” Jimmy yelled as he goes out to fight.

“Are you serious?! You were given orders!” Rhodey shouted at the screen and massaged his temples.

Tony asks him to wait a give him a gun before he goes.

On the curious looks, Tony rolled his eyes.

“I was a weapons manufacturer. Of course, I know how to fire a gun.” He said exasperatedly.

“Honestly, even if you didn’t, you’d be able to hit the target if it came to close combat anyways.” Scott shrugged.

“That too.”

Jimmy told Tony to stay where he was and turned back around but was also gunned down with holes piercing the window. Tony then got out of the vehicle, his hearing and other senses dulled as he stumbled a bit in the chaos.

“No! You’re supposed to be staying in the vehicle.” Rhodey groaned at his best friend.

“Honestly, they would’ve found me there as well.” Tony said mildly

“We don’t know that.” Happy pointed out, guiltily.

“If those people came looking for Tony then they would’ve found him regardless of whether he was inside or outside the ‘fun-vee’. The only thing that depends on him getting out of the convoy or staying inside is his physical well-being. And quite frankly, him staying inside would not have guaranteed protection seeing as bullet holes are able to go through the windows.” Percy said, his voice somber. Tony looked at his cousin in mild surprise, his ability to analyze situations with such accuracy leaving him impressed and this time it looked like he wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

“I have to say these vehicles which are meant for security not having bulletproof glass is quite surprising.” May said quietly. Rhodey nodded in agreement along with several others.

As Tony got his hearing back, he ran and dove behind a rock for cover and pulled out his phone to call for help when a bomb landed next to him. He looked over to see it and on the bomb, in bold letters was written “Stark Industries.”

Wanda and Pietro looked at the screen with wide eyes and then at the man himself whose eyes were closed as he took in a breath.

“Your own missile.” Clint breathed as he shook his head.

“Maybe it won’t explode?” Peter said, hope in his voice. Tony looked at the kid filled with hope and gave him a small smile but it didn’t have any humor in it.

“Stark missiles never failed, kid.” He said sadly. Peter swallowed as he watched the screen, not wanting to see what happened to the one hero he’d looked up to his entire life.

He tried to get up and get away but wasn’t able to do so in time. The bomb exploded and made him fly through the air a bit as landed painfully on his back. His eyes widened in shock as his senses were dulled again but he was still able to open his shirt as he felt his chest where blood had begun to pool.

“Shit.” Will swore. Bruce agreed with the young doctor.

Wanda couldn’t help but gasp. These kinds of things were not supposed to happen to Tony Stark but she somehow couldn’t help but feel like karma had hit him back.

“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?” she voiced out loud. Pepper, Happy and Rhodey glared viciously at her. Pietro glared back at them. Percy just looked at them coldly but nothing showed on his face.

“This wasn’t karma.” Percy said coolly. “Karma’s only when somebody did the exact same thing to you and Tony clearly did not fire the missile himself.” He said. Tony gave Percy a grateful look to which Percy gave a small smile. He knew what they were watching was already hard enough on Tony without Wanda trying to be a smartass. Watching a time which changed his entire life was definitely not very serotonin inducing for Tony.

The other avengers looked horrified at what they saw. Being caught in the middle of an ambush was one thing but to sustain injuries due to your own creation was something else altogether. He clearly had got help because he was still alive but the members who had been in the military knew well enough that help wasn’t coming from an ally.

Later Tony is shown captured by a terrorist organization, with bandages covering his torso and yet stained with blood. A group of terrorists surround him as they hold guns as they record a video with a man reciting in Urdu about Tony’s kidnapping.

The demigods and Thor stare with wide eyes at the screen.

“Fuck.” Percy swore as he ran a hand down his face, reminding everybody of his relation to Tony.

“You understand what they’re saying?” Natasha asked the gang, whose eyes were wide with concern as they listened to the video and they nodded.

“Something about suffering and how Tony’s like a predator who deserves to be eliminated and stuff like that.” Percy shook his head, his words almost a growl as he tried to keep his anger under control.

“They should be getting you to surgery!” Will and Bruce groaned in unison.

“I swear, if they had to record a ransom they should have done it after making sure that you weren’t going to die in the middle.” Bruce shook his head. Tony cracked a small smile at that. Pepper, however looked enraged even then.

“Yeah and we obviously didn’t get that ransom video.” Rhodey rolled his eyes and clenched his fist, knowing exactly why.

The scene then went blank as "IRON MAN" showed up in bold letters on the screen.