Hope

The screen shows Happy and Tony outside the casino when they hear a commotion as they see an interviewer trying to get to them.

“Is that who I think it is?” Scott squinted. Percy groaned as he saw who it was.

“I hate her.” He shook his head.

“Christine Everhart?” Pepper asked.

“Yeah. She’s be pissing the shit out of me. She’s been calling me non-stop since I became Tony’s PA and lawyer which since Ultron. She thinks I’m going to tell her something juicy or some bullshit.” Percy sighed

“What’d you say to her then?” Bucky asked, caught up in the conversation.

“According to her agency in particular, they are not allowed to question their subjects as they call them, for the time period of a week following any sort of major event which may or may not be traumatic or an event from which it takes time to recover. So I told her that I would be calling her boss and making sure that not only did she not get to talk to Tony but she wouldn’t get to talk to anybody who even vaguely knows him.” Percy winked.

“I have a feeling you’re going to soon become my new hero.” Scott grinned at Percy.

Christine Everhart: Mr. Stark! Excuse me, Mr. Stark! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?

“Can you even say no?” Natasha asked dryly.

“Not without making headlines about how I’m uncooperative.” Tony replied.

“Consent has just ceased to mean anything for paparazzi like her.” Rhodey shook his head in disgust.

“I surprisingly have not been surrounded by any since Ultron.” Tony said as it just hit him and then he, Pepper and Rhodey proceeded to look at Percy with raised eyebrows.

“I didn’t kill anybody if that’s the concern?” he said with a grin.

“Not the concern.” Pepper chuckled.

“What did you do to them?” Rhodey asked Percy in amusement.

“Nothing much.” Percy winked and he and Happy exchanged knowing looks as they hid their smiles. Everybody else looked at the demigod son of Poseidon in amazement. Anybody who could prevent paparazzi was either a magician or a god.

Happy tells Tony that the interviewer is cute and Tony verifies and turns around to face Christine and greets her.

“That’s the priority?” Steve raised an unamused eyebrow at Tony who shuffled uncomfortably.

“I mean he’s already tired of being questioned by paparazzi.” Peter’s small voice cut in. Everybody turned to look at him and Percy gave him a smile and Tony gave him a grateful look.

“Still…its kind of objectifying.” Steve muttered.

“I would’ve turned around either ways. I might have been a jackass but I wasn’t so much of one that I would have driven off if Happy wouldn’t have said that she was cute.” Tony snapped. Steve looked taken aback but said nothing. Pepper and Rhodey exchanged proud looks that Tony stood up for himself.

Christine asks if its okay if she continues and Tony replies in the affirmative. Christine proceeds to then tell him that he’s been called the Da Vinci of their time and asked his opinion on the statement. Tony tells her that that claim is ridiculous as he doesn’t paint.

There was some laughter in the room after they heard Tony’s response.

“Answer it and yet don’t answer it. Brilliant.” Nico grinned.

“Honestly, the question was a little stupid in the first place. Like, what am I even supposed to say in answer to that? That every design I make is like the Mona Lisa to me?” Tony said exasperatedly. Percy and a couple of others snorted in amusement.

“I’m gonna use that somewhere at some point.” Percy snickered.

“Send the commission.” Tony smirked at him

Christine then asks him what he thinks of his other nickname which was “The Merchant of Death”. Tony tells her that that’s not that bad.

Tony winced as he heard and saw himself not feel guilty about making the weapons and being gratified with the titles that were given to him. Honestly, that was one thing that he knew that he would always regret. It was something that time wouldn’t heal.

Wanda scoffed at the scene and Pietro sighed.

“It was something you earned, wasn’t it?” Wanda spat out, making Tony wince again which was something noticed by Percy seeing as he was possibly one of the most observant people there was.

“Well, you’re just a peace activist, aren’t you?” he snapped back, making Wanda shut up effectively. “You have no idea the amount of damage that you’ve caused that I have to deal with seeing as its all eventually falling on Tony.” He informed her.

Tony: Let me guess. Berkeley?

Christine Everhart: Brown, actually.

Tony calls her Ms. Brown and tells that that the world they live is imperfect and yet it’s the only one that they’ve got. He guarantees her that they day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, he’ll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.

“Honestly, you’re not wrong there.” Will mused.

“Weapons can do more damage than good.” Tony replied.

“Yes. Maybe. But the thing is that it is getting progressively harder to maintain the peace in the world we live in.” Will explained. “Especially with the fact that there are multiple pantheons, multiple otherworldly threats and not to forget the rivalry that countries seem to have among themselves and civil wars. The list’s endless.” He sighed.

“And the knowledge of something new every day.” Loki muttered.

“That too.” Percy nodded in agreement with Loki.

“But weapons aren’t really the way to go about it. Its basically using weapons of mass destruction to maintain peace.” Tony said dryly. Will chuckled.

“That’s true.” He admitted.

Christine asked Tony if he rehearsed what he said that much and Tony tells her that he did so every night in front of the mirror, right before bedtime.

“I’m having a feeling that this is turning into something different altogether.” May said dryly.

“You would be right.” Pepper told her.

Christine tells him that she can see that and Tony tells her that he would like to show her the same first hand. However, Christine tells him that all she wants is a serious answer.

“Yeah. That’s all she wants.” Annabeth rolled her eyes. Natasha smirked at her.

“I like you.” She said and Annabeth grinned back.

“She’s going to have to ask a serious question to get a serious answer. She seems to be asking about nicknames right now. How does she want a philosophical answer to those?” Sam shook his head, his voice filled with amusement.

“She’s like that. Its annoying.” Scott complained.

Tony’s face then morphs into a serious one as he tells her that he’s going to give her a serious answer. He tells her that his old man had a philosophy which was that peace meant having a bigger stick than the other guy.

“So does that mean that the space between his thumb and index finger is quite big?” Percy said innocently. Tony, Loki, Pietro, Natasha and the demigods burst out laughing. Bruce and Peter chuckled but Peter smiled innocently as Aunt May raised an eyebrow at him and she chuckled.

“That was funny, Mr. Jackson.” Vision said amusedly.

“It makes me proud.” Tony told Percy with a laugh.

“I mean, I’m just asking.” Percy snickered.

“You’re a bad influence on him.” Pepper told Tony amusedly. For a second, Tony’s smile fell off his face as he remembered that him and Pepper had broken up but then he grinned again.

“I’m pretty sure Percy’s the bad influence on Tony at this point.” Thalia told Pepper.

“Brilliant. We don’t even have them under any adult supervision. We had Jarvis before but now they’ve taken FRIDAY to the dark side as well.” Rhodey sighed. Tony and Percy chuckled.

“Howard never seemed to follow that policy before, though.” Steve muttered. Tony looked at him, all hint of amusement gone from his face.

“Yeah? Well, people change.” Is all he said. Steve frowned.

Christine comments that that’s a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.

“Who else is going to say it?” Peter said in confusion.

“Exactly.” Bruce snorted in amusement.

Tony tells Christine that his father helped defeat the Nazis and worked on the Manhattan Project. He tells her that a lot of people including her professors at Brown would call that being a hero. Christine comments that many would also call that war profiteering.

“What is she trying to achieve here, exactly?” Jason asked with furrowed brows.

“She’s trying to trap him in his own words by somehow making him say that he does profit from destruction.” Percy said, his face emotionless as he stared at the screen.

Tony winced. That’s exactly what he used to do, wasn’t it?

“Which isn’t true.” Percy then continued. Tony then looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“He’s not wrong. War is something that might add on to the sales, yes as your weapons were purchased by the military but the aim that you wanted to achieve was protect your country and this woman is just twisting it.” Thor said.

“Yes but people died anyways. And that’s on me.” Tony told Thor, his tone carrying finality.

Tony Stark: Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.

Tony winced. He’d never allowed himself to lose even the slightest bit of composure and he wasn’t fond of the fact that he had with Christine Everhart. Pepper also raised an eyebrow, not ever having seen Tony lose his cool so quickly with a journalist.

“She gets on everybody’s nerves. I’m not surprised that you lost your cool with her.” Percy said gently.

“Wait, she annoys you off too?” Loki asked Percy.

“She asks the most annoying questions and thinks she knows everything. Its hard to keep your cool when you talk to her.” Percy informed.

“Yeah. I got tasered.” Scott muttered.

“Oh yeah. I saw that interview.” Natasha told him.

“Fun.” Scott sighed.

Christine Everhart: You ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life?

Tony Stark: I'd be prepared to lose a few with you.

[They go to Malibu and have sex.]

“Whoa.” Peter muttered.

“I did not need to see that.” Rhodey groaned.

“My eyes! My eyes!” Percy yelled in a perfect imitation of Phoebe from FRIENDS.

“That was traumatizing.” Clint complained but he was flipped off by Tony.

JARVIS: Good morning. It's 7:00 a.m. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m.

Christine Everhart: [Walking around Tony's mansion.] Tony? Hey, Tony? [Tries to play with the controls on the wall. It beeps at her.]

“Ooh why would she do that?” Pepper winced.

“Yeah, I once switched on the rain dance filter and that was quite a wake up call.” Percy grumbled.

“Should’ve happened to her.” Pepper muttered, making Tony chuckle and raise an eyebrow at her.

“Jealous, honey?” he teased.

“Annoyed.” Pepper corrected.

JARVIS: You are not authorized to access this area.

Christine Everhart: Jesus.

Pepper Potts: That's JARVIS. He runs the house. I've got your clothes here. They've been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go.

Christine Everhart: You must be the famous Pepper Potts.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Scott scoffed, really bummed out that the rain dance feature did not drench Christine.

“I have a feeling that you’re more annoyed than Pepper.” Will chuckled.

“Yeah, well, Pepper didn’t get tasered.” Scott defended.

Pepper Potts: Indeed I am.

Christine Everhart: After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.

Pepper Potts: I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?

“Ooh, you tell her!” Annabeth cheered.

“Damn right, Pepper!” Natasha said proudly. Pepper grinned at the two.

“Well done, Ms. Potts.” Tony muttered to her and Pepper turned red but smirked at him.

And the scene changes.