Chapter 30
"Let's begin now that everyone is here." Athena said with a pointed glance at Apollo, who simply shrugged and ignored the glares thrown his way by Artemis.
This time it was Percy sitting at the head of table with Tony on one side and Poseidon on the other. Zeus was sitting at the other end, with Hera beside him who had been surprisingly quiet the whole time.
Percy then cleared his throat and the attention shifted completely to him.
"First we need to set a line of traps everywhere possible, they work wonders, so Lord Hephaestus and Hermes and their cabins can work on setting them up, Tony you can go with them. You guys also co-ordinate with Athena to come up with the best possible places. You can also take Dionysus and Lady Demeter with you, work as many traps as you can. Then the Apollo cabin divide yourselves in half, half of you will be medical and the other half archers, Hunters, half of you with Apollo, other half on the ground, Ares cabin will be fighting too along with Aphrodite and all others. The Roman Legion along with Reyna will be joining us. The Avengers will have the same position as before."
Percy paused then looking for approval, everyone nodded at his words, mentally noting their positions. Percy then continued,
"So since we will be facing Giants, the first line needs to have 1 God along with one demigod. I will be with Poseidon, Thalia with Zeus, Thor you can also work with them, Dionysus will have Pollux, with Hermes are Travis and Connor, Will will be heading the medical, Nico with Lord Hades, Ares can help wherever required. Lord Hephaestus and Nyassa Tony you can also help them if required, Lady Athena will be with Malcolm, Lady Aphrodite with Jessica, and finally Apollo and Artemis with Kayla and Phoebe though I doubt Apollo will be required."
There were quiet laughs at this and Apollo pretended to be offended, "Oh, cousin why must you betray me like this? Wait I sense a haiku coming."
There was a collective yell of, "No!" From everyone who has ever heard him recite a haiku.
Thalia shot a warning look to the Avengers which screamed Do not encourage him, they wisely decided to keep quiet. Apollo seemed to deflate a little so Percy told him, "You can help Dionysus he has to deal with twins."
That made Apollo light up and he fist pumped a very bored looking Dionysus next to him causing the others to once again chuckle.
After a little more discussion and dinner, which was delicious by the way, everyone left in pairs. Percy, Nico and Thalia got up and headed out the dining hall.
Back in the dining hall, Poseidon pulled Tony aside for a minute and asked Tony to walk with him. Tony was a little nervous but agreed wandering what on earth did Poseidon want to talk about. As they walked Poseidon pointed out the various structures.
"This was all destroyed by Kronos in the second Titan War, Percy and Annabeth led our side, and they won although it was a really sad ending, but Annabeth was the one who designed the new city unfortunately her plans were left incomplete and we had to get someone else, not as good as her." Poseidon explained.
"Annabeth was Percy's girlfriend, right?" Tony hesitantly asked.
Poseidon smiled and nodded, "Yes, a daughter of Athena and my son, unlikely pairing indeed but they loved each other. They knew each other since they were 12 and started dating only when they were 16. They were practically inseparable, their love was so strong that Percy willingly jumped into Hell for her."
Tony still felt incredibly surprised even though he had heard it before. The fact that anyone, especially a 16 year old, would willingly jump into hell...still astonished him.
"He must have been devastated." Tony whispered, he couldn't imagine losing someone he loved so much.
"He was. He cried over her body for a minute and then despite being injured he duelled Gaia, Mother Earth to death, he killed a primordial, Tony. His power knows no bounds, he can control blood, poison or any liquid. He can create earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes and storms."
Tony wasn't afraid, he was in awe. He knew what Percy was like and was confident that Percy wouldn't abuse the power. So he asked,
"And why are you telling this to me?"
Poseidon replied, "You two have grown very close and Percy has already lost too much, I'm afraid if any one of you dies he will snap and there is a chance that he might lose control of his powers and if that happens even I shudder to think what will happen next."
"So what you are trying to tell me is try not to die because that will be too bad for anyone present." Tony asked carefully.
Poseidon gave him a sad smile, "Yes, precisely."
Tony just muttered, "Easier said than done."
Poseidon sighed heavily, "You are a good man Tony, thank you for being there for my son."
Tony is left utterly speechless and slowly says, "What happens if he dies?"
Poseidon just says, "I think we both know the answer to that Tony. Goodnight." Poseidon patted him once on the shoulder before walking away, a faint scent of ocean lingered in the place, as Tony continued his own slow walk.
He wandered around, stopping at the tourist balcony, he used the binoculars to look down at the city, a view he'd seen many times while flying high.
He felt a presence beside him and looked at his right, standing there was Steve Rogers.
"Hey Cap." He greeted to which he got a single response back. He was slightly worried now.
"Steve you alright?" The man seemed to jerk out of his thoughts, "Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine." At Tony's raised eyebrow he deflated.
"Well sometimes I feel like it's all too much, when I went under it was all so different and then I wake up and it's like the world has turned upside down, and now there are Gods, and aliens and I don't know Tony it's like my whole belief system is breaking down bit by bit."
Tony was silent for a second, pondering over the words. Hell, sometimes even Tony felt that he was dreaming, he of course knew there would be other life but actually seeing it was jarring. He couldn't even begin to think how Steve must be feeling right now.
"I get it Steve, I know so much but sometimes it still feels bizarre to me too. Hey, have you talked to your therapist about this?" Tony asked
Steve looked confused, "Therapist? What therapist?"
Tony looked shocked and slowly asked, "You mean to say after the absolute shit you went through SHIELD did not give you a therapist?"
Steve slowly shook his head.
"What the Hell!" Tony exclaimed, "I'm going to have a serious talk with Fury about this later. Every SHIELD member is entitled to a therapist, heck they should've set you up with one ages ago. I'm going to murder Fury later, remind me, will you?"
Steve placed a hand on Tony's shoulders, "Calm down Tony, we'll talk about this later. For now why don't we go search for Percy he seemed a little down when I came across him."
Tony frowned confused but nodded anyway, both of them wandered off in search of Percy.
Percy, Nico and Thalia were wandering around when Thalia finally asked, "Percy, you're hiding something." It was a statement not a question and the three of them knew it.
Percy sighed and looked away, "I-I'm sorry guys but you're going to have to trust me on this one." Percy pleaded, he couldn't tell them, it would make it much harder.
Percy was jolted out of his thoughts by Nico who clasped a hand on Percy's shoulder and said, "Percy please...just be careful." And walked off towards Will.
Thalia and Percy watched him hug Nico, who quickly kissed him, Nico pushed him away grumbling but the blush and grin on his face gave it away.
Thalia fake gagged behind their backs making Percy laugh with her exaggerated expressions.
Thalia then turned towards him, "I hope you know what you are doing, Kelp Head.
Percy smiles at her but mutters under his breath, "I hope so too." Before walking towards one of the quieter places on Olympus, he wants to get some practice in with Arius.
Percy walks towards one of the smaller training grounds with his head down and lost in thought so he misses the gaze of a concerned super soldier on him.
-Page Break-
After some walking around Steve and Tony find themselves in a training area, they can see Percy in there with Clint, both of them are laughing over something, Steve and Tony exchange a quick glance and decide to leave the both of them turning back around the way they came.
-Page Break-
"Oh, come on Perce! It isn't that difficult!" Clint pleaded with Percy.
Percy just stubbornly shook his head replying, "Nope, I'm never shooting again, once was enough. I couldn't shoot and arrow to save my life Clint. Tell you what? I'll get us some amazing prank items to use on Tony and Steve later, the Stolls have brilliant ideas."
Percy literally saw Clint's entire face light up at the mention of pranks. The archer whooped in delight screaming, "Yeah! We are going to have the most epic ones Percy!"
Percy could only chuckle as Clint dragged him away spouting ideas at the speed of light. Percy just hoped that his body would be found after Natasha murdered him the next morning.
Percy warned him so, but Clint waved him off saying, "Oh, come on, Perce, it will be fun."
-Page Break-
Clint was proven wrong the next day as everyone in the dorms was woken by the murderous yell of, "BARTON!" By an angry Black Widow, who had a new purple streak in her hair.
People (including Gods) dashed out of the way to avoid the painful death she was dishing out on anyone who dared to cross her path. Clint Barton was nowhere to be found, until the angry Russian, dragged the man out by the ear.
"Nat, please! Please! I'll do anything! Nat please, I'm sorry!" But the pleas fell on deaf ears as Natasha continued to drag him to an empty room, which seemingly materialised out of nowhere.
The door slammed shut behind them, leaving a deafening silence on the other side. Usually Percy would have laughed with them, but he really was afraid for the Archer, Natasha's glare, though it didn't scare him, was murderous and Percy doubted they'd find Clint sane.
True to Percy's prediction (Geez, was he becoming the next Oracle or something, now?) exactly 27 minutes later, Natasha exited the room, twirling a knife casually and smirking.
Percy let her leave before rushing into the room to find Clint Barton on the floor, eyes still wide in terror, and mouth open.
Percy sighed in relief at the fact that he was alive before bringing him out of his shock and dragging him out.
A/N That's it for now. As you can see the last part was just crack and don't take it seriously, guys. XD