Demigods: At Midtown (A Percy Jackson and Marvel crossover)

15

Usually Steve was the only one awake at 5 in the morning, especially at the moment, with Bucky and Sam away on a mission. So when he headed to the gym before breakfast to work off the confusion of the day before, he was surprised to find that he was not alone. Percy was doing pull-ups whilst Annabeth, who he'd pegged as more of a sitting-and reading-girl, was beating up Steve's heavy-duty punching bags with vigor.

The super soldier was so taken aback that for a minute, he just stood, gawking at the teenagers. Then Annabeth, without looking away from the bag or slowing down her punches, said, "You know, it's rude to stare." She didn't even sound out of breath.

Percy, dropping down from the bar, grinned at Steve.

"Don't worry, she does that to everyone. You get used to it."

Steve nodded slowly, but remained in the doorway.

"Feel free to join us," Annabeth said, ceasing her attack on the sandbag and stretching out her arms. "You don't have to stay standing there all day."

"Uh, yeah." Steve moved into the room, and began his warm-up routine a little hesitantly.

"Nice gym, by the way," Annabeth commented over her shoulder as she began doing roundhouse kicks. Percy swigged from his water bottle, then both of them went back to their workouts like he wasn't even there.

Steve finished his warm-up and stretches, and decided to run a couple of laps before heading to the weights. On his second lap, Percy fell into pace beside him, flashing him a brief smile. They ran a mile side by side, then Steve subtly began to speed up. Percy kept pace.

Another mile passed, and the two had doubled their original pace (which had been pretty fast to begin with). Steve thought he heard Annabeth snort as he passed her again, but he was too focused on running to really take notice.

A mile later, Steve was really beginning to sweat. He tried to slow down, hoping that Percy wouldn't notice and just keep pace, but the teen kept running at the same speed as before. Steve, not wanting to fall behind, was forced to pick up his speed again. Then, as if spurred on by Steve's moment of weakness, Percy began speeding up.

They kept on that way for another five minutes, nearing ten. They were pretty much at a flat-out sprint by the time Steve decided that he couldn't take any more, and dropped back, slowing to a jog, and then a walk. Percy completed another lap, then came to a gradual halt beside Steve. The demigod grinned, offering him a hand. Breathing heavily, Steve took it after a moment's deliberation. The two men shook, then headed back to where Annabeth was training on the mats. She rolled her eyes at Percy as he passed. Steve expected him to grab his things and leave - Steve himself was dying for breakfast and a shower, not necessarily in that order. But no, Percy just had another drink of water and headed back towards the gym to join Annabeth on the mats.

For a second, Steve only watched, dumbfounded. Percy stood a metre apart from Ananbeth, then she gave a small nod and suddenly the two were a blur of movement. A second later, Annabeth was on the floor, Percy's foot on her neck. Steve started towards them - he could hurt her! - but then Percy removed his foot and offered Annabeth a hand. She took it and rose gracefully to her feet, then judo-flipped Percy clean over her head. He hit the floor with a resounding thwack. Steve winced, and before he could even blink, Annabeth's foot was on Percy's neck. Unlike Percy, she didn't remove it until her opponent tapped out.

Steve still wanted nothing more than to rest, but he couldn't let himself be outdone by a pair of teenagers. Sighing, he headed towards the weights.

.0*.o*:O*.

In the couple of days he'd been staying at the avengers compound, Scott had gotten the impression that he was the only one who appreciated a good lie-in. By the time he dragged himself out of bed at a quarter to eleven, everybody else was already up and at work. Steve went for a run, Bruce went to the lab, Tony was busy drilling to loud music, and Natasha disappeared to do who knows what, occasionally with Clint. Wanda was the only one who got up remotely close to the time Scott did, as she was usually just finishing her morning coffee in the kitchen when he arrived.

Today Scott had lain in longer than usual, so he was expecting to find everybody gathered back in the kitchen for a team breakfast. To his surprise, only Tony and Wanda were there.

"Hey," Scott said, a little awkwardly, as he grabbed a mug and refilled the coffee machine. Wanda was nursing a cup of it, and knowing Stark, he was probably already on his seventh, if not more.

"Hi," Wanda said in her lilting accent. "Have you seen the others?"

Scott shook his head and shrugged, taking a large gulp of steaming coffee. He closed his eyes momentarily in appreciation.

Tony made an annoyed sound (whether it was at Scott or the absence of the others was uncertain), then said, "FRIDAY? Where's Cap at?"

"Mr Rogers is currently in the gym," replied the voice of the AI.

"Still? How long has he been in there?"

"Almost six hours."

"Huh. What about Nat, Bruce, and Clint?" The billionaire questioned.

"Ms Romanoff left two hours ago for an emergency meeting. Doctor Banner is in the lab, reanalysing the defective DNA samples. Mr Barton appears to still be in his room, researching the Greek god Apollo."

"Do you know what Fury wanted with Natasha, FRI?"

"I do not believe Ms Romanoff was meeting with Director Fury today, sir."

"Who, then?"

"I do not have access to this information."

"Ugh. Why is Steve taking so long today?"

"He appears to be trying to outdo Miss Chase and Mr Jackson."

"Shoot, I forgot about them," Tony muttered, rubbing his forehead then draining his coffee. "FRI, tell them to get up here for some breakfast. Clint, too."

"Mr Barton, Mr Rogers, and your guests have been informed, sir."

"Thanks FRI." Stark refilled his coffee mug.

A minute later, Clint strolled in and poured a bowl of cereal. He shovelled half of it into his mouth before he looked up and gave them a quick, "hi."

Good morning to you too, Scott wanted to say, but seeing as he was only here on Stark's good graces and the beds were really comfortable, he bit back the sarcasm.

Not long after, a droopy Steve appeared, trailing two perky teenagers.

"Good morning," Annabeth chirped. Percy grinned at them all and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, crunching into it loudly.

"Nice place," he commented. "Cool gym, too."

Steve all but collapsed into a chair, looking drained. Clint finished his cereal and poured another bowl, and Bruce came in too, popping some bread into the toaster.

"What did you do to poor Capsicle over there?" Tony asked, eyebrows raised at the demigods. Ugh, demigods. Scott had almost forgotten.

Percy looked up, feigning surprise. He swallowed a mouthful of apple, then replied, "Nothing! Why, doesn't he always look like that?"

Scott had to choke back a laugh. The kid was good.

Annabeth elbowed her boyfriend. "Shut up, Seaweed brain, you make it sound suspicious. And no, we didn't do anything to him."

Tony eyed her sceptically. "How come FRIDAY told me you were trying to outdo each other, then?"

Steve sank down in his seat. "Tony..."

Stark held up a hand, and looked expectantly at the demigods, who were biting back smiles. Clint finished his second bowl of cereal and wandered out of the room.

"One, who's Friday, and two, we weren't trying to outdo anyone, although I can't say the same for Mr Captain America," the girl said. Steve sank even lower in his chair.

"FRIDAY is my personal AI. Say hi, FRI."

"Hello," said FRIDAY, her voice coming from no identifiable speakers.

Before anyone could pose further questions to Steve or the demigods, Clint popped back into the kitchen.

"Guys?" He said, "I think you should come see this."