The Avenger's Assistant - A Percy Jackson Crossover

The Anniversary

    Percy awoke most nights with Zeus's voice echoing in his head, damning him to a fate worse than death. Percy would rather die than abide by Zeus's terms, but when you're face to face with the King of Olympus, you can't disobey an order. He might've been able to resist if Zeus hadn't gotten the Fates involved.

     He rose from his bed, which now had a frame for the mattress, careful not to wake Luke, and trudged over to his bathroom. It was still in the wee hours of the morning, but Percy could still hear the bustling of city life, and he could see little blazes of light on in thousands of other windows from his view. The hero removed his shirt, examining his battle scars in the mirror. For as much damage and misery that they exemplified, he was rather fond of them. Each one held a story, or a memory, proof that he won. He had scars, but his enemies didn't live to show theirs off.

    The shower hissed as he dialed the heat to the max; He liked his showers to feel like liquid magma. He couldn't take cold showers because it reminded him of his last moments with his Love. He made it part of his deal with Zeus that it was to downpour and storm every year on the anniversary of the Giant War, one of the better rules that was agreed upon.  Percy lowered his head, letting the fiery water drip down his hair onto his face, watching it slip away into the drain. Percy hoped Zeus remembered his promise, because it was on that day exactly a year ago that he had lost his Wise Girl and the rest of the Seven.

   Percy thought of Thor as thunder rumbled in the far distance. He was aware of his return to earth, but not because of anything having to do with the Avengers. Most demigods at Camp hated Thor and Loki, most Asgardians for that matter, because whenever they rolled into town, the Mist liked to take a vacation. It was infuriating because monsters seem to tunnel towards New York, following the scent of these two powerful gods, and the Half-Bloods can't even fight them for risk of revealing themselves.

    Percy started to manipulate the drops of water as they fell, causing them to float in the air and contort into to different shapes or animals. He shaped one into a replica of Blackjack, flapping his elegant wings and flying around his shower before erupting into water sprinkles and sinking into the drain. He finished washing his hair and body, trying not to think about Thor's presence on earth, or Annabeth, or any of his other lost friends. He instead chose to focus on his new friends.

   He started to develop a rich friendship with Rhodey, bonding over training and strict personal standards. Tony was much chiller, always offering the underaged Percy a drink when he poured himself a glass. Percy always refused, though. He truthfully didn't like it very much when Stark drank because it reminded him of Gabe Ugliano, and the thought of another drunk middle-aged man with anger issues didn't thrill him. And then there was Peter.

   Percy liked Peter because he reminded him of himself a few years younger. He hoped the boy wouldn't have to see as much death as he had by the time he was Percy's age. Percy's 19th birthday had come and passed. He'd been improving mentally, but he knew this anniversary would wreck all of his progress. Peter still had a childhood, and still had so much life to live, which he probably took for granted.

   He emerged from the shower completely dry and got changed into an old Camp Half-Blood shirt, disregarding the 'business casual' dress code for the assistant position. He threw over a sweatshirt, preparing for the brisk morning air. This was his day, and nothing was going to keep him from honoring his fallen comrades, not even Tony Stark. Percy checked his alarm clock, seeing that it was still only 4:00 A.M., and he had 4 hours before he needed to check into work.

   He stretched his arms, yawing as big as he could. He carefully stepped over Luke, who was growing fast, already a year old, and grabbed his keys off the chain. He topped off his dogs water and food bowls and headed out into the streets of New York. He didn't need anything today except his Camp necklace and Annabeth's ring.