The Eye

XXXVII

Nico

When Percy came back into the room with Loki, Ironman's mouth immediately opened, but before he could say anything, Percy raised his hand up. A slab of water was slapped onto his face, preventing him from speaking.

"Any questions about my personal life, forget it." Percy declared, removing the water after he finished.

"...why's Athena look like a blonde instead of having dark hair like in the myths?" Stark improvised quickly.

I felt the room's mood darken. A shadow fell across Thalia's face for her deceased sister. I couldn't believe I didn't notice Annabeth's death, but my father kept it from me. He had hidden Annabeth's soul away during the wars. She was in a good place, just not with everyone else like she is now.

A somber expression came across Percy's face,"When her daughter was officially announced dead, she took her appearance to honor her."

"Oh... that's nice." Stark replied quietly.

"How did we not hear you yesterday?" Vision questioned, not correlating the conversation with the mood,"You were really loud just now."

A blush lit up Percy's face. I smirked at him. That's what he gets for being gay after I've got a boyfriend. Although Vision was right, he is pretty loud. It was kind of funny. Everyone else was trying to ignore the sounds when Percy basically screamed, startling us all.

"Really loud." I helped emphasize.

Percy glared at me, but with his red face it wasn't as bad,"Shut up, di Angelo."

I chuckled,"Where are we going? You said something about Tartarus being active and needing help..."

He rolled his eyes, the blush fading,"I said back up, not help. These are mostly mortals, you're Greek so I thought it'd be better."

"Good thinking." Thalia stated,"But we know you meant help. You wouldn't be able to find your way out of a paper bag."

Percy gave her a look,"Neither can you, Thals. Just remember that Tartarus can use the powers of the infinity gems. Space, Reality, and Power."

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Thalia argued.

"You'll know when you see it." Percy replied seriously,"Don't get tricked."

***

"I've been waiting, Jackson." Tartarus' voice growled.

Then we were swarmed with chitauri. We were at the salt lake, snooping around to make sure all was right. It wasn't, the place was evacuated and empty. We found a building holding loads of weapons that Percy claimed the chitauri used.

We just returned to report to the rest of the team when Tartarus appeared. He stood taller than I remember, and I couldn't help the shiver that overtook me. Nor the drop of blood pressure as I was faced with him again. Once Tartarus spoke, we all got separated.

The avengers were on one side of the lake in their own groups, and Thalia, Percy, and I on the other side. Slowly, but surely as I looked around, we all stood alone. I was fighting my own battle, just as Thor blew through many by himself. We had no one to watch our back. Just as I stabbed one in its shoulder, shadow traveling behind another's back I heard Thalia scream.

"Percy! Look out!"

He had turned just in time to get hit into the water by Tartarus. The primordial glowed purple, and was faster than light as he moved around. Only the silver boy was able to evade his swift attacks. Sometimes the boy moved his teammates, Thalia, and I slightly so we were saved from Tartarus.

"Speed from space Gem." Percy informed us,"Pietr— holy mother of gods! What the hell?"

My cousin cursed loudly in my ear, causing all of us to turn towards where he emerged from the lake. He was looking up, his sword tip touching the ground as he stared up in amazement. I felt myself pale as I looked at the opponents.

"What the fuck is that?" Ironman cussed.

"Steve doesn't like that language." Percy mumbled,"The whale like thing is the Cetus. The original Perseus fought it."

"What's the other one?" Hawkeye gasped.

"The kraken." I answered, surprising myself.

I saw Tartarus smirk,"This is my army! Surrender now, or face my wrath!"

Percy turned towards him, a mischievous grin on his face,"Your wrath? You wanna know what I say to that?"

I heard Thalia burst out laughing when Percy gave Tartarus the bird. Tartarus growled, nodding to the sea creatures. In an instant, they both struck at Percy. Percy's face didn't change from his grin as he jumped into the air and twisted so both the tentacle and tail thing went under him.

On his way down, my cousin brought out his sword and managed to stab through both limbs. The opposers roared in anger and pain. A tentacle came around and smacked Percy hard into a nearby building. My cousin was on his feet again, not a second to lose, charging at the ancient sea monsters. I turned my vision away so I could focus on the monsters attacking me.

Suddenly my feet were knocked out from under me. I grunted as I landed on my face, quickly rolling to avoid the sword coming down. I heard Thalia's growl as she shot lightning from her fingertips. I fell into my shadow and appeared behind the the one attacking me, striking him through the gut.

"Perseus! You're supposed to be able to take care of yourself!" The red headed woman called out.

"He's fighting against two giant sea creatures." Captain America supported Percy,"Where's his back up?"

"Stop deciding!" Percy barked breathlessly,"Loki!"

I glance over at Percy. He was wrapped in the tentacles of the kraken. I heard him shout in pain as tiny spikes rose from within, impaling Percy all over his body. I disappeared from my place, and came out of Percy's shadow, on the tentacle arms. The giant squid was squeezing Percy tightly, and I heard his ribs start to crack.

"I don't like these kind of hugs." Percy grunted.

I ignored him and went to stab at the tentacles. As soon as my sword made contact, it bounced off. When I looked closer, I saw a thin armor over its skin, preventing my blade from piercing it. Percy gasped, his eyes going wide as the kraken squeezed tighter, and the spikes went deeper into Percy. I saw a flash behind me and was faced with the Norse god of lies.

"Move." Loki's voice commanded.

I scowled, but did as I was told. I shadow traveled in time to deflect an attack going for Thalia's back. I noticed Percy was freed from the clutches of kraken, but was currently scaling the body of the Cetus. I returned to my fight just in time to see Thalia turn and get gutted by a chitauri. Her pained shout filled my ears.

I screamed her name, rushing to catch her as she fell. All else around me fell apart. I forced the enemy to drop into their own shadows, reappearing under the kraken who slaughtered them all. I caught my female cousin as she gasped for breath.

"Thalia!" I shouted,"Stay with me! Percy!"

In an instant, he was at my side. His face was pale as he viewed her condition, she was already fading away. He quickly grabbed her and disappeared in a flash of purple. Another flash of color happened next to the water, and that's where they reappeared.

Percy thrust her body into the water, closing his eyes in concentration. I was mesmerized as the water flowed up her body and started healing the wound. Percy gripped the end of the weapon, and ripped it out of Thalia's body.

My female cousin screamed in agony, but it was quickly quieted as the water numbed it. A few seconds later, the water washed away, and Thalia slumped against Percy, unaware anymore. As she lay unconscious, Percy nodded at me, telling us to leave, and that he'll finish it here.

I got the message and immediately shadow traveled over to them. I snatched Thalia from his hands, and vanished to a safe place. Meaning I almost got impaled by several arrows as I returned Thalia to the hunt. The last thing I heard was ironman's snarky comment.

"Well that's handy."

Tell me what you think...