Powerful Families

{V} Annabeth

"Hi, would you be so kind as to take a seat please?" Bruce asked us. I sat down but Percy remained standing.

"Percy, just sit down. Please?" I pleaded. He looked at me with a worried expression and then sat on the other chair.

"What do you want? Why are we locked in this room?" Percy commanded.

"Your uncle..." Bruce started.

"He's not my uncle," Percy interrupted.

"Ok then. Tony told me you had a massive gash on your back and wants me to have a look." He turned to me. "He also said that you have a fresh cut on your arm and wants me to look at that too." I looked at the cut and quickly put my hand on it to cover it up. He turned back to Percy. "Now Percy, could you take your top off, please? I would like to look at this scar on your back." He didn't budge.

"Why don't I talk to him?" I suggested. "Alone if you don't mind." Bruce left the room."Percy? What's going on?"

"You know when we came back from that place?" He asked to which I nodded. "I keep having nightmares about it and I get badly hurt in these nightmares. Badly hurt." Percy prompted to his back and I understood what he meant, he just didn't want the Avengers to find out.

"Ok, I understand, but if you don't cooperate, they're going to get suspicious. Please Percy, just take your top off." After a moment of silence, Percy removed his top to reveal a chest full of scars and gashes. Some scars had obviously been opened and re-opened again and again. "Percy? Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

Bruce came back into the room. "Woah, Percy. What's happened?" Bruce gave him a full inspection while stitching up a few of his worse cuts. I saw Tony standing at the door. Speechless.

"Percy? How did you get all these scars?" Bruce asked him.

"I don't want to talk about it." Percy slouched down the chair, wincing as the back of the chair scrapped again his newly sewn scar.

"Don't do that. It'll take out all the stitching. Now, I need to know what happened. I also need to know how that happened to you Annabeth." Bruce scooted over to me to check out my cut. It was pretty deep, so he stitched it up and bandaged it.

"Nothing much. Just a slip of the wrist." I told him. He didn't look convinced, but he was more worried about Percy, so he let it go. For now anyways. He was waiting for Percy's story, so I elaborated my lie a little. "Ok, so it wasn't a slip of the wrist. The truth is..."

"Annabeth, don't," Percy warned.

"The truth is Percy and I got attacked last night by a guy with a knife. He slit my arm just before Percy jumped in front of me. Then he slashed Percy's back. As to his chest, he gets into a lot of fights at school, often in the cafeteria, where the cutlery is. We have a lot of psychopaths at school."

"Ok," Bruce still didn't look convinced, but luckily he left it at that. "Now, I just need to know a couple more things. Have you suffered from any major illness or diseases or, unlikely, poison?"

"Annabeth and I are the same actually. We've had 'muscle fever' quite a few times, but never really had a disease." Percy stated. "Oh, and she's never been poisoned." I mentally facepalmed. "Neither have I," He quickly added, a little too quickly though.

"You've been poisoned?" Bruce almost yelled. "How many times? By what?"

"That I can remember, twice. Once by a scorpion and the other by a snake." Percy half lied. Wow. I was impressed. He got stung by a giant scorpion on the hand at camp and bitten by Chimera on the Gateway Arch. I was surprised he managed to stretch the truth to get out of the hole he dug.

"Umm... ok then," Bruce looked surprised. "Finally, have you been diagnosed with anything or have any allergies?"

"We both have ADHD and dyslexia. Percy's not allergic to anything and I'm allergic to mangoes." I replied.

"You're allergic to mangoes? I did not know that. Learn something new every day I guess." Percy smirked at me. "Anyway, are we done?" Bruce nodded and we got up and left. When we were out of earshot, Percy spoke once more. "So, how did you actually get that cut?"

"Gorgon. It attacked me just as I turned the corner to the building. Nothing I couldn't handle." I shrugged it off as we walked back to Percy's room.