Heroes of New York

ELEVEN - COFFEE

Chapter Eleven

~Tony Stark~

I was working on a suit upgrade when I ran out of coffee. The mechanical work was mostly done, though, so I decided it was probably worth it to head to the kitchen to see what food (and coffee) I could scrounge up.

"J, what time is it?" I asked my AI.

"Six-thirty, sir," he responded.

"Hey, that's not so bad," I remarked, having started at about nine AM. I moved toward the door.

"My apologies, sir - six-thirty in the morning. It's been twenty-one hours since you started."

Well, I tried. Pepper's gonna be so mad at me.

I headed out through the doors and into the elevator, taking it down a floor to the common area. Before the doors even opened, I could smell bacon cooking. Maybe Steve decided to drop by? He liked to be up at ridiculous times like this.

As soon as I made it to the kitchen though, I could tell that wasn't the case. Standing by the stove, cooking pancakes, bacon and eggs, was a kid I didn't recognise. He had windswept black hair and tanned skin, wearing a loose pullover hoodie and faded jeans. Over top of that, he was wearing the purple Hawkeye™ apron that Barton had left here (and I couldn't seem to get rid of it).

"How did you get in here?" I asked, "And are any of those pancakes blueberry?"

He turned to face me and I was startled by how intensely green his eyes were - like the ocean in some tropical place, untouched by humans.

"Legally, I live here. And yes," he said, unblinkingly passing over a plate of blueberry pancakes with bacon, eggs, and the homefries he'd pulled from the oven. The smell was too good to resist. I dug in.

"Legally?"

"Pepper is my legal guardian at the moment, and since I'm underage, I technically have to live here until the situation changes. But I also still have all of my stuff at my apartment." The kid said this, staring me dead in the eyes like he was daring me to say something about it. I swallowed my mouthful of pancake.

"Well, I trust Pepper to know what she's doing," I decided. "Got any coffee?"

"It's your tower, Stark." He shrugged. "J, where do we keep the coffee?"

"Cupboard to your left, second shelf, Percy," came the reply from the ceiling. I was shocked - JARVIS didn't really like new people, and could sort of hold a grudge. That this random kid had not only earned the right to call him 'J' but also convinced him to call him by (what I assumed was) his first name told me that he had either really impressed J, or that he had been here longer than I originally thought.

The kid - Percy - reached up to get the coffee, but paused before opening the tin.

"There isn't any coffee in this." He frowned down at it, rotating it in his hands a bit.

"What do you mean there's no coffee? We went shopping two days ago!" I stood and walked toward him. Nothing stops me from getting my coffee.

The kid held the tin away from me.

"I really don't think we should open this."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, getting rather annoyed now.

"It's full of bees," Percy said bluntly, still holding the tin out of my reach.

"What? It's - what? What do you mean it's full of bees?"

He rolled his eyes.

"I mean it's full of bees, Stark, what else could I mean?"

"But how do you know it's full of bees? I can't hear anything." I made a grab for the tin, but it was lifted higher up in the air.

"Look," Percy reached over and opened the kitchen window (why I let windows this high up open, I don't know). He then placed the mouth of the tin at the window and lifted the lid.

Dozens of bees came swarming out, swathed in a weird purple mist. They were all buzzing in agitation but flew out through the window toward freedom.

I stared, wide-eyed. Now that the bees were out of the tin, I could hear them loud and clear. I should have been able to hear them from inside the tin as well.

Once the last bee had escaped, Percy shut the window and looked inside the tin itself. I peered over his shoulder.

The inside of the tin was coated in a thin purple goop, seemingly painted in some sort of pattern or symbol. I looked at the kid, who seemed to recognize it.

"What is that?" I asked, finally.

"The goop? I don't know. But the symbols - whoever did this wrote the Greek word for 'silence'. Over and over. Some kind of rune spell, I guess."

I blanched. Spell? I mean, I know there have been some weird things happening in the past few years - aliens, mutants, supersoldiers, what have you - but actual magic? Too weird. Wait, how did the kid know about this? Before I could ask, he pulled a toothpick from the drawer on his right and scraped it along the inside of the tin, collecting the purple goop.

"You should analyze this in your lab, find out what it is. Then maybe we'll know who did this." He handed me the toothpick in a plastic baggie and turned back to his cooking (miraculously unburnt).

But first - breakfast. I decided to settle for the instant coffee, stocked only for Bruce and his weird tastes. I made a cup, and reached into the lower cabinets and pulled out the half-empty bottle of whiskey I'd need it after what just happened. Before I could pour any into my coffee, a hand grabbed my wrist.

"JARVIS, what are Mr. Stark's alcohol levels over the past week?" Uh-oh, I thought. From Percy's tone, I could tell he already knew the answer (I only met him today, he's not allowed to be all caring and insightful about my bad habits).

"Quite high, Mr. Jackson. It would be unwise for him to continue consumption at this rate." I could feel the kid staring at me (and JARVIS, despite his lack of eyes - only cameras in various positions through the building, but it felt like every single one was focused on me).

"Thanks, J," and Percy pulled the bottle out of my grasp, setting it down next to the sink behind him.

"Look, Stark," he looked directly into my eyes, making me feel like a kid being given a lecture. "I've known a lot of people who thought drinking would help them. They were wrong. And I know you've been through a lot, but this isn't going to make things better. Things only change if you change them yourself. Using alcohol as a crutch won't solve anything."

I could see something in his eyes - a certain amount of experience, like he'd seen this go bad before. Even though I'd just met the guy, the things he was saying were hitting me right in the arc reactor.

I sighed. Percy smiled and turned away again, dishing out his own plate of food. I sat back down at the counter and returned to my breakfast, Percy beside me, the two of us making comfortable conversation as we ate.

(Edit) I'm going back and adding this AN because wow guys 10k reads?!?! Thanks to you all so much, and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! :)