Shards (A Percy Jackson and Avengers Crossover)

Cerberus: The Nice (Three-Headed) Metaphorical Elephant Who Sat On Hades' Son

Percy ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. "I don't see any sign of poison or anything like that, so he's probably just exhausted from using his powers. Shadow traveling drains a lot out of him, not to mention all the energy he probably spent in the Underworld. With a couple days of rest and a little food, he'll be good as new."

At least... as good as a demigod can be.

It took Nico three days to wake up. Three days of Percy wandering around aimlessly. Natasha and Clint had gone on missions (separately) but had both returned on the same day.

The other Avengers busied themselves with their own activities. Tony and Bruce stayed in their labs, with Bruce routinely checking up on Nico. Steve stayed in the gym, only leaving during the day to go on runs and loiter around nearby parks and stores.

Thor had disappeared but seeing as how no one noticed a bright flash of light, they all assumed he was with his mortal lover, Jane.

It just so happened that when Nico stumbled into the conjoint dining/living room on the third day, all the Avengers and Percy were gathered eating supper. Percy picked at his food—Natasha's signature Pasta Pomodoro—internally debating whether he should call Will or not.

Percy had resisted the urge to contact the son of Apollo so far. He knew Nico wouldn't want to worry his boyfriend, but if Nico hadn't woken up when he had, Percy knew he would have caved and called Will anyway—even if it meant Nico being put in the doghouse for shadow traveling so many times.

Percy glanced up as Nico staggered in, wearily leaning against the doorframe.

"Nico!" Percy exclaimed happily, his chair screeching as jumped up.

Nico gave him an exhausted smile. "Hey, Perce."

Percy guided the tired son of Hades to the nearest couch. The Avengers abandoned their food and gathered in the living room, plopping down in various seats around the room.

"How're you feeling, Neeks?" Percy questioned as he sat across from the teen in question.

"Like I was ran over by a truck. And then tossed off a cliff. And then sat on by an giant elephant," Nico replied with a sound between a sigh and a grunt. The other occupants blinked at him. "Which, I guess, was sorta what happened. Just with a Greek spin on it," Nico muttered thoughtfully.

A grunt sounded from Percy. "When is there not a 'Greek spin' on everything with us?"

Nico smiled slightly before yawning and rubbing his eyes wearily. Percy resisted his own grin. Nico had smiled twice in under a minute. Sure, Nico had lightened up the more time he spent around a certain blonde son of Apollo, but he was still Nico—a moody, emo son of the ruler of the dead.

"Are you sure you're okay, son?" Steve questioned hesitantly from his perch on the armchair's arm.

Nico nodded, sending the super soldier something between a smile and a grimace. "I've been worse," Nico replied. "A lot worse." He murmured under his breath.

Percy grunted again. He crossed his arms and leaned back. "Yeah, sorry Death Breath, but that isn't saying much."

Nico just shrugged before hissing at the stupid move.

Percy sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Okay, Nico. You gotta give us something. What's going on?"

This question seemed to set off Tony, who had managed to rein in his confusion for the sake of the injured boy (rather impressively, he might add). "What the hell is going on?!"

Tony ignored Percy's flinch. "You just up and vanish saying 'Gotta go see my father'—"

At this point Tony attempts to mimic Nico's voice, which he fails rather spectacularly at. "—and then you stumble back in, half-dead. You're completely out for three days. Three. Whole. Days. And then you just come in like everything's all fine and dandy. And then you're like 'Oh yeah. Got run over by a truck and then thrown off a cliff. No biggie.'"

Tony's imitation of the enigmatic son of Hades is, once again, a spectacular fail. "Because that's totally normal."

Clint piped up in agreement. "Don't forget the part about the giant elephant."

"Right. And the elephant thing. Can't forget about the elephant thing," Tony added, taking a deep breath.

Percy blew out a breath. Leave it to Nico to sound all cryptic when he left. He rubbed his temple. "Yeah, I think you're focusing on the wrong thing."

"Plus, I wasn't actually run over by a truck—it was a hellhound—, and there wasn't an elephant. That was Cerberus," Nico piped up. He paused. "Though the 'thrown off a cliff' part was true."

Percy cocked his head. "How's he doing by the way?"

"Cerberus?" At Percy's nod, Nico continued. "He's fine. Still gives licks that rival Mrs. O'Leary's."

Bruce raised his hand timidly. "Um, who's Cerberus? And...Mrs. O'Leary."

Percy waved his hand. "Cerberus is the nice three-headed dog hybrid that guards the gates of the Underworld. And Mrs. O'Leary's our giant pet hellhound," he replied nonchalantly.

"There are so many things wrong with that sentence," Clint whispered to Natasha, who nodded in agreement.

"That's good to hear," Percy continued with a slight nod. He blocked the memories that came when he thought of Cerberus, shoving them away into the darkest depths of his mind (which was pretty dark, by the way).

Now's not the time nor the place for a flashback.

"And they said we focused on the wrong thing," Tony complained to no one.

Thor leaned forward, speaking for the first time since Nico woke up. "Friends, perhaps we can focus on more...important matters right now," he said, gently reprimanding the two ADHD teens with his words.

"Oh, yeah. Right," Percy cleared his throat, looking slightly abashed. He leaned forward with a serious look. "What—exactly—is going on, Nico?"

Nico sighed. "It's bad, Perce. Real bad."

Percy frowned.

"The Underworld is in chaos. Souls are trying to escape, and Thanatos is having a lot of trouble. He's running around like crazy, trying to stop all of them. And on top of that, I couldn't find my father anywhere."

Percy's frown deepened but he stayed silent, an action that told Nico to continue.

"But it gets worse," Nico paused, either to catch his breath or to gather his thoughts. Or maybe even for dramatic effect. It was hard to tell with Nico sometimes.

"Monsters are running rampant throughout the Underworld."

Percy blinked at that. Monsters were not normally in the upper levels of the Underworld. They normally resided in—

"They're coming from the Pit, Percy." Nico met the new god's eyes, a severe look on the young demigod's face. "From Tartarus."