CALM BEFORE THE STORM | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Fourteen

Junior Year: Winter Break

"Tony, it is great to see you again," T'Challa greeted as he came down the ramp of his ship. "And you as well young Peter. I know my sister has been eagerly awaiting-"

T'Challa was cut off by loud music blaring from the ship behind him. A manic grin stretched across Peter's face as he immediately recognized the John Cena theme song playing. Spotlights illuminated the top of the ship, where Shuri was posing dramatically with her hands on her hips. "Hello twos, a ten has arrived."

T'Challa didn't even look surprised, instead pinching the bridge of his nose as she made her way down.

"Princess Shuri, always a pleasure," Tony said, one of his softer smiles present in place of his usual smirk. "I hope that you'll be able to assist Peter and I in the labs. I'm sure there are plenty of things you can show us." Said teenager was almost vibrating in excitement next to Tony.

"Yes, of course, after all of the boring talks are over. Until then, however, Peter has promised me a proper tour of New York today."

"I'll have Happy drive you down then."

***

"Uh, you can just drop us off at Central Park, Happy. We're going to walk from there," Peter said, leaning towards the front of the car. Happy grumbled but complied, pulling up to the curb. Peter let Shuri get out first before he followed. "Thanks, Happy!"

"Yeah, yeah, just text me when you need a ride back to the compound. Tony would have my head if I just left you two without a way back."

"Of course, Happy. It's definitely not because you care about me," Peter sing-songed.

"Just get out."

Peter laughed but got out of the car. Shuri had already found the nearest hot dog cart and was watching them with a type of sick fascination. "There are so many needless additions. And for only one American dollar."

"That's New York hot dogs for you," Peter said with a shrug, before guiding her away. They walked through the park, talking about their respective projects. Peter could begrudgingly admit that he might have let out an inhuman screech when Shuri told him that she had built a functioning prototype of a lightsaber.

"How did you get it to work? The type of power it would take to make a tangible beam of plasma that could be easily drawn and then retracted is equivalent to a small star. The only power source I could think of that would come close would be the tesseract," Peter exclaimed, arms waving around wildly as he talked.

"I did say it was a working prototype. I altered the molecular composition of a rod of vibranium so it can be easily superheated but maintain its integrity," Shuri explained, looking slightly sheepish.

"Still awesome." They had made it to one of the other entrances to the park and stood waiting at the curb. Snow had started to drift down around them in soft flurries, adding onto the large clumps that were already present along the curb of the road. Peter felt a shiver run up his spine and he wondered how it must have felt for Shuri who hadn't grown up with New York winters. "Our ride should be here soon."

Shuri glanced at him for a moment before turning back to the insanity that was New York traffic. "I still don't understand the need for secrecy. Why don't you just tell Stark the truth about yourself?"

"It's not my choice. They," Peter nodded towards the sky, "would have my head if I told a mortal about this without their permission."

"Hasn't Stark worked with Thor and fought against Loki? And didn't you tell me that he was a legacy of Vulcan? It seems stupid to leave him in the dark."