Shards (A Percy Jackson and Avengers Crossover)

Apocalyptic Nosebleeds And Soul Eating Primordials-Just Another Saturday Night

"You flew a freakin nuke into an alien ship in space?!"

Percy's late question elicited a round of laughter. Tony basked in the attention, even puffing his chest out a little. Percy scowled and crossed his arms.

"I thought it was a good question," he pouted.

Steve patted his back comfortingly. "It's a lot to take in."

Percy nodded in agreement. He could deal with gods, even different pantheons. But aliens?

That was pushing it.

Percy turned to Tony to ask a question but paused. For a brief second, Tony's happy face had crumbled, and his eyes had been shadowed. Percy swallowed his question and looked away, pretending to have seen nothing and giving the billionaire a little time to reconstruct his façade.

Percy felt a twinge of sympathy run through him. He imagined staring into the void of space, probably thinking it was the last sight you would see before you died, would cause at least a little PTSD.

When Percy turned back to Tony, the hero had indeed returned to his cocky, know-it-all self—at least on the outside.

"Ok, ok." Tony cleared his throat and waved his hands to quiet his lively teammates. "So I've been doing some light reading on Greek mythology," he started, ignoring the grumblings.

Bruce rolled his eyes, thinking back to when Tony became an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics overnight. He had a feeling that Tony's reading was anything but 'light.'

"And I'm a little confused. Tartarus is a place in hell," he hesitated, "and a person? So, he's rising... from himself?"

"It's not really that simple."

Everyone spun, surprised to see Nico sitting contentedly in one of the chairs.

"The heck," Tony started.

"When did he..." Clint muttered, trailing off. He hadn't even see him, and Clint had been on the couch.

Percy felt his lips tug up slightly. He'd noticed the demigod the moment he'd walked in but only because he was used to Nico's reserved behavior. It seemed everyone else hadn't. His gaze flickered to Loki, who seemed unmoved.

Well, perhaps not everyone.

Percy nodded, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "Nico's right." Percy ignored the subsequent snort and mutter of 'Arent I always?'.

"When primordials manifest as living beings, it's really just a personification—a shoddy manifestation—of their energy. In fact, their power is severely reduced when they take a human-like form. It's like when Gaia rose." Percy paused, roughly shoving his dark memories aside. "If Tartarus could actually use his full primordial powers," he shook his head. "There'd be no fight. We'd be slaughtered."

Percy's eyes drifted to the ground. Annabeth had been the one to explain all of this to him when Gaia had made her appearance. He ground his teeth at the thought of Mother Earth and her stupid monster army.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

Percy sighed and turned back to his last piece of food. Percy took a bite of the cold pizza, chewing thoughtfully. Cold pizza wasn't really that bad.

"So, how do we fight a primordial?" Steve questioned, sitting down heavily on a stool.

Percy sighed. "Not sure." He drummed his fingers on the table and swallowed another bite.

The light flickered above them, casting short shadows.

"It'd help if we knew how exactly he was rising."