I don't own anything!
One quick note, I got Migas from 'Half Blood' in Google translate English to Greek, so I'm not sure how accurate it is. Thanks for reading!
"Welcome to Camp Migas!" He said proudly. And Tony saw why.
It looked like heaven. Immediately he thought about buying it for him and Pepper to retire together in, it was that perfect. Acres of what looked like strawberry fields shown in the sun, and he saw multiple girls and boys collecting the berries in old fashioned baskets. There were cute little themed cabins, about twenty or so. A bonfire was lit in the center of them. Teenagers, kids and a few really young kids were roaming about, talking, playing tag, playing a heated game of volleyball, and just having fun. A girl was painting a masterful interpretation of a rose bush on a canvas. He saw a boy he recognized as Percy with a blonde girl's head in his lap talking animatedly to another boy with dark hair and really pale skin who was smiling slightly. The blonde was reading quickly, but sometimes she laughed at their conversation. Leo was carrying a boy that looked 6 or 7 on his back as he raced after a tan girl who was laughing to the point of tears, holding something high up in her hand.
There were perfect little scenes in each group of people his eyes met. It was the stereotypical summer camp, but Tony couldn't help but notice that everything about it was just...right. There was a clear lake, a big forest, everything he hadn't had as a kid that he had desperately wanted.
But something in Tony knew that there was no such thing as perfect. Still, he ignored his mind and stared in awe.
Then he saw what Will was referring to as the Big House. A large sky blue building towered over the small cabins, and a fan was blowing out of the door. Tony realized he had stopped for a while when he looked back at Will, who gestured for him to keep going. He gave an honest grin and continued to walk with the boy.
They walked silently, listening to the sound of the campers laughter, talking, and the rustle of the trees. It was odd to not hear the city noises, but it wasn't unwelcome.
They entered the big house's porch, where a man in a tweed jacket and a wheelchair was deeply reading a worn looking book. Will cleared his throat.
"Mr. Brunner!" He said, and that startled the man. He had brown hair, a brown beard, and reminded Tony of every great professor he'd ever had. His eyes were bright though, and when he looked up, he smiled.
"Ah! I'm Chiron Brunner,. You're Tony Stark, our guest, brought by Leo, if I am correct. He's quite mischievous, but is brilliant. Don't you think?" His voice was like Tony's father's, but more kind. It was definitely fatherly though.
His smile crinkled his eyes when Tony nodded.
Pride, he recognised. It was something he saw very little of from his own father.
'Well I'd think you would like to contact your loved ones? The phone is right this way." He rolled through the white trimmed doorway and into a room that looked old fashioned but had a certain charm about it.
Tony mouthed "Is this the guy?" to Will, because this man didn't seem the kind to get angry easily. He whispered back to Tony that this was not the director, but the Assistant. "He's better than the director in every way", he said. But then he started to kind of freak out, and apologize to someone with a long name although it was just the three of them in there.
He lead them to an old wind up phone that had a cord, which sat on a messy desk.
"I'm afraid I didn't have time to clean up, but do take as much time as you'd like. There is one thing, though. We are quite selective as to whom we let in here, and our application process is quite tedious, so for an old man's sake, could you fail to mention much about this place to your companions? I wouldn't want to have to turn down many applicants. As for a ride home, if you'd be patient and stay the night, Percy, whom I believe you met, will be heading to New York with Annabeth. I'm sure he wouldn't mind taking you."
Tony understood slightly, so no blabbing, and pre arranged ride, but now he would have to deal with Pepper. He dialed her on the dinosaur of a phone.
"Hello? Pepper…" His conversation continued for about two hours. She ranted so passionately to him that he honestly got worried, but all in all, she was glad he's safe and will see him tomorrow.
But she was right about something. It was strange that they didn't advertise. Things as secretive as this had… well, had secrets.
Will had left a while after bringing him in, something about forgetting a date, and hadn't been seen since. Mr. Brunner was still reading outside, and didn't notice that Tony walked past him, out of the stuffy old house. He didn't see anyone he knew, and felt a bit odd. No one here knew him, it seemed, and he was used to interacting with people who knew him well. And kids? No way was he used to interacting with them. But he watched, in utter fascination, as the boy Leo had been carrying walked up to him.
"I'm Harley. Son of... " He stopped in sudden realization and fear. HE then seemed to think of something, and continued. "Son of Iron Man." Tony felt his heart jump in fear, but then realized he was just a big fan.
"He's really cool and important and stuff, so so am I" He told Tony confidently, with the ego that seemed like he really could be Tony's son. He had a sweet voice for someone who looked like the would grow up to be huge. His big hazel eyes bore into the billionaire's as he waited for him to introduce himself, possibly to see if he was as awesome as Harley himself.
"I'm Tony…" He thought for a minute, before remedying "I'm Ironman."
The boys eyes got even bigger, and a big smile showed off a chipped front tooth and a missing bottom one.
"You're so cool! I love you!' Tony smiled contently. He knew this was coming, and loved it each time. But who didn't love being told they were amazing and being worshiped?
The kid blabbed on. "How did you compress your wiring to be as small as it is at your wrists?" He was freaking out, still smiling, but slightly bouncing.
Tony stopped for a minute while he realized what this tiny creature had just asked him.
"Oh! And what is the protectional material on top of your ARC reactor electromagnet thing? Where does the energy that you use as your blasts come from? And are you able to have full peripheral vision with the suit? Did you put a camera in the suit so you can make a super cool movie about the invasion? Huh?"
The boy kept going with his list of questions, and Tony, in pure confusion gave answers to each one, sometimes having to defend his choices when the little boy argued "Why not do…" like he did so many times, but with each "Why not" followed a reasonable suggestion that Tony would be asked by a scientist, or another genius. Not a child. Tony started to wonder if this was a camp for prodigies. It would make sense.
He puzzled with this suspicion as he was listening to the chattering kid, making lists in his head of people he had passed.
Harley- Like him, would be a mechanics wizard, and Leo would be the same.
Percy- could he be great at sports or something?
Will- That's easy. Medicine
Blonde girl with Percy- Just super smart, he thought, remembering the rate at which she was flipping the pages of her book.
Art girl- art
He cataloged each and every one of the kids he passed, and they all seemed to fit into different categories. The different categories even looked different! He was really starting to get creeped out. But he continued on with the young but hulking (Hahaha Tony could crack himself up) child in front of him.
After leaving Harley with a full list of materials, his blueprints for everything but his weaponry on the suit and an autograph, Tony smelled food. It was heavily smelling like barbeque.
He let his nose lead him to a little pavilion, where most of the camp was having an early dinner. There were around 20 picnic tables, and there was shouting, laughing, talking, singing, playing of guitar from someone who looked a lot like Will, and so much more. But at the moment, Tony's vision tunneled to the food buffet. He walked to the end of the line. The person in front of him turned to see who it was.
He was about as tall as Percy, with gold hair in a grown out buzzcut and electric blue eyes. He had a big grin.
"Hey! I'm Jason. My best friend brought you here, Leo. How are you holding up? You planning on suing him?" He had a leader quality to him, and Tony thought again of the Captain. His charming smile didn't falter as Tony told him "Not good, and maybe"
"Yeah, I've had a few hits to the head myself. And about Leo, I get you, bro"
He now seemed like a teenager again, relaxing into a not-so-stiff posture. He was wearing a white American Eagle shirt that someone had Sharpied GRACE onto the back of like a jersey.
A flash of fuchsia and tan passed and Jason was tackled before Tony could even realize the person he was talking to was not longer upright. A girl with layered, dark hair with a white feather in it and a dark pink shirt had knocked him over. Tony's mind put this girl and the girl Leo was chasing together. Same girl.
"And this is my girlfriend, Piper Mclean." He overly exaggerated wheezing, trying to get her off of him, which got him a dirty look.
"Hi! Sorry about that!" She got up, purposefully elbowing Jason as she did, and gave a perfect smile. And wow, if Tony didn't have Pepper, he would definitely flirt with Piper. She was, with her wacky hair and bright, colorful eyes, amazingly gorgeous.
But still, he was more than happy with his girlfriend, so he politely said "Hey." and listened as she talked to Jason,who was getting up, telling about how a clutz named Grover had accidentally knocked down her cabin's row of sculptures they made today.
He added on to his list as she told about the angry girls chasing that poor boy.
Piper- Some gorgeous model prodigy thing, who can make anything interesting
Jason- Politician?
It was funny how likeable everyone here was. It didn't seem like there were too many secrets between people (Though not in general. It was still fishy), like there were with the spies of his group, or hostility, like with the others. No weapons, not fighting, just a nice group of talented individuals at a spectacular camp.
He noticed, though, that different prodigies sat at different tables.
As he took his food and headed to the picnic tables, he was corralled by Harley to sit next to him, where Tony found Leo and a few other kids chanting either "Skippy!" or "Boxer!" as two tiny machines, like wind up robots, fought. One, which he found was Skippy, was a tiny, rough replica of Summer, the dragon. Leo led the cheers for this terribly named creature. The other was a bit like those toys whose heads pop up when they're hit, but completely mechanical and more advanced. It was fun, and he felt himself childishly chanting for Skippy as well. Both machines were super cool and advanced though, made out of that bronze-gold stuff. With a final dive where Skippy flew straight into the other little machine, Boxer smashed. Tony pocketed the little bit of metal that skidded next to him to test later.
He started talking with the kids, and they asked for stories. He, having actually liked being with the crowd, abided.
He got quite the crowd formed around him once he was done, with kids from other tables scooching over to hear him. Harley planted himself on Tony's lap, clearly loving the jealous looks from other younger kids, and people interactively asked questions, smiled, laughed, whoa-ed, and were fun to talk to. It was actually one of the most fun nights Tony had had in a while that involved anyone but Pepper.
After, the camp migrated over to an outdoor amphitheater and Leo ran up and poured something into the campfire to make it a green color. Typical prankster, not so typical prank. Then they all started to sing. Tony didn't know any of the words, but they sang everything, whether it was Katy Perry or a joke song by The Stoll Brothers, who sang about Percy getting creamed by a hideous monster named Annabeth (That got both members of the couple chasing them, swearing, while the twins shouted their lyrics from far away. And, damn, were they fast)
But there was still doubt in his head as he followed the members of Cabin 11, which said they had an extra bunk after that kid Percy had caught and 'talked' to the twin Stolls in private.
It was like any other old cabin Tony had ever been in, so it was completely new and strange. The members of the cabin didn't seem to have any particular talents, though, so Tony was stumped. That was, until a 5 year old managed to take the tiny scrap of metal from his pocket when he was sitting down, without him noticing. That didn't help any of his theories, though, because they didn't seem like spies or thieves, so he snatched the metal from the little girl who was looking at it with concern, and took the nearest bunk. (He was woken up promptly by the owner of this bunk, a young teen girl, who indignantly poked him until he left.)
But as he went to sleep for the second time that night, he felt that something was strange, and it had something to with his arrival at the secluded paradise.