A/N: Alrighty, so this is a prompt from candyland7, who said they wanted the team's point of view of the roof scene. But since that was a little short, I decided to include the phone call, too. This is basically a redo of Chapters 28 and 29 in The Art of Finding Yourself, if you would like to go reread them, but you don't necessarily have to. (Caution: it has kind of a lot of errors in it that I will be going back to fix later.) This has the exact dialogue of those chapters, just from Tony's POV. Enjoy, lads.

Disclaimer: I do not and probably never will own either the Avengers or Percy Jackson.

Wrong

"Hey."

Tony's stomach dropped when he heard Percy's weak voice on the other side of the line. He heard Percy repeat himself, this time stronger than before. "Hey."

"Guys," Tony called to the others, his voice sounding a little strained. "I got him!" The team quickly rushed into the room. Tony went and sat down on the couch, and the Avengers sat all around him on the couch and on the coffee table. He put the phone on speaker and held it out in the middle of the group. "Percy," he said.

"Hey," Percy said again, his voice sounding weird. It sounded almost like it was windy where he was.

"Where are you right now?" Steve asked, his voice urgent. He leaned closer to the phone, his forehead creasing with worry. "How did you escape from that cell? What are you doing?"

"I'm with Blackjack," Percy said quickly, his voice still sounding odd. Well, that explained the wind. Tony knew he wasn't the only one who noticed because he saw everyone else's face scrunch up in confusion. Tony just couldn't put his finger on what it was. "And I had help with the escaping thing. Is this phone call secure?" Tony frowned. Why would he ask that?

"Yeah, it's secure. Percy, what's going on?" Tony asked. Something wasn't right about this whole situation, and the unease in his stomach from when Percy had first been captured and thrown in a cell wasn't going away.

"Nothing," he said. Percy went on to explain what had happened very vaguely before pausing. "And that's it," he finished. Tony thought his voice sounded a little thicker than usual.

"Why are you with Blackjack?" Natasha asked suspiciously.

"I…uh. Um," Percy faltered. And suddenly, it clicked for the Avengers all at once, and Tony could do no more than stare at the phone in shock. Surely Percy wasn't going to do what he thought, right?

"Percy, please don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing," Clint said, his voice layered with thinly veiled horror and shock.

"I have to do this," Percy said softly.

"You can't do this by yourself," Bruce tried, a touch desperately.

"The way my plan is supposed to go is that it'll work perfect for you guys and everybody else," he said.

"Us and everybody else," Thor said, voicing Tony's thoughts. "And what of you, Percy?" Tony's heart sank, and his stomach started churning. He knew what the answer would be.

Percy sighed. "What about me?"

Tony couldn't keep quiet any longer. "What do you mean 'what about me'?" Tony demanded. He was met with a deafening silence. "Percy, no," he said, his voice quiet and pleading. "No."

"I have to," Percy said plaintively. "I'm the only one who can."

"Bull," challenged Natasha, her voice empty of emotion. "We can help you." Tony thought there was an unspoken "please" at the end of the sentence, but knew he could hear it only because he knew her so well.

"You really can't," he said, sounding not really defeated, but resigned.

"This is a suicide mission!" Steve finally burst out. He had finally voiced what this really was. Percy meant this to be his last hurrah, and Tony knew it. "You can't expect us to just let you die, Percy! You're a part of this team just as much as we are." Steve's eyes were opened wide, and Tony realized just how young Steve was and, by comparison, Percy. Percy was just a kid, even if he was legally an adult at eighteen. And from what Percy had told them, he had never gotten to fully experience the glory of awkward teenage years normally. Percy was almost like the little brother the team had never had, and they wanted to protect him like older brothers and an older sister were supposed to.

Tony just couldn't imagine how lonely the tower would be without Percy around, and he never wanted to find out.

"Listen," Percy said determinedly, "I'm pretty sure everything in a half block might be wiped out. If you're there, you'll die, too. What's more important: me or the Avengers?" Tony wasn't sure what was the most heart-breaking thing in that particular statement. Was it the fact that he thought he was unimportant or that he was determined to save the world so bad he was willing to get himself killed?

"We are both of equal importance," Thor said. "One human life is not of more importance than another merely because of fame or power."

"I'm sure SHIELD would have something to say about that statement," Percy said, huffing a breath of amusement.

"Is that why you're doing this?" Bruce asked. "Because of SHIELD? You know we don't believe what they said about you being a spy, don't you?"

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. "Really?"

"Of course," Clint replied with complete conviction. "Sure, it surprised us for a second too long to do something about it, but it was literally impossible that you were the spy." Plus, Tony knew Percy wasn't that good of a liar to fool Natasha. Nobody on the team could do that, and Percy could barely lie good let alone on a large scale like hiding your entire personality and working for an evil titan. It was impossible for him to have created a lie as big as the one he was accused of.

"Good," Percy said, sounding relieved. "I was really, really hoping you'd say that."

"Percy," Tony began urgently, "you don't have to do this because SHIELD told you to do this. We can help you."

The others thought Percy had hung up on accident before he finally answered. "Guys, I wasn't lying before. You really can't help me. And I'm not doing this because SHIELD told me to."

Tony wasn't really sure what to say to that, and he could tell the other Avengers weren't sure, either. It was almost like his arc reactor wasn't working because he felt like he wasn't getting enough air, even though Tony knew his reactor was in perfect condition.

"You know," Percy said, his voice wavering slightly, "the spy was Smart." Percy's chuckle sounded strained. "We really should've seen that one." Percy breathed once and let it out slowly, like he was trying to control himself. Tony unconsciously gripped the phone harder as they all leaned in more. "Guys, I want you to know why I'm doing this," Percy said. He took another shaky breath. "This is my responsibility to fix. It's my problem."

"Percy—" Steve started. Tony looked up and saw Steve's pained face.

Percy talked over him. "No, really, this is my job. Coeus had my blood, he wants my power, and I'm the only one who knows how to stop him. I'm the only one who can. If anyone else tried, they would die." Like you're going to if you don't stop! Tony wanted to shout.

Clint laughed humorlessly. "Percy, you must have the single most messed up logic I've ever heard of." The team shook their heads at Percy.

"The plan's so stupid that Coeus would never expect it. He's smart, so I have to be stupid," Percy reasoned. Tony could imagine him smiling at that thought.

"I swear you have a complex," Natasha said. Tony noticed that cracks were appearing in her careful mask and couldn't help but feel slightly helpless.

Tony heard Percy tell Blackjack to bring him down to a roof and felt his breaths quicken. Was Percy leaving now? Tony heard the soft landing and breathed a little easier when he didn't hear the dial tone.

Percy breathed once again and began to talk. "I wanted to thank you. Um, I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me in the past few days. I was, uh, a—a wreck when I first got to the tower, and you fixed me." Percy sniffled and laughed wetly, and Tony felt his heart completely rip in half. "Which, by the way, was pretty awesome since I was pretty positive I was a hopeless case. So, thank you. Really." Tony breathed deeply and bit his lip. He couldn't help but think how this couldn't be happening, shouldn't be happening. Tony ducked his head. He didn't want to see his friends slowly breaking like he was.

"Uh, you guys probably didn't realize how bad off I was. I won't go into details or anything, but I'm pretty sure what you managed to do to me was a miracle," Percy said, a touch of vehemence coloring his voice. "And it wasn't just that. I swear I wasn't just using you for your awesome food, either." That drew a reluctant laugh out of them. Tony thought it was almost like the laugh didn't wasn't to escape his mouth; it wanted to stay caught in his throat. "It was the friendship. It was your help. It was the team atmosphere and the family stuff and whatever other gushy stuff you can think of. It was everything. I, uh." Tony closed his eyes tightly when Percy paused. His eyes were not watering. At all.

"I'm just really going to miss you guys," Percy said, his voice cracking on the last word, and with that, Tony's heart shattered. "So, yeah. I-I just—I wanted to—yeah, s-so um, thanks."

And God, kids weren't supposed to sound like this. Kids weren't supposed to have to say goodbye let alone when they weren't ready to in the first place. They weren't supposed to thank people for helping them when they had horrible breakdowns from stress and evil, destructive pits that drove people insane. They weren't supposed to say thank you for people being there for when they had horrible nightmares and panic attacks and everything else. The people that loved the kids weren't supposed to have to listen to them say goodbye. They weren't supposed to listen to the kid's heart breaking and this was all so wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Tony finally sighed. "Kid, it wasn't just one-sided. But you're welcome." Because what else were you supposed to do when someone told you thank you like that?

Percy's voice took on a more urgent tone. "Guys, I—I need you to tell Annabeth and my friends and my mom and Paul bye for me. I don't—I can't. I don't have enough time."

"Percy, you aren't going to die," Natasha said firmly. "We won't let you. We will track your position and keep him from killing you, but you aren't going to die."

"Indeed," Thor agreed. "This is not your final battle. Who else would spar with me?" A few of the team opened their mouths to say something else when Percy started quickly.

"It's not like I want to die," Percy said defensively. "I don't want to die! It's just…inevitable. And he's not actually going to kill me, really." Tony frowned at that, but his musings were interrupted by Bruce.

"We're coming to help you, Percy," Bruce's tone brooked no argument, and Tony finally glanced up to catch the resolve on Bruce's face. "Whether you like it or not. Whether he's going to kill you or not. And you aren't dying either."

Tony heard a huge boom-crash from the other side of the phone, and he felt his stomach take a nose dive. "Listen I have to go." Percy sounded nervous. "I'm sorry. Make sure you tell them goodbye. And that I'm sorry."

"Percy—" they protested.

"I'm sorry," he said again, and the dial tone interrupted everything else they had to say.

"God," Tony said, rubbing his face. He stayed there for a moment, just a fraction of a second to gather himself after that particular situation. Then, he stood up quickly. "JARVIS, I need you to—"

"I'm already tracking his position, sir," JARVIS replied before Tony was finished. "However, the energy levels are fluctuating, and it is scrambling the signal. It could take a little longer to lock on his coordinates."

"That's alright, J, work as quick as you can." Tony looked at the others. "Let's get suited up."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Sir, I believe I have a definite lock, but it does not seem to be matching up with the energy fluctuations' position," JARVIS said.

Tony rolled his eyes in frustration and tapped a finger on his suit from where he was hovering in the air. "Guys, it looks like Percy threw his phone somewhere so we wouldn't know where he was going," he said to the Avengers below through the comm. link.

"Well, with a boom like that, he couldn't have been very far off from where he was going," Clint reasoned.

"It could be anywhere from five to ten miles away from him," Bruce suggested.

"Sir, there seems to be a source of the energy spikes, but it is quickly diminishing," JARVIS said, his voice sounding a little perplexed. "Would you like me to give you those coordinates instead of the cell phone readings?"

"Yeah," Tony said. "Gimme those. If Percy's ever anywhere, it's in the middle of the chaos."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It turned out Tony was right about Percy being at the center of the chaos. It's just that he really wished he wasn't, for once.

When they finally got up on the roof after what seemed like ages, Tony's face drained of all blood. "No!" he shouted. "Percy!"

The Avengers rushed to the body lying on the roof that was bloodied, bruised, and pale and kneeled down. They ignored the charred body a few feet from him that was obviously Coeus. Tony wasn't sure what had happened to him, but at least he was gone. But it was a small consolation prize if Percy was gone, too. Percy was still breathing, but it was a slow rise and fall, and Tony could tell he was having trouble. Bruce pushed them gently aside and turned Percy's head toward them.

Percy's eyes fluttered open and rested on them. He tilted the corners of his mouth up in a parody of a smile since he must have been too exhausted to smile for real. "Percy," Bruce said. "Can you hear me? Hey, stay awake, okay?"

Tony saw a small crease appear in between Percy's eyebrows, like he was concentrating, then his eyelids drooped and finally closed. Bruce shook Percy gently. "Percy, wake up."

"No," Tony said. He heard Steve and the others catch their breath in shock behind him. He leaned forward to put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Kid, wake up." But Percy's body sagged, and he went completely lax, his face slack. "Don't you dare," Tony said, but Percy couldn't hear him.

Tony bent his head and breathed deeply. His ears buzzed so he couldn't hear Bruce talking to Percy or see him feeling for a pulse. He couldn't hear the heavy breathing of his teammates. He couldn't see their masks crumbling down like faulty walls. And he couldn't see Percy's still body.

It was all just wrong.

A/N: And on that cheerful note, I've got a question about the next chapter. Do you guys want a POV of the team of the hospital scene and stuff (not Percy flat lining, just him waking up and on), or do you want a Blackjack reunion thing first? It might make more sense if you chose the first option, but it's your choice. Thanks for reading, and tell me what you thought!