Tony Stark
The demon kid left after having lunch. Fury tried to recruit him, but Nico merely shook his head, and hopped into a shadow.
In the weeks to come, Percy became slightly more introverted, but after going for a swim, he went back to his old sarcastic, hormonal, teenage self. I really wanted to test the limit of his powers, but something inside was stopping me. I felt that he deserved his space. I know, wierd.
After the whole Nico episode, Jane became thoroughly terrified of the dark. She always had JARVIS turn the lights on and off for her, six yards before she entered a designated room. She was still slightly cautious of Percy, but forgave him. Thor was still in the process. Cap, he seemed to take it really hard that the kid could control the elements (calling it 'ungodly'). Pepper stayed the same, but somehow she started being a mother figure to Percy. Which was totally unfair, I didn't even know she had motherly instincts in her.
I mean, he gets head trauma, but I'm dating her. I ask for a sandwich and she tells me to "get off my lazy ass and get it myself", but she OFFERS to fix Percy ANY type of food he wants! She doesn't go to the chef's I hired either! She actually fixes him food! Not only that, but they go swimming together, and take walks through Central Park every morning, TOGETHER! I swear she even missed going to the Stock Exchange for their daily morning walks. If the kid wasn't twenty years younger than me, I would have thought he was actually going for Pepper.
"Tony!" Pepper called out, and walked into my workshop. She kissed my cheek and sat down on and upturned bucket,
"I was wondering if you wanted to come eat dinner with us." She said, and I slipped a screw into an open crevice,
"Who's us?" I mumbled, a screwdriver in my mouth. She raised an eyebrow,
"Percy and me. I ordered Chinese." She said, and I nodded,
"Sure, I'll be there in a few minutes." She smiled, and started walking out, I grumbled under my breath, Pepper had snared me into one of her "Bonding with Percy" sessions with Chinese takeout.
"JARVIS?" I called out,
"Yes, sir?"
"I need you to cancel anything I have tonight." I said,
"Sir, you didn't have plans to begin with." he replied.
"Nothing at all?" I frowned,
"No sir." his cool voice said, damn it.
I nodded, and went to take a shower before dinner. I didn't feel it necessary to arrive late and dirty, and wake Pepper's wrath.
After a shower, I walked into the living room. Pepper and Percy were setting up Monopoly before the food arrived. I rubbed my hands together in glee.
"I call the Iron!" I said, and Pepper placed my limited edition (only one in the world) mini Iron Man suit next to the ship, and a diamond. Can you guess who is what?
Flicking the "on" switch, the whole board lit up, and the screen in the middle turned on. I made it, because regular Monopoly got boring. I filled the credit cards, and we began playing. Let me explain something to you, Iron Man's limited edition Monopoly board is like no other. You can buy and trade stocks, buy health insurance, and even push a player off a cliff. Just kidding, but you CAN shoot them with a laser beam. Wink.
"So, Percy. Tell me, what is the extent of your powers?" I asked him, and he looked thoughtful,
"I don't know. The most I've gotten in destroying Rome and Greece in a hurricane, and blowing up Mount Saint Helens." he said. Wait what?
"You destroyed Mount Saint HELENS?! That's awesome!" I exclaimed, and thus, my respect for the seventeen year old nearly quadrupled. He smiled, (the first in weeks)
"Yeah, my girlfriend thought I died, and she was freaking out. That's Anna-" he stopped, and Peppers eyebrows crinkled.
"Percy, honey. It's ok, you don't have to talk about her." she rubbed his shoulders, but he stood up straighter,
"No. She wouldn't want me to be like this. I can't even say her name." he said, tossing the dice.
I frowned,
"So, um, do you know the password to the silver laptop with the Delta on it?" I asked, and he nodded.
"I'm not telling you though, the things inside of that laptop were her dreams." He said, and I nodded,
"So tell me, do you have any more blueprints? I mean, I have to admit. I'm a genius, but those blueprints are like, freaking awesome. Who did them?" Percy took a deep breath,
"She did. She was the daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. She wanted to become an architect, and was hired to redesign Olympus. Up there." He pointed out the window, to the Empire State building. So, what the Empire State housed gods? Man, and I thought California was wierd.
JARVIS started talking,
"Sir, there is a delivery man and a legal associate at the door. Should I-"
"Yes!" I said, "Since when do delivery guys carry lawyers around with them?" I mumbled, and the elevator doors opened.
I payed for the food, and the lawyer addressed Percy,
"Mr. Jackson, my name is Richard Hamilton, I'm a legal associate for Barnes and Co. I'm sorry to say this, but on the twenty-first of January, your parents, Sally Blofis and Paul Blofis were killed in a car accident." He said, and Percy collapsed,
"What?!" Pepper and I yelled, he nodded.
"Wait, but that was six months ago!" Pepper shouted,
"Yes, we had a very hard time tracking Mr. Jackson down. Perseus," he addressed a pale face Percy, "I'm afraid you parents left no will, or place for you to go. So, because you are underage, you will be placed into the fost-"
"No." I said, and I pulled the teenager to his feet, "No need, I'm adopting him here and now." Pepper beamed at me.
"Yes, we are more than capable of taking care of him, and we have the funding." Pepper said, and the Hamilton guy frowned, but nodded,
"Please sign these papers signifying that you both agreed to this. Here, here, and this part is saying that he will not come to any harm." He produced a few papers and a clipboard. I sat Percy down on the couch, and signed the papers. Pepper actually read them.
"There we go." She said, signing the whole pile. Percy Jackson was now my son.
After the lawyer left, we sat down next to Percy, and Pepper hugged him,
"I'm so sorry for your loss." she whispered, and that's when I noticed the tears sliding down his face. I didn't know I had it in me to be a dad. Let alone a dad to a teenager that could destroy the world.
"Thank you, so much." he said, his voice cracking,
"No problem. I guess I'm a dad now." I said, and Pepper pulled me into a seperate room,
"I didn't know you had it in you to adopt a kid." She said, smiling, and I pulled her into my arms,
"Me neither, but now we're parents, no thanks to me. We should... I don't have a single clue how to raise a kid. Heck, I don't even know why I adopted him." I said, and she grinned, kissed me and said,
"I do, and don't worry. We'll do it together, somehow." Yeah, somehow.
Percy Jackson
They were dead. Dead. Gone. I couldn't believe Nico hadn't told me. I was an orphan for twenty seconds, then the least likely person came to my rescue. Tony Stark. Pepper had been really nice to me, and she sort of already was my surrogate mother, but I would never forget the way my mom baked blue cookies, or made me blue waffles. Now she was gone, but I knew, my mother would never want me to pine away at her death. Neither did my girlfriend, but I was.
And now all of them were dead. Gone, and silenced, but I had to get stronger. I had to think of Poseidon. I had to be strong, and live, for Annabeth, and for my Mom, and Paul.
My new parents re-entered the room,
"Thank you guys. So much." I said, and Pepper (or was it Mom now?) smiled and hugged me,
"Of course Percy." Tony looked uncomfortable, but sat down,
"Wait, does this mean he has to call me, like, Father? Or Dad? Cuz let me tell you, I will not be having any of it. It makes me sound old." I smiled at that, and decided to go for a swim. It was around eight when I dove in.
The Avengers building has an Olympic sized pool. Half of it has lane lines, and it's around eight feet deep. The other half is a sixteen foot drop off. I told Jarvis to flash the pool lights if anyone came looking for me, and I dove to the bottom.
Sitting there, I let my head cool. I had new parents now, and they were pretty cool. I mean, Pepper was amazing, and Tony seemed really funny. I almed down a bit, feeling the energy return to me, and a few optimistic thoughts run by. I felt refreshed somehow, like I was starting anew. It felt good, and I soon drifted to sleep.
~'~'~'~
I woke up to the pool lights flashing, and JARVIS telling me to wake up.
I swam to the top of the water, completely dry, and scared the heck out of Pepper.
"Percy, how long were you underwater?" she asked,
"What time is it now?"
"It's six in the morning, time for our morning walk." she said, and I did the math,
"Ten hours, give or take. I fell asleep." She looked amazed,
"You were underwater for ten whole hours, and you're dry?! That's amazing, but come on. Let's go." She helped me out, and I went to my room to change.
I found a pair of Adidas shorts, and a t-shirt. Pepper met up with me at the elevator in a black sweatsuit. Standing next to her, I looked giant. She was a meager 5' 9'', and I was 6' 2''.
We walked around Central Park and had breakfast at a cafe on 5th. I talked to her, telling her about me, my family, how I felt about my work, and how I lost interest in the world. She took it in, and didn't give me the "you're crazy, go see a psychiatrist" look, but a look my mom gave me. The one that said, "that's all in the past honey, it will be fine" I really like Pepper, she was like a mom.
"So," I took a bite out of my muffin, "what-what do I call you?" I asked, she smiled,
"I don't know. I mean, Pepper is fine, mom, mother, mommy..." she made the 'mommy' part longer than the others.
"I think I'll go by Mom, but Tony, I guess he fells old being called Dad." I said, grinning, and she laughed,
"He feels old being called anything besides Iron Man! He's just a big molten ball of solid ego maniac." I laughed at the joke. I felt a lot better, having a make-shift family helped ease the pain.
"So, I have a convention coming up, it's sort of based on how Stark Enterprise and other major companies can relate to the younger class. There will be lots of my associate's kids there, and well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. It's at the Trump International Hotel." she sipped her coffee,
"Sure, I guess I'll go." I mean, how hard could it be?
"Thanks Percy, now I won't be the only one without a kid there!" she exclaimed, and high-fived me.
We walked back to the building, and met up with Tony, who had his whole speech prepared. He was going to tell his team that he had adopted me, and that we were moving into the newly opened Stark building. They wouldn't take it nicely, but to keep me occupied, Pep-Mom and I started packing.
Once looking over my messed up (and in some cases, bloody) clothes, she had three full Armani suits (one black, one navy, and one grey) to be sent over in the next half hour. That's like, ten thousand dollars blown! She said something about making me look presentable, and not like an assassin. Whatever that meant.
I wasn't allowed to take any weapons with me, and got my watch confiscated, along with my phone, and iPad. My bosses wouldn't like that part. Instead, she bought me new ones with NO secret data installed in it, and also had a Tiffany watch sent over as well. So, basically she was throwing money away for my benefit. I could have easily payed for all of my stuff, but she sort of confiscated my bank account as well. My bosses wouldn't like that either.
I heard yelling coming from the conference room, and suddenly it stopped.
"Tony is sorting it out, don't worry." Pe-Mom said, as she looked over her phone.
We left in four hours, and checked in a day early at the hotel. Mom and I would share a suite, but get seperate rooms. The suite was huge. It had seven bedrooms, it's own pool, a huge balcony that overlooked the city, and floor to ceiling windows. Mom and I would hang out around the hotel, and just do nothing.
Somehow, I didn't feel guilty at all when I called Pepper my mom. It was a loving gesture, and we cared for each other. I felt like this was the start of something new.