Sorry this took a while! I've been kinda stressed and anxious recently, especially with the election and stuff, so I've not been very motivated and there hasn't been much time I've felt like writing.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Riordanverse or Marvel yet, but don't worry. I'm coming for them. There will be a time when I lord over both! One day...

THIRTEEN

Nothing Really Happens

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Breakfast was nice.

Everyone else had either already eaten or wasn't ready to eat yet, so Alyssa ate eggs and toast by herself at the bar counter.

Pepper tried to initiate polite conversation, asking things like Did you sleep well? and updating her on the whereabouts of the other Avengers. Apparently, Wanda was asleep, Vision was with her, Clint was training, and Steve and Natasha were still with S.H.I.E.L.D., working out what to do.

Alyssa was really hungry. She must have eaten like half a carton of eggs, but it barely made a dent in the ridiculous amount of food that was in the kitchen. And it was only the bar kitchen! Alyssa assumed all or most of the Avengers had huge appetites.

She also told Tony and Pepper more about Apollo's visit. She didn't mention the bracelet, mostly because she didn't really trust the Avengers and didn't want them to know about the lyre in case she ever needed to use it on them. But she did tell them that Apollo had brought her her backpack and sword from the Quinjet (Alyssa wasn't sure she wanted to know what was going on in there) and that the gods probably didn't know about the situation yet.

"So if the other gods do find out, how likely is it that I'm getting blasted?" Tony asked.

"Tony!" Pepper said. Though, she also looked a bit worried.

"Very small, I would say. I'm not sure if they'll appreciate what you did but I doubt they'll get mad at you for it. It's more likely that they'll just wipe all data of the whole thing and give everyone a warning." Alyssa said, after a few seconds of consideration. She hoped the gods wouldn't overreact when they found out that mortals knew about everything, but if they did she assumed Apollo and herself would be the focus of their annoyance. Apollo especially. Which was probably why he didn't want to tell them.

"So, how mad is S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Alyssa asked, taking a bite of her toast.

"Not sure yet," said Tony. "They've asked me to bring you back of course, and I've gotten calls from Coulson, Steve, Natasha, and even Fury himself. No one seemed super mad, but they tried to convince me that you're dangerous, and that this is a problem that S.H.I.E.L.D. is better equipped to handle."

He gave Alyssa a slightly amused look, like he didn't quite believe that she was dangerous. That was something Alyssa was used to, but it was still a bit annoying.

It's the blonde hair, isn't it? She thought.

Well, at least it meant that if she ever had to fight to get out of here he would probably underestimate her. Though, she didn't like her chances anyway, considering the facility looked extremely high-tech and he could probably close all the doors and whatnot in a heartbeat.

"So, what's the long-term plan? You use me to negotiate with Fury?" Alyssa said. It came out a little more defensive than she had intended. She wasn't opposed to using herself as a bargaining chip, but she was worried that without their biggest source of information, S.H.I.E.L.D. might resort to other things like trying to kidnap demigods or summon gods, neither of which would go well for anyone.

"Erm, maybe. That's the plan so far but I'm mostly just going with the flow," Tony said. He had the grace to look a little embarrassed about using a sixteen-year-old to negotiate with S.H.I.E.L.D..

Alyssa nodded.

She finished eating, then took care of her dishes. Pepper tried to help but Alyssa waved her off.

"Anything you want to do today?" Tony asked. "There's a lot of stuff to do here, and if you need anything in particular I can get it for you."

"Thanks," Alyssa said. "Uh, do you have a training area?"

Alyssa was used to spending a lot of her day training and exercising, and she wanted to burn some energy. It had also been a bit since she had trained, and she knew she needed to stay in shape.

Tony seemed a little surprised at her request. "Sure. I'll have JARVIS take you. There are weapons and equipment there."

"Awesome, thanks."

Alyssa hopped off the stool and left the room, giving Tony and Pepper a quick smile.

~/~/~

After asking JARVIS to lead her there, she was in her room again.

Alyssa noticed the closet and wondered what was in there, hoping there would be clothes.

Upon inspection, there were actually clothes in there, and they all seemed to be her size. She assumed Tony had done it, but didn't know when he did. There wasn't much, but Alyssa only ever wore basic clothes anyway.

She found leggings and a T-shirt that fit her pretty well, and decided to change into them. She also pulled her hair into a ponytail using an old ponytail-holder she had found in her backpack.

She also considered Iris-messaging Rose, but Alyssa knew Rose would be busy right now. It would be kind of awkward to interrupt a training session or something, and Alyssa knew word spread like wildfire in camp and everyone would be there in an instant, demanding answers that Alyssa wasn't emotionally ready to provide.

As a last touch, she grabbed her sword. She wanted to practice with it, and hoped that her outfit made it clear that she was just training. Though, for all, she knew the Avengers would be totally cool with her walking around with a sword.

Feeling ready, she left the room.

"JARVIS, can you take me to the gym?" She asked.

JARVIS lead her there.

It was much bigger than she expected. There was everything she could want- a sparring area in the middle, punching bags, a parkour course, a fun ropes-type climbing course, a climbing wall, a few exercise machines (she had no idea how to use them, so figured she'd better stay away), equipment like dumbbells and resistance bands, and even an awesome-looking target practice area.

There were also doors leading to a bathroom, a changing room, and two supply closets. One supply closet had normal things like extra dumbbells and stuff, but the other one had weapons. They weren't really the type of weapons Alyssa was used to, mostly guns and knives and a few neat bows, but there were definitely a few that she would feel comfortable with.

Overall, Alyssa felt like a kid in a candy store. She wandered around for a few minutes, just looking at everything.

The climbing course looked insanely fun, so she decided to start there. It would be nice to practice climbing on something that didn't clash together or spew lava.

She did the whole thing several times. It was even more fun than it had looked. After that, she did the parkour course, which was mostly a bunch of foam shapes and things you could jump around on and climb. There didn't seem to be a clear starting point or ending point so she just messed around, jumping from thing to thing.

After a quick break, she then mostly did normal training things that she would do at camp, like training with her sword and exercises like push-ups and running. She also grabbed a bow from the closet and used the target practice area. The targets were a good deal easier than the stuff she and her siblings would do to train, like chucking a piece of wood in the air as far as you could then shooting it, but they were still enjoyable.

After two hours or so she felt a lot better. It was kind of comforting to feel really physically tired again. She felt a lot more like herself, and most of her anxiety about being in a weird place with people she didn't trust had left.

She put everything back how she had left it and asked JARVIS to lead her back to her room.

She showered and changed into jeans and a shirt. She had to roll up the cuffs of the jeans a bit but everything fit fine. She also put her sword back on. She felt much more comfortable with it, and knew it was only a matter of time before a monster showed up.

After that she had nothing to do. Her room felt small and lonely, so she found herself wandering the hallways. She was a little worried about getting lost, but she could probably just ask JARVIS to lead her back. She hoped he would be available from the entire building.

The hallways were long and winding, leading to many different rooms. There were a lot of closed doors, none of which she opened. But there were some open doors, usually leading to guest rooms.

Once she found a large lab, with lots of machinery and gadgets. She heard tinkering and a few curses. Tony, she assumed. She left quickly.

She found the gym again, a few sitting rooms, a kitchen with loads of food (she took a few croissants and some water), a dining room, and a room with lots of gear, like weapons, tactical gear, and Captain America's armor.

At one point she heard someone coming down the hallway and immediately went the other way, thankful for her experience in moving quietly. She wasn't even sure why she didn't feel like talking to whoever it was.

She did bump into someone eventually, though. She was pretty close to the lab again, trying to see if she could get back to her room on her own, when Tony, who was coming out of the lab, saw her.

"Hey! How are you doing?" He said.

"Um, good, I guess. I'm just exploring."

"Cool. Uh, please don't mess around in any of the labs. There's a lot of dangerous things lying around," he said and glanced at the lab behind him. Alyssa noticed that the air coming from the lab smelled a bit like smoke.

"Sure," she assured him.

"See you." He headed off.

After a bit more wandering around, Alyssa found the kitchen again. She went in, planning on getting another snack.

"Hi, Alyssa!" Pepper said. She was preparing a salad at the granite counter. "I'm just making lunch. Are you hungry now?"

"Not really," Alyssa said. She could wait until lunch.

Pepper nodded. "Could you help me with some sandwiches then?"

Alyssa was a little surprised. "Of course."

She didn't mind helping out, and was kind of happy to have a job.

She walked over to the counter and was soon making meat and cheese sandwiches, with the guidance of Pepper, who was surprised that Alyssa had never really cooked before. But sandwiches were easy, and hanging out in the kitchen with Pepper was fun.

"I don't usually make lunch, but I don't think Tony's eaten all day," Pepper confided in her. "Making lunch for everyone is always a good way to get him to eat."

After the sandwiches and salad were ready Alyssa helped Pepper get more food out, and they put everything on the counter buffet-style.

"JARVIS, can you tell everyone lunch is ready?" Pepper asked.

"Sure, Ms. Potts," JARVIS replied.

Pepper made herself a small plate of salad and sat down at a barstool. Following her example, Alyssa grabbed a sandwich and started eating. It was pretty good.

People started trickling in. Tony popped in, made a plate, kissed Pepper, then left, despite Pepper's protests. Clint showed up, ate about a quarter of the food there, and left, thanking Pepper and giving Alyssa a small nod. Wanda and Vision also came in, talking to each other the whole time. Vision didn't eat, but he looked at the food with interest. Then they also left.

Alyssa still had her sword at her waist, and surprising enough, no one had said anything about it. Huh.

Pepper smiled at Alyssa, who was still standing by the counter, on her second bagel. "Mission accomplished."

Alyssa smiled back, a little awkward but already feeling quite comfortable around Pepper.

They put everything away, and Pepper went off to check on Tony and make sure he had actually eaten the food he took.

Alyssa left the kitchen. She decided to continue trying to find her room on her own, but didn't feel very confident about her chances.

She did find another sitting room though, with big windows facing a green lawn. Alyssa walked over to the window to get a closer look.

And... Of course. There was a monster heading her way. A minotaur, by the looks of it. Alyssa could see it coming out of some trees about a hundred yards away.

"Koprophagos," she muttered, turning away from the window and running into the hallway.

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Yes, not a fair ending, I know. I think I'll update soon, and I'm sorry again about the long wait. I live in America, so the results of the election and the aftermath of the election affect me a lot, and I've been very anxious recently, especially around election week. I know Biden won't move in until January, and I know the Trump administration is still going to try to wreak havoc, and I know Trump is always going to be an amathés, but at least for now everything's somewhat fine. I hope everyone's doing well and you're not too stressed! As always, thank you for reading, and thank you so much for being patient with me.