Percy sprang out of his chair just as two hellhounds burst into the hall. People jumped up from their seats screaming, making for the back door as Percy pulled Riptide out from his pocket. He was about to unsheathe it then groaned instead at what he was looking at.
The three 'heroes' had also taken out weapons and were advancing on the monsters, who were paying them no attention. Mortals.
They sniffed the air, before snapping their heads in Percy's direction, their eyes landing on him. Percy could hear the growls even from a distance.
He was about to charge when he remembered the three Avengers were still in the hall. Ugh, this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.
'Hey! Over here! Yeah, this way!' Percy yelled, drawing the hounds toward him.
...
Steve, Clint and Tony immediately got into a fighting stance as soon as the doors flew open, and out jumped... a couple dogs? In fairness, they were pretty big, almost like large cats. Wait, were they cats? Panthers? Steve couldn't tell, they were almost hazy, making it so he couldn't pinpoint exactly what they-was that kid yelling at them?!
'Kid, no! It's too dangerous!' Steve called out. What were they just saying to these guys?
'You and Tony distract the... whatever they are. I'll get the boy,' Clint said just as the beasts began charging towards the kid.
Clint wouldn't make it to him in time running, so he shot an arrow with a rope attached to it and flew across to the black-haired boy who was waving-was that a baseball bat? -at the fast-approaching dog-cats.
As soon as he caught him, just in the nick of time, Steve refocused his attention on the animals. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tony already ready to go in his suit. A little overkill in his opinion, but he supposed he did have to protect himself.
They looked at each other for a second before nodding and approaching the creatures.
…...
'You alright?' Clint asked the kid.
The boy looked up at him with a look of confusion and slight shock on his face. Not every day you get saved by an avenger, I suppose. 'Uh, yeah, I'm fine. You didn't have to save me, though,' he said, dusting himself off.
Clint raised an eyebrow. 'You were about to get attacked and eaten by a raging dog, so yeah, I kinda did,' Clint stated, slightly surprised at the guy's reaction. Usually people, especially kids, were amazed to even be talking to an Avenger, and this kid had little to no reaction when he was just saved by one.
He scoffed, he actually scoffed. 'Yeah, okay, whatever you say,' he said sarcastically. The attitude off this guy!
Clint was about to remind him about what they had just been saying before this whole thing started when Tony spoke through his com, 'Hey, Barton, you wanna finish up your wee chit chat and help us out over here?'
'You guys really can't handle two-' he stopped when he turned around and took in what he was seeing.
The chairs had been knocked over; a window had been smashed and, was that a fire?! He was gone for two seconds! How had they managed to start a fire?!
Clint turned back round to take the boy to safety when he realised, he was gone. Honestly, he looks away for 2 seconds everything falls apart or vanishes.
Clint darted over to the fight, if you could even call it that; it was more Tony shooting beams around the place, not actually hitting their targets, with Steve doing something similar with his shield.
Clint drew and arrow, aiming at the creatures that had paused momentarily. He frowned. Why have they stopped?
He glanced in the direction they were staring in and saw the black-haired boy standing at the now broken emergency back doors. Oh no.
The animals charged and the boy-flipped through the air? He landed smoothly on the ground, staring the creatures down. They lunged at him again, but this time, he side-stepped and swung that baseball bat at them. It seemed to have wounded it, quite severely somehow, as one yowled out in pain. He thought he saw blood drip on the floor. How had a baseball bat drawn blood, and so fast? They were about to intervene when he bolted out the door, with the animals jumping through the window after him.
Steve reacted first, sprinting to the exit, with the others following closely behind. If this kid got eaten by those things while they were there, Steve would never forgive himself. Neither would Clint or Tony, but he knew how badly Steve would take the death of a child.
Flying through the door, literally in Tony's case, the Avengers screeched to a halt. Not because of what they saw, but what they didn't see. There was nobody there.
No bizarre creatures, no black-haired kid playing hero, nothing.
Clint walked over to the spot where the beasts would have landed after jumping through the window, but all he could find was what looked like gold dust.
Tony flipped up his mask to reveal a very confused face. 'What the heck happened?', he asked, thoroughly bewildered, an expression which you don't normally see on Tony, or anyone of his level of smarts.
Steve looked deep in thought. 'Where did they go?'
…...
"Is Mr Solace here?" a voice asked from behind him. Will turned around to see a very pale, sweat stricken boy. He made sure to keep his face friendly and not show his shock at how awful the boy looked.
"That's me, but please, call me Will. What can I help you with? You're not lookin' so great," Will said, walking over and kneeling beside the boy.
He looked pretty out of it but managed to respond. "I don't feel very good."
He looked like he was about to topple over, so Will gently took his shoulders and guided him to sit down on one of the beds. He reached up and placed the back of his hand against the kid's forehead. He was on fire.
"You've got a temperature. Do you have any other symptoms?" Will asked gently.
"I-" he stopped as he began to cough harshly. Will ran over to get him some water, which he placed in his hands.
After he took a few gulps, he continued. "I have a cough." Will huffed a laugh. "I can see that. How long have you felt like this?"
"I've been coughing since yesterday. I didn't think it was that bad, but when I woke up this morning, I could hardly move, and Mr. Jackson said I should come and see you, so I did," he said weakly.
Will smiled slightly at that while resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Figures Percy knows when other people need to watch their health but when it comes him, oh no he's fine, he never needs a break.
He was shaken from his thoughts when the boy started coughing again, and immediately felt bad for letting himself get distracted.
From his symptoms, it should just be a bad cold, the flu at worst, but Will had a bad feeling. Something didn't feel right. Demigods rarely got sick. Did they get injured? Sure, on the brink of death? Every day, but they never got sick. He didn't want to worry the boy though without any real reason to suspect it as something worse.
"Hopefully it's just the flu, but I think you should stay in the infirmary tonight to be sure. I'll give you something to help with the symptoms," Will decided.
"Thanks, Mr Will," he said with weak smile.
"Anytime. Oh, that reminds me," he thought suddenly. How could he forget to ask. "What's your name, buddy?" The boy looked at him, eyes dazed, and Will had to get his attention again before he answered. "Johnny."
Will gave him a comforting smile. "Well, Johnny, it's nice to meet you. Get some rest, now. I'm sure you'll feel better soon," Will said softly, as the boy was already falling asleep.
He turned away before grimacing, his head filled with only one thought.
You're lying.