Chapter 5: I've Got a Date With Destiny and It Ain't Gonna End With a Kiss

Books and movies usually underestimate how easy it is to become desensitized to weirdness.

Sure, things are crazy at first. But once you reach a certain point of weirdness, absolutely nothing is truly surprising for the rest of your life. Aura had very much reached that point.

Never knowing who her father was was weird. Having confusing prophetic dreams from a young age was weird. Her mom dying in a car crash when she was 12 was weird. One of her foster parents (who turned out to be a dracaenae) attacking her with a kitchen knife was weird. Being told by an exhausted satyr that she was a demigod and she would be safe in a camp in Long Island (why Long Island? Aura lived in Seattle, she didn't want to go to Long Island), then going on a month-long trek across the entire country, hunted by countless monsters, was weird. Getting angry at a myrmeke and shooting a column of sunlight out of her hand was weird. Fighting a war against an ancient Greek Titan was weird. Fighting a war against the mother of Earth was weird.

Not to mention the whole Avengers business. An army of aliens descending from the sky and being fought off by a man in an iron suit, Captain America (who was alive?), a man who can turn into a green giant, an alien who was behind the Norse myth of Thor, and two SHIELD agents was weird.

At least, to most people it probably was. Aura had just stared at the news for a few seconds, said, "Well, fuck me," and went back to her book.

So when she got back home from her barista job to find Tony Stark sitting on her couch, all she did was start walking to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.

Amber was on the other couch, laying on her back and scrolling on her phone. She had her resting bitch face on. Fortunately for Tony Stark, it was her "I Don't Know Where You Got The Audacity" resting bitch face and not her "I Am Extremely Inconvenienced By The Fact That Murder Is Technically Ilegal" resting bitch face.

"Aura Davis, we need to talk," Tony said, standing up and following her to the kitchen.

Aura didn't break her stride. She didn't say anything while she filled the electric kettle with warm water, got a mug and Earl Grey tea bag from the cabinet, waited for the water to heat up, and poured it in the mug.

She held the mug in her hands and turned to face Tony, who was leaning against the counter with a mildly amused expression on his face.

Aura raised her eyebrows at him and went to sit next to Amber on the couch.

"Sorry about this," Amber turned off her phone and moved into a sitting position, crossing her legs. "He got here like five minutes ago and, well, I thought you might want to hear what he has to say."

Aura was much more interested now. The fact that Amber hadn't charmspeaked him away yet meant that whatever he was here about might be interesting.

"So, why are you here?" She asked Tony as he settled on the other couch, eyeing the girls like he was just as disappointed in his current life situation as they were.

"SHIELD is interested in your connections to Daredevil."

Aura sighed. "And they sent you because… we're sixteen, and we're supposed to think you're cool and whatnot and be willing to listen to you?"

Tony looked pulled an exaggerated offended look. "Yes, obviously. And I am very cool."

Aura took a drink of tea, unimpressed.

"So, why were you helping Daredevil rescue a kid? Do you have powers or something, or am I supposed to believe that you were just enjoying a night out?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

Aura liked him in the way that she liked most of the demigods she'd met. She appreciated (and matched) their unique personalities and carefree energy, but the interaction was always on the verge of escalating. There was a pretty much equal chance that it would end in a heist or a fight.

"We were just enjoying a night out," Amber said. Her bright lipgloss and perfect eyeliner wings somehow didn't tone down her flat stare.

Tony was not having it. "That's funny, because I have video footage of you helping Daredevil take Samuel Ferreira to his house."

"We don't know anything about Daredevil," Aura said.

"Then what were you doing helping him? And why did you have swords?"

Amber and Aura looked at each other. Mortals were very much not supposed to be able to see Celestial Bronze weaponry, especially not imposing government agencies.

Aura wanted to test an idea. She set her tea down on the floor and rolled up her flannel sleeves to her elbows, trying to pass it off as casual. Tony's eyes were immediately drawn to her forearms.

"Whoa. What the hell? You're like, sixteen. Who did that to you?" Tony asked.

Aura had lots of scars on her arms, even more than many other demigods due to one of her fighting tactics of distracting her opponents by letting them gain a decent hit and immediately taking them by surprise, and because she used her arms as shields and levers to get in her opponent's face.

Amber started cursing under her breath in Ancient Greek. Aura just picked up her mug from the floor and took a big drink, trying not to consider the upsetting reality that for whatever reason a well-connected billionaire that works with SHIELD could see through the Mist.

"Why can you see those?" Amber demanded.

"Wai- What? Why wouldn't I be able to?" Tony looked immensely interested, like a kid who had thought he might get a lollipop or two but had just stumbled into a candy store.

"Leave this building. You won't remember anything from the past ten minutes," Amber said, lacing her voice with charmspeak.

Tony's face went blank and he robotically walked out the door, shutting it behind him.

"Metrokoites," Aura muttered into her tea. This whole thing was going to be a big problem, she could tell.

"Koprophagos," Amber seconded.

Aura pulled out her phone and updated the Apollo cabin on the situation. The whole camp would have to hear about this, but it would probably be better if they learned it through Will, whose slight Southern accent made anything he said somewhat more bearable and whose general demeanor was too nice to yell at.

Amber, who had planned on leaving around then anyway, departed. Aura was sad to see her go, but she was glad that Amber wouldn't deal with the fallout of something that was her fault.

In the meantime, she may as well put SHIELD's interest in her to good use. Or, at least, not let it stand in her way.

Samuel was kidnapped for a reason. Those kidnappers had to be getting funds from somewhere.

Cue the epic background music.

Aura had a gang to hunt down.