Disclaimer: If I owned any of this my life would be a much higher level of amazing than it currently is. Unfortunately for everyone involved in this particular situation, my life is pretty decidedly average. Also I'm not rich. I'm pretty sure everyone who has any connection to actually owning Percy Jackson or the Avengers are very very rich. This is all a really long way of saying that I own nothing. I'm just borrowing with no intention what so ever of making any money. Don't sue me please. Seriously it would only be a waste of your own time. I have nothing worth being sued over.
Steve's birthday is the forth of July because of course it is. He's Captain America. If the day of his birth wasn't the single most patriotic American day possible the whole universe would have rejected the very notion of such a thing.
Cassie isn't really sure what to do about it. She's never celebrated a birthday with a boyfriend before, or any other gift requiring holiday for that matter. All she has to work off of is the theory at play which in itself isn't all that complicated. On the anniversary of your significant other's birth you procure for them an item to which you can both apply a significant level of emotional value and present it to them in some kind of nice way. Possibly involving colorful paper and shiny ribbons.
The problem Cassie faces is that she isn't exactly sure what that object should be. It's hard to tell what kind of present to get for the guy who in some ways is turning twenty-nine and in some ways is turning ninety-six. It's not like he needs extra socks or an iTunes gift card.
Well, Cassie may have ADHD but unlike some demigods (looking directly at you Perseus Jackson) she is a big believer in occasionally sitting back and waiting for brilliance to strike. It's true she's working on a deadline, but she does have some time, and sometimes the universe acts before she can. It's her belief that if luck exists, it is largely due to people's belief in it.
Her brain wave occurs during the last weekend in June. She and Steve are actually enjoying a quiet day off, the kind Cassie never imagined she would ever live to have. This is the kind of weekend where Steve makes pancakes, she makes two cups of coffee the way they each like it, and the two of them bicker gently over the degree to which bacon should be cooked. Cassie believes the crunchier the better while Steve prefers the meat to be a little more floppy. It's the kind of morning where things are warm, and sunny, and calm.
Cassie frowns down at a crossword puzzle from the New York Times, trying to fit the numbers together. Math has always reminded her a bit of musical notes therefore it isn't as difficult for her as it could be. At least, it's no more difficult than reading or any of the work she does at her daily job. Steve sits on the couch next to her with her feet in his lap. His drawing pad is propped up against her legs and as Cassie finishes her puzzle and sets it aside she notes that he's sketching rather intently.
Moving careful so that she doesn't jostle him, Cassie sits up and shifts so that she can look over his shoulder at what he's drawing. It's a detailed view of the skyline out of their living room window and for something he's only been working on for an hour using a normal Number Two pencil it's an impressive piece. It includes a high level of detail and Cassie thinks that she's glad that this is something that Steve has always had, even before he took the super soldier serum.
"This is amazing," she tells him truthfully. She touches the corner of the paper with the tips of her fingers. She smiles at him and he returns the gesture.
"It's something I always try to make time for," Steve says. "I lost track of it for a while after getting out of the ice. Now I've been working on getting it back. Before D.C I was thinking about getting more supplies."
Cassie regards him with her head canted slightly to the side. "So why haven't you?" She's well aware that there are times for subtlety, this just doesn't seem like one of them. She's asking her boyfriend a question. Nothing about that needs to be any more complicated than the simplicity of every day life.
It's nice that Steve answers the question the same way. He gives a little shrug and adds a few more pencil marks to his paper which create a new range of details in one of the buildings Cassie can look out and see through the glass five feet away from her. "I guess I just haven't thought about it enough," he says. "I'll figure out a time to buy art supplies later when the world won't implode."
He goes back to his drawing and Cassie settles back on to the couch, a birthday plan brewing in her mind. Soon she knows what to get Steve, nice art supplies seem like the way to go. However, Cassie isn't exactly sure what constitutes "nice art supplies". She's decent with music, fine arts aren't something she really knows how to judge.
In theory, Cassie supposes she could just search the internet for an art supply store near by and buy whatever is most expensive. In practice, that strategy is potentially a waste of money given she doesn't know what she should buy. Besides, it seems a little bit too impersonal to just go with the most expensive option.
With all of that in mind, Cassie calls the one person she knows in Manhattan who knows anything about art supplies. A phone call after she decides what to do, Cassie has a day of lunch and shopping planned with none other than Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Of course, this help comes with a price, and that price is revealing that she has a boyfriend which is a topic she's been avoiding with any and all of her demigod friends. It's not that she doesn't want them involved in her life, but she's also completely aware of what will happen the minute they find out she's dating someone.
Before they figure out who it is she's dating several things will happen. Nico and Frank will both offer to spy using their various abilities. Frank might turn in to a literal fly on the wall and Nico could do anything from Shadow Travel in to personal moments to summoning a skeleton army for intimidation purposes. Piper and Annabeth will go in to hyper research mode while Hazel frowns in concern, and Percy and Jason will begin plotting some form of inclement weather based recrimination. Calypso will ask for details and Leo will probably make an inappropriate joke.
By the time Cassie explains that she's dating Steve Rogers, Captain America and an epic Avenger the situation will shift. The group will divide in to strategic and combat teams. The inappropriate joke counter will go through the roof. Hazel and Nico will probably start pulling up Steve Rogers news footage from when they were kids and Percy and Jason's inclement weather situation will probably turn in to some form of category four hurricane. All of that considered, she's been putting off this moment for a while.
Still, by the time she's meeting Rachel for their pre-arranged caffeine fix she's figured out that the best way to deliver the news is by employing the band aid method and just get through it quickly. It's all about timing, and Cassie employs whatever strategic skill she has to pick the right opening. When Rachel stops the verbal tirade she's using to fill Cassie in on what's been going on at Camp over the summer to take a drink Cassie picks her moment.
"So... I'm dating Captain America," she says as casually as she can. There it was. Bandaid gone. Of course, if she had her way Cassie would just say she's dating a guy named Steve Rogers and leave it at that, but that's not the world they live in. Going by the fact that Rachel doesn't actually spit her coffee back out Cassie thinks maybe she hasn't done that badly the casual.
"You're dating who now?!" she sputters.
Cassie decides to move past the stutter and hope that the duration of the conversation will normalize the reaction some. Knowing what she knows about Rachel, it doesn't seem that far out of the realm of possibility. "Captain America," she repeats calmly. "Steve. We've been dating for a while now. We live together and it's his birthday on the fourth so I want to get him a present. Do you feel like helping?"
A furrow slices itself between Rachel's eyes as she frowns at her. "Oh my gods!" she says. "You're dating an Avenger. Like, an actual real life Avenger. And wait hold on you live with him?! When in the name of Tartarus did that happen?" Cassie doesn't try to speak before the verbal tirade is over. None of the question's Rachel's asked so far are actually ones Cassie's expecting to have to answer. A few run-on sentences later Rachel pauses to recalibrate. "Did you say that Captain America's birthday is the fourth of July?"
Cassie cracks a grin and nods. "Yeah."She can tell that Rachel's mental wheels are already spinning towards the same initial train of thought she had had. There really was something to be said for having the same friends for eight years. You all started thinking the same way.
Rachel's eyebrows shoot up toward her hairline. "Figures," she mutters. A million thoughts seem to be running through her head and Cassie decides to just wait until they finish processing. Annabeth thinks like lightning strikes, illuminating the surroundings and lighting the ground on fire if it's dry. On the other hand, Rachel thinks like a tornado wind storm. At the end of it everything settles back down more or less the way it used to be.
While she waits Cassie sips her coffee and picks at the blueberry muffin she ordered when they first went in to the coffee shop. "Well..." she says finally. "Okay I guess. You're happy?"
This time the question actually does demand an answer and Cassie gives it without hesitation. "Yes," she says. "Very. I think- I think we're good of each other."
Rachel seems to assess her words for a moment and then gives a decisive nod. "Okay then. So," she sits forwards. "You said something about getting him a birthday present? What do you need my help for? Wouldn't Annabeth or Piper be more helpful? It's not like I've dated anyone for a while. Oracle and all."
"Not for this kind of shopping," Cassie says with a shake of her head. "Steve likes art," she offers in explanation. "I thought I'd get him supplies for it, nice ones. I just don't know what actually constitutes nice art supplies. I didn't really want to just rely on the internet and I figured you'd know."
Rachel adjusts to that piece of information faster than she did to the first part. She nods and slugs back the rest of her coffee like a champ. "Right," she stands. "Let's go. We have a living national icon to find a birthday present for."
Armed thusly with Rachel's knowledge of art and art supplies and Cassie's knowledge of Steve and a full wallet they spend the next several hours going in and out of different high end artist supply stores. To Cassie it feels like they get to every one of the damn things in the five boroughs but in this Rachel is apparently inexhaustible. Her sore feet prove worth it though. When Rachel and she part ways at the subway platform closest to the Tower, Cassie is heavily ladened with sets of pastels and fine grade drawing charcoal and trying to work out if she needs to recruit help from Pepper or Bruce to get them in to the house without Steve noticing.
Eventually it turns out that she shouldn't have worried. A quick phone call on her walk to the Tower tells her that Steve's in an administrative meeting for the duration of the afternoon. This clears her way and she gets all of the presents wrapped and hidden before he gets back. In the end the whole trip costs her four paper cuts and an amount of money she'd rather not think about. The fact that she has this kind of money to spend in the first place is still something she's struggling to get used to. Maybe in a couple years she'll get there.
Tony throws a party for Steve's birthday and of course they go. For a Stark thrown party, it's actually not that huge which Cassie is grateful for, but she knows that it's still bigger than Steve would choose personally. For her own part, huge drunken parties were never her cup of tea and probably wouldn't have been even if she had a better history with big crowds.
However, the chocolate cake commissioned for the event is absolutely amazing and the view of the city's fireworks display from the rooftop patio is breathtaking. To keep Steve occupied and not thinking about the crowds she tells him stories of the kinds of animated sparkler scenes Cabin Nine coordinates every year. At some point over the course of the evening, Cassie realizes that this is the first time she won't see those fireworks since she turned eight years old. Some of the other members of the Seven poke and prod and ask about why she isn't coming this year, but she puts them off with a version of the truth, that she's celebrating with her boyfriend or once, and Rachel has sworn to run interference for a little while.
What she doesn't think about until it's far too late for her to do anything about is the fact that Stark has invited everyone Steve has ever called a friend who is still alive today. Granted, that list is pretty short due to the fact that Steve effectually dropped out of time for seventy years. Earlier on in the party this is fine because the living people that Steve considers to actually be his friends are all in the know about the fact that they're dating. The problem is really that Stark has more friends than Steve and Pepper has political/corporate instincts and between those two things the guest list of important people in attendance who don't know that Steve has a girlfriend, much less that that girlfriend is her, is somewhat shockingly large.
Those people look at them a lot and talk to each other in quiet voices that they probably think Cassie and Steve can't hear. Steve doesn't address them, he just holds her hand loosely between them as they wander the party mingling with the people they're supposed to mingle with, sometimes breaking away from each other for a while before finding each other again. For her part, Cassie talks mostly to several former SHIELD doctors and Bruce.
When the talk becomes exhausting she politely excuses herself and pops up on her toes and tries to find someone who can provide some kind of reprieve. Steve is stuck in conversation with several serious bureaucratic types with what she knows is a false smile of politeness rather than actual joy at the conversation. Stark and Pepper as the two with the most social obligations are both thronged with crowds of important people vying for their attention so Cassie gives both of them a wide birth.
Eventually she spots Clint Barton perched on a railing, heedless of the sheer drop behind him. He meets her eye and must read something of her mounting discomfort in her face because he flicks his gaze deliberately towards a more secluded corner of the patio about ten feet from where he perches. Cassie takes the hint and makes her way in that direction. When she's a few steps away she catches sight of Natasha's bright red hair and sees the assassin reclining comfortably on a padded deck lounger beside an empty fire pit. A woman Cassie now recognizes as Maria Hill is similarly seated by her side.
Relieved at their apparent silence and the sight of the vodka bottle in Natasha's hand Cassie flops down on a third lounger and kicks off the heels she's been wearing all night so far to give her feet a break. "Hey," she greets, going no further than that.
"Done with the milling crowds?" Natasha asks archly.
Cassie is completely willing to put up with any potential prodding owing to the fact that the woman has produced a new class and has poured her a drink. Alcohol doesn't really do much more for Cassie than mortal drugs do as a general rule, but if it's good enough the burn can be pleasant. Besides, if her experience with Norse heroes has taught her anything it's that alcohol is a bonding experience. "Surveyed zoo animal isn't a good look on me," she says lightly.
Maria nods and hold up her glass, "Amen to that." Natasha inclines her head as well and all three of them drink. This vodka is definitely good. It warms her throat and stomach and barely tastes like anything at all. She sticks with small sips as the evening progresses. Natasha stays with her but Maria is pulled away eventually to deal with some former agents. Barton joins them later and perches on the back of Natasha's chair. Natasha hands him her own glass without further reaction and the two of them share seamlessly.
By eleven thirty most of the crowd has thinned out and by eleven forty-five the only people left are the core Avengers on the planet currently and Maria Hill. Bruce quietly sits, sipping at a glass of iced seltzer water and Cassie wonders if avoiding alcohol is about keeping the Hulk under control. Stark and Pepper arrive, Pepper's shoes are off of her feet and in Tony's arms and Pepper is trickily balancing several extra plates of cake.
Steve himself appears over her shoulder and bends over her to kiss her by way of greeting. Cassie embraces the kiss happily and puts her hands on the arms of the chair to push herself up and in to him. The angle is awkward and after a few moments her neck begins to hurt but Steve doesn't seem to be done kissing her yet and since it is his birthday Cassie decides to screw everything and take the neck cramp.
After a few incalculable moments Steve leans back up again. "Hi," he says, ignoring the whistling Tony has begun.
Cassie follows his lead. "Hey. Sorry I didn't come rescue you back there. Planning the level of extraction necessary seemed like it might get complicated."
He cracks a smile and shifts ,coming around the edge of the chair so that he's beside her. "I get what you mean. I never thought I'd hope for an international crisis but another ten minutes with a slimy politician and I might have called in a terror threat myself just to get out of the room."
"Next time we'll work out signals," Sam offers as Cassie finds herself scooped up out of the chair and shifted in to Steve's lap as he takes the space she had just been occupying. "Next time we're stuck at a party just drop a code phrase. Say 'Marvin Gaye' and I'll pay off a cater waiter to run in screaming."
Bruce frowns. "What if he actually wants someone to play some Marvin Gaye?" he asks. "We wouldn't want to make everyone panic for no good reason. Like the alleviation of boredom for example."
"Jarvis is voice activated," Tony points out, kicking his feet up as Pepper distributes the cake. "If you ask someone to play any type of music any where in the house he'll put it on for you."
Barton shifts behind Natasha. "So you're saying we could have boredom alleviating manufactured mass panic set to our choice of background music."
This sparks a debate between the others on the merits of fighting to music and Cassie feels a knot of tension she hadn't realized she was carrying ease from her insides as she relaxes. It's a sudden though pleasant realization that she's among friends, people she has grown to trust. The last time she made a new friend was nearly five years ago and it's nice to know that she still can.
"I think there's research on this kind of stuff," Cassie contributes thoughtfully, searching her mind for the details of the study. "Fighting to a tempo. I think the original research team used boxers for the study. They had different groups of athletes spar both with and without music and the people who fought to a provided rhythm definitely did better than the people who didn't. It helps coordinate your movements for you. Plus it gives you an added endorphin surge which increases energy levels."
Natasha tips her head thoughtfully. "What if the other person fighting was listening to a different song?" she asks. "Then two fighters would be trying to fight each other while moving to separate rhythms."
Cassie shrugs in response. "I didn't dig in to the study that far," she says. "I can try to find it for you if you want."
The other woman opens her mouth to respond, but is interrupted in a fashion which even Cassie as the daughter of Apollo, god of theatre and by extension theatrical entrances, has to admit is fairly mind-blowing. An extended stream of multi-colored light beams from some unknown point in the heavens and focuses itself on a cleared space on the patio. The rainbow bridge of light is also accompanied with a fairly terrific sound effect involving shattering loud musical chords.
If Cassie knew less about gods and magic, she'd be happy to sit back, enjoy the light show, and wait with curiosity to see what happens next. Knowing what she knows, the bottom drops out of Cassie's stomach and she gets the feeling that whatever is about to happen next is going to cause a stress headache the likes of which were rarely ever seen in human history. The fact that a form appears out of the multi-colored light stream and that that form resolves in to a visage she recognizes as belonging to the Norse god Thor, confirms that idea.
"Greetings my friends!" the god calls with a jaunty wave. His voice booms out across the open space of the roof and the part of Cassie's mind that is forever tuned to analyze sound waves is thoroughly impressed with the pitch and tenor. He strides towards the rest of their group, a red cape billowing out behind him. Cassie supposes Asgaurdians have different standards of average dress. They also apparently didn't have the same habit her godly family members had of magicking themselves in to normal mortal clothes because Thor makes no move to change.
The part of Cassie that isn't rapidly sliding towards what could potentially turn in to panic analyzes the god with a carefully critical interest. The gods she interacts with come from a different culture so the exposure is somewhat fascinating. She wonders if this is a particular aspect of Thor. Cassie's heard Annabeth's cousin Magnus describe this particular god and what he described is nothing like the being walking towards her. Maybe this more public version of the god preferred to look a little more mass media friendly? If everything didn't go to tartarus in a hand basket after the next five minutes of her life ended she'd ask him.
Steve seems to be starting to process that this situation has the potential to go wrong because he shifts and Cassie climbs off of him so that he can get up and make an attempt at running interference. He doesn't really think it's going to work for very long, but she's willing to accept anything that might buy her some time to figure out how to handle this. Theoretically it might have been a good idea to have made a plan for this situation advance, but this moment seems a little late for 'theoretically'.
"Steve!" Thor greets, pulling him in to the one armed hug all guys mortal or not seemed to do universally. The amount of pounds per square inch involved on both sides of that hug is probably high enough to buckle a sturdily constructed wall. "Happy Birthday! My lady Jane has informed me that here on Midgard you share our Asgardian custom of bringing gifts on such occasions as these. I hope you will enjoy this flagon of mead. It is made by the brewers of my people and is suited only for the finest warriors!"
"Thank you," Steve responds and the two both begin to join the rest of the group. As Thor turns his face changes from pure joy to something resembling perplexed confusion. Cassie waits for the hammer to fall.
No pun intended.
Gods she's making unintentional puns.
She really is screwed.
Also, Cassie would really like for someone to acknowledge that her and Steve's ingeniously simple plan of not mentioning her demigod status to anyone until they can control the circumstances has lasted at least a solid two month. The longevity of demigod planning works on a scale resembling dog years! Two month was practically an eternity. Two months may literally be the longest that any long-range demigod plan had ever lasted for.
Someone would really check the demigod record book. Did demigods keep a demigod record? Maybe Chiron or the Praetors Office at Camp Jupiter had one. Cassie resolves to check next time she goes to either camp.
Thor's brow has furrowed as he gazes around the rooftop and at the skyline as though he thinks some kind of mystical force may emerge from the inky depths of the night. Which actually Cassie can't judge because she makes the same kinds of checks everywhere she goes. A mythical monster emerging out of thin air would be pretty damned normal. Exhibition A: Thor's recent entrance.
"I can sense a presence," Thor states, voice low and concerned. "A great and unfamiliar force is here tonight. One I have not felt in recent times."
Everyone else in the group is beginning to look confused. Natasha, Maria, and Barton have all managed to produce weapons from somewhere. If Cassie hadn't known better she would say that there was definitely some magic involved in the process. Steve glances back at her and Cassie bites her lip and then nods. The metaphorical gun is right there, she may as well bight the metaphorical bullet. Steve takes her cue and reaches out, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. "Thor. This is my girlfriend Cassie Morgenstern."
Thor still looks confused for a moment but then his eyes land and focus on hers. Sudden understanding seems to dawn on him as some gears click in to place in his mind. Cassie wonders if she's about to be struck by some incredibly high voltage lightning.
Then something nearly as bad happens.
"Of course!" he exclaims, seemingly over joyed at her presence. Then Thor drops to his knees before her and takes her hand, pressing a courtly kiss against the knuckles of the hand that Steve isn't holding. He's behaving as though she's some kind of respectable fairytale royalty. "Greetings fairest Daughter of the Morning Star! Tales of your great deeds have spread amongst the Nine Realms." He sweeps back up to his feet and Cassie is finally coming around to the conclusion that she is not actually about to be struck with a mystical bolt of lightning. "How bears your father? Or your grandfather? We on Asgard glean so little news of the goings on on Mount Olympus and Rome. You must tell me all!"
Cassie inclines her head politely in the nearest approximation of a respectful bow that she's willing to produce at this moment. She's trying hard to control the flush running through her cheeks but she's not sure how successful she's being. At the moment, she's also splitting her focus between the now beaming god in front of her and the suspicious looks she's getting from the group behind her. None of he weapons have been put away yet and at that moment Cassie is highly conscious of the fact that normal human weaponry will hurt just as much as a mystical lightning bolt.
"It is an honor to meet you Lord Thor," she says formally. "My friends Magnus, Alex, Sam, and Margery speak highly of your capabilities and legendary feats." She bights down on her lower lip, considering her next words and then figures she might as well forge on ahead. "And I'm happy to have met more of Steve's friends."
At her words Steve shifts so that he's standing more at her back directly between her and the others who are by now drilling holes in the back of her head with their eyes. He drops a kiss agains the crown of her head. This apparent reminder of their coupletude id anything makes Thor grin even more widely. He claps Steve on the shoulder with a level of force that would probably break the collarbone of a normal human. Cassie receives a similar clap and is glad that her bones are sturdier than the average. She also gives mental props to the Norse god for a slightly lower than expected level of cultural sexism. "Congratulations to you both! You are both mighty warriors and I believe you will suite nicely."
This is all well and fine.
What's not so well and fine? The rather blunt and simplistic exclamation from Tony Stark. "What the ever loving fuck is going on right now?!"
Needless to say, the ensuing conversation is going to be highly uncomfortable. An expected pinching sensation begins to crawl up the back of her neck and settles over her temples. She takes a deep breath and steels herself as Steve gives her a reassuring squeeze. Then she very slowly turns. "Okay," she says, forcing herself to remain calm. "I know you have questions, but trust me when I tell you, this is a really, really long story."
That said, Cassie goes with the shortest possible version of the story she can come up with. She's what happens when someone like Thor has a kid with a normal mortal person. She doesn't go in to the multi-generational issues at play with her particular situation. That's a complex explanation to handle another time if and when it comes up. Personally, Cassie is willing to simply hope fervently that it never does. She also leaves out the fact that there are more people like her out there in the world. That's still not her secret to tell.
Even with this super condensed version, the number of questions she's left to answer (not to mention the rude comments from Stark and a few exclamations of shock and disbelief from the assembled crowd) take up several hours. By the time she's done, a look over the edge of the balcony using her extended sight tells her that it's late enough that even in Manhattan, most people have given in and gone to sleep. The yawn that interrupts the current debate going on about how moral or not it was of her not to mention being a demigod is wide enough to crack her jaw and Steve looks at her in concern.
Cassie just blinks up at him tiredly and shrugs. Apparently that's enough for Steve to call an intervention because he steps forwards to be a little ways in front of her and says "Alright enough," he doesn't shout exactly but his words still carry and echo enough to completely break up the conversation. "She's explained," he states, looking around at each of them in turn as though daring any of them to argue back. "We're done here." Then he takes her hand and begins to tow her towards the doorway to the rooftop. No one tries to stop them leaving but Steve still turns before they vanish and thanks Pepper and Tony for his birthday party.
Because Steve is Steve.
She gives him his birthday present curled up together on the couch in their living room. The grin that spreads across his face when he unwraps the art supplies is worth every minute she spent feeling confused during her trip with Rachel. Steve reaches out for her and pulls her in to him. Cassie hums Happy Birthday to him between her kisses and the two of them don't talk about the major bomb shell they just dropped on hid friends. The others will either get used to it, or they won't. Cassie's done her part, and this is Steve's birthday. As far as Cassie is concerned he can do what he wants with it.
When they wake up the next morning they keep to their normal routine as much as possible. Steve goes off for briefings and training and Cassie goes to her office to sort through more paperwork. In another week or two she might actually be ready to start seeing patients.
Really everything is pretty damn normal until Tony Stark decides that she's his new texting buddy. No matter what else the man is, he is relentless when it comes down to questions. Sometimes Cassie answers and sometimes she doesn't depending on the level of ridiculousness involved in the question's content.
Can you see sound? Can you hear color? Does your brain have it's own music system? Do you always know what song is playing? Is it like built in Shazam? Can you fly like Thor does? Do you have a suite? No, forget it, I'm making you one anyway. What do you want your new suite to look like? Are you solar powered? What happens to you during a solar eclipse? If you got dropped on the sun would you die? How hard can you punch?
Against her better judgement, this last question peaks her interest enough for her to type out a response. Why do you ask? Are you worried I'm going to punch you for something? This is the short and no details provided version of how she ends up spending the rest of her afternoon in one of Tony's more robust Research and Development labs punching large, solid, heavy, objects rigged with pressure plates to see exactly how hard she can punch. If she's being honest, it's actually pretty cathartic and not a little bit fun.
Upside to outing yourself to your new friends as being non-human: It frees you up to use the specially modified and extra reinforced gym equipment.
The afternoon also gives her the opportunity to impress on Tony that she absolutely does not want her abilities to go public. She thinks he probably gets the message, but to be on the safe side she tells the same thing to Pepper and Maria Hill. Between the two women they coordinate all of the P.R for the Avengers and they both agree to keep her full abilities under lock and key. Pepper understands privacy. Maria understands secrets.
Life goes on as normal- well normalish is probably a more appropriate phrase. "Normal" probably doesn't exist when you live in an apartment building with multiple super spy assassins, Ironman, The Hulk, and Captain America. Given her personal history, Cassie is willing to settle for a close approximation. Basically, she's getting adjusted to a new version of normal as a general category.
She gets the office up and running and actually has a few patients. Once she takes a day off to get a kid down to camp. It's definitely a shorter trip than the one from Washington D.C and Cassie is glad that she can help this way. No one at camp asks anything about Steve, the Avengers, or her job so she gathers that Rachel must be doing a good job with keeping her knowledge under lock and key. Cassie makes a mental note to figure out a good way to thank her.
Cassie also manages to meet Sally Jackson for coffee one morning and the two of them have a good long meandering talk about everything that's been going on lately. Ever since Percy introduced his friends to his mom, Sally has been the universal mother figure for most of them and it's a role the older woman takes on like a duck taking to water. It's something that Cassie is immeasurably grateful to have in her life. Talking to friends is one thing, talking to a mom is another.
The whole time Steve is still searching for Bucky. He hasn't asked for her help with the actual searching yet, but Cassie's been brainstorming options for magical location to have ready when and if he does. What Steve does bounce off of her is possible strategies for telling Tony that the Winter Soldier killed his parents. Frankly, Cassie's almost shocked he hasn't found the material from the SHIELD data dump yet. Cassie actually wonders if it's possible that Tony knows more than he's saying and doesn't want to face it yet. She supposes the only way they'll ever have an answer to that question is if they can actually manage to find Bucky and get him back.
However Steve might want to go about that.
In the end though, it isn't Cassie or Steve who finds Bucky, and the person who does eventually find him doesn't do it with files or technology. Instead, Cassie gets a phone call in the middle of the day from Rachel. She's with a patient when it happens so really she shouldn't have, or rather wouldn't have, picked up under normal circumstances. Unfortunately for the newly established status quo of her life, this time her phone is ringing with the "extra super urgent things are going on so you'd better pick up right the fuck now" ringtone.
So yeah, Cassie picks up. She also ends her meeting, clears the office, and locks the door. "What's wrong?" she asks immediately. In her mind she's running through anything between eight and twelve separate scenarios for what could be going on and what she might have to do to fix it. "Where are you? Where do I need to be? What are we dealing with? On a scale of Hydra to Gaea what kind of screwed are we talking about?"
"Cassie calm down," Rachel's voice says over the line. "Gods you're talking like me. Take a deep breath, no one is dying. And we are not screwed. You and your boyfriend on the other hand..."
Cassie groans. In a lot of ways she really, really doesn't want to ask, but in even more ways she seriously has to. Forewarned being forearmed and all. "Okay I'll ask; why exactly are Steve and I screwed? I assume it's to a higher level than normal."
"Right well you know how I sometimes get sleep mugged by random bits of the past or the future thanks to the oracle spirit I'm hosting thereby making me occasionally all knowing?"
Telling herself to be patient Cassie takes a deep breath. If she rolls her eyes a little too, well that's nobody's business but hers right? It's not like Rachel can see it. Plus the two girls have known each other for long enough by now that they have gained sarcasm and eye rolling privileges. "Yeah I think I'm pretty familiar with the Oracle future telling description," she responds. "In fact I'm pretty sure my dad wrote it." At that she pauses in consideration, "Although the fact that it doesn't involve any kind of poorly constructed poetry it's possible someone else did."
Rachel completely ignores her comment without making one of her own and that more than almost anything else (including the emergency ringtone) tips Cassie off to how serious this is. "Well last night I was completely sleep assaulted by 1940s memorize. And by 1940s I mean full on World War II, Foyle's War, Rosy the Riveter memories. All of which just happened to star your boyfriend and one James Buchanan Barnes. Who I have to say was a pleasant surprise. I mean hello Winter Soldier! With the hair, and the eyes, and the cheekbones."
To interrupt what Cassie is sure could turn in to a rather long listing of attributes she holds her phone an inch or so away from herself and whistles shrilly in to the speaker. Maybe it isn't kind, gentle, or subtle, but it's the most direct route available and given the emergency label on this conversation Cassie is currently all for expedience. "Yes fine I've seen pictures I understand that back before he spent seventy years being tortured and forced to assassinate important people by evil nazis Bucky was aesthetically pretty hot. Why exactly does you seeing pre-ice memorize of my boyfriend being bros with his best friend mean that me and Steve are screwed?"
'Well at first I thought it didn't!" Rachel explains impatiently. "I thought I was just having weird ass vivid dreams for the sake of background information. I have those sometimes. My gods you would not believe how adorable Frank was as a kid. Anyway, I figured it was just because you and me had been talking about Steve and after we went shopping for his birthday stuff I did some research on my own. I thought that was just directing my subconscious or something. But then I woke up and I was just innocently getting coffee at my favorite shop when the Spirit of Delphi decided to mug me to show me some apparently really urgent image of Barnes staring at a subway map of Spanish Harlem."
There is a very long pause as Cassie lets this information settle. It takes a moment longer for the pattern it settles in to start making sense. "Thanks Rachel," Cassie says, hoping the tone in her voice makes it clear that she really means what she's saying. "I owe you a coffee. Tell my dad's oracle to suck it next time you see her." After that they both hang up by some sort of unspoken agreement. It isn't really a spectacular enough ending for the monument sized information drop that's just been delivered, but it's really all either of them can come up with. As previously established, Cassie doesn't really do being world falteringly shocked very well anymore.
She calls Steve. She has to. Finding Bucky is his personal mission and now Cassie knows where he is.
"Hey," Steve says. He sounds nothing but pleased that she's called, like it's a bright spot in his day just to hear her voice. It makes Cassie almost hate that she's about to drop the same bomb in his lap that Rachel just dropped in hers. It feels a bit like playing the game hot potato. If the potato was a hand grenade that would do much more than just burn someones hands.
"I found him," Cassie blurts out. Her words make whatever Steve had been about to say seem to die in his throat. The only sound is the rush of static over the line and a low rush as Steve breaths. "Bucky Steve." She ads it on because there seems to be a pretty decent chance that that sentence could use some clarification. "I found Bucky. Or, I guess Rachel did. It doesn't matter. I know where he is. We can find him." The silence persists as Cassie waits for him to speak. "Steve?" she asks tentatively.
Finally the silence breaks and Cassie can only assume that Steve has finally come to his own resolution over what he wants to do. "Gear up," he says. "I'll meet you downstairs at the basement exit in ten minutes."
Nine minutes and about twenty seconds later Cassie is standing at the exit Steve mentioned. She's dressed in her combat jacket and blue jeans and a pair of sturdy boots. Her bow isn't out yet but Cassie can't keep herself from fiddling with the charm where it hangs around her neck. From the half-checked double take Steve does when he sees how she's dressed, Cassie thinks that it was probably a good decision not to pull out her magical weapon just yet.
"I forgot you hadn't seen this yet," Cassie says.
Steve shifts a shoulder in response. "Will it work against regular weapons?" he asks. "I know you said you use something different."
She considers the material of her armor for a moment. "It should," she says. "A magically protective layer is still a protective layer. It would be different if we were talking about trying to use a few of the weapons I have. The options I have for this trip shouldn't land us with that problem."
That seems to be enough of an explanation because Steve nods. They get in to one of Stark's super efficient town cars and between the two of them they manage to work out exactly how to get to where Rachel saw Bucky. It probably takes too long to drive but given that she's wearing armor and Steve is in a toned down version of his stealth suite they aren't exactly inconspicuous at the moment so public transport is most definitely out of the question. Steve is practically humming with pent up energy and emotion and they don't speak but he takes her hand from across the car and grips tightly when she offers her palm.
After about twenty minutes of highly tense silent driving Cassie signals and Steve pulls the car in to the first available space. The parking fees are probably going to be astronomical astronomical, but Cassie figures they can probably charge it to Stark and move on. Cassie glances around Spanish Harlem as they step out of the car and takes a moment to orient herself. Knowing where everything is now may save her time (or her life) if she has to run or fight later. She dearly hopes for everyone's sake that things won't come down to that, but she wants to be prepared just in case they do.
"We're going to have to canvas on foot from here," she tells Steve, leaning over the top of the car. "Rachel's vision wasn't any more specific than this neighborhood."
Steve nods and Cassie is grateful that he has so far refrained from asking for any more details of the vision or how Rachel's abilities work. The oracle lurking in Rachel may belong to her father, but that doesn't mean Cassie knows much about how the details work. If Rachel's visions are like Cassie's but stronger, then what the other girl gets is long runs of images and the occasional future predicting rhyming verse and non of it is under her control. What she sees is what they get.
"We'll canvas by the block," Steve decides. "Start in the center and work our way out. I'll take the numbers going up from here. You take the numbers going down. We go for twenty minutes and then come back here to regroup and take a new direction. Call out if you see any sign of Barnes."
Personally Cassie is a little surprised that Steve is calling the other man Barnes. She supposes it's probably Steve trying to shift in to mission mode and make this less personal so he can concentrate. He's trying to shift his perspective however he can. In his head right now, Cassie might even be Morgenstern to him. A fellow agent or teammate more than she's his girlfriend.
Points for professional attachment she supposed.
With the plan agreed on Cassie and Steve part ways and begin an improvised grid search of the neighborhood. Manhattan streets got more crooked and less predictable the farther from the center of the city they were so they can hardly work off of a perfect grid. However, this is still about a million times more predictable than some of the places Cassie has tracked people through like for instance, the Labyrinth, or the woods of rural New Jersey.
After about ten minutes of searching on foot Cassie decides to move for a better vantage point. With two leaps she goes from the ground in an ally, to the top of a dumpster, to half way up a mostly rusted out fire escape. It shakes and clangs a little against the side of the building as it takes her weight, but the metal seems to be solid so Cassie begins to climb and as she does she's reminded with painful clarity of doing the same thing to get to a rooftop to shoot off of during the battle of Manhattan. She also figures she really isn't missing much. Cassie is up to date on her tetanus shot and a fall from this height will bruise her at worst.
Once she's on the roof she has a clearer view of the activity on the surrounding streets. She keeps low, moving from rooftop to rooftop and using her enhanced eyesight to scan more distance at once. Every one of her senses seems to expand to take in more detail and Cassie recognizes why. She's hunting now. Apollo is her father but Artemis is her aunt. The gods might not pass on or share genes in the same way that humans did but some straights were still probably bound to stick.
Ten minutes pass. Then fifteen. Cassie is actually about to make her way back to the center of the grid she and Steve are working when she sees it. There's a flash of movement in the street below her that catches her eye. With normalized vision it just looks like a man in a baseball bat moving quickly and trying to avoid attention. A quick zoom of Cassie's vision reveals that the man has a sharp jaw, defined nose, and distinctive cheekbones under a fringe of untidy dark hair.
Cassie feels a lurch in the pit of her stomach as she recognizes him. This is Barnes. This is Steve's best friend Bucky. They've been looking for him for months and now Cassie's found him.
The only question left is, what exactly should she do now?
A/N: So there you have it guys. At long last another chapter. I apologize for the wait but life has been a little bit busier than I was expecting lately. I hope you guys think the wait was worth it! I know that this chapter is more plot based than fluffy but I felt like this was important for moving the story along. I also decided to spill the demigod secret to the rest of the team because no matter what I do with Age of Ultron it involves Thor, and anything involving Thor would mean that he recognizes Cassie for what she is. I couldn't see any possible way around that so I decided to just deal with it now. Anyway, what did you think? Review for me! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox