Chapter 3: Add One Egotistical Doctor and One Egotistical Genius for Complete Chaos

(Percy)

Percy took a taxi to Upstate New York, where he was pretty sure that Steve and the rest of the gang were going. If Percy was right, they would be good and help protect Vision. If he was wrong… well, they'd be in a lot of trouble.

The taxi guy looked a little shook up. Not surprising, since aliens had just attacked the city. Percy payed him extra to get him going.

Five ADHD teenagers stuck in the backseat together for an hour. Needless to say, it wasn't very fun.

Finally they pulled into a deserted parking lot near the Avengers Facility. If they drove right up to it, the taxi driver would never let them out. They'd have to walk the rest of the way.

"You kids know where you're going?" The driver asked them. Annabeth nodded. They all piled out of the car and started walking. The taxi immediately drove away.

"So, apparently there really are aliens." Leo said, by way of a conversation. "Yup." Percy said. Nico twisted his skull ring.

"What do you think that Doctor Strange guy meant by 'destroying all life'?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Well, I'd assume he meant that if Thanos gets all of the stones, he'll kill a lot of people."

"Yeah, but…" Nico stopped talking.

"Nothing we haven't dealt with before." Leo said cheerfully. "I mean, he can't be any worse than Gaea, right?"

Hazel glanced apprehensively at the ground, like she was worried it would spew out Dirt Woman 2.0. "Don't talk about her right now, Leo. It's not good luck." A gold bar popped up behind her, a sign that she was really agitated.

They neared the Avengers Facility. They all stopped walking and looking up apprehensively.

The last time Percy had been here, he'd argued with Jason and he'd gone off to sign the Accords. Man, that was like two years ago. Talk about time warp. Everyone fidgeted, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Finally Annabeth stepped up and pressed the buzzer. It picked up almost instantly. "What?" said the slightly annoyed voice of James Rhodes.

Annabeth leaned close to the monitor. "Rhodey. It's us." There was static. Then the door slid open and the security cameras disengaged.

The demigods walked into the Avengers Facility. Rhodey was waiting for them at the door. "I have an upcoming call from Ross. Stay in the main room. I don't want him to see you. You'll get in even more trouble."

"We're touched by your concern." Leo said. "Man, it feels weird to be back in this place." Rhodey smiled slightly, and then walked over to the kitchen, his mechanical legs creaking.

They gathered in the main room, lounging on couches and perching on stools. Percy watched out the window for a sign of someone, anyone.

He looked up in the distance and saw a shape in the sky. At first he thought it was a bird. Then as it neared them, Percy realized that it was the quinjet. A grin spread up his face.

Steve had arrived.

The youngest Avengers walked out the door of the Avengers Facility to see Wanda, Vision, Sam, Natasha, and Steve Rogers.

Steve smiled when he saw who was waiting for them. "Hey, guys." Percy nodded to him.

"You grew a beard." Steve shrugged. "Felt necessary. Where's everyone else?" Percy's face darkened and he glanced at Hazel.

"Come inside. We have a lot to talk about."

They walked in just as Rhodey was finishing his highly unpleasant conversation with Secretary Ross.

"You have second thoughts?"

"Not anymore." The remaining Avengers walked into the meeting hall. "Mr. Secretary." Steve said.

Ross' holographic image walked up to them. "You've got some nerve. I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now." Natasha said coolly.

"The world's on fire. And you think all is forgiven?" Ross shot right back. Steve got right in Ross' holographic face.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So, we're here to fight. And if you stand in our way, we'll fight you too."

Ross looked at Rhodes. "Arrest them."

"All over it." Rhodey replied, and swiped a hand through the hologram to cut the connection. "That's a court-martial. It's great to see you, Cap." Rhodes and Steve hugged. Black Widow stepped forward to get her own embrace.

"Well. You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years." Rhodey commented.

"Well, the hotels weren't exactly five star." Sam said. Leo shrugged.

"Well, it hasn't been too bad for us. Just finished up high school. It's a flipping miracle." Hazel elbowed him gently.

Sam looked at Leo as if just realizing he was there.

"Well, I think you look great." Bruce walked in, grinning nervously. Everyone turned to look at him. "Um… yeah, I'm back."

Natasha smiled slightly. "Hi, Bruce."

"Nat."

Sam leaned over and whispered in Percy's ear. "This is awkward." Percy snorted.

"So, we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey said after they'd summed up the Thanos situation.

"Unfortunately, yes." Annabeth confirmed.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda said heavily.

"We need all hands on deck." Bruce said. "We're Clint?" Natasha stepped up.

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?" Bruce asked. "Ant-Man." Steve replied.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Rhodey shrugged. "Okay, look, Thanos has the biggest army in the universe." Bruce continued. "And he's not gonna stop until he… he gets… Vision's stone." Bruce trailed off as he glanced at Vision.

"Well, then, we have to protect it." Natasha said. "That's what I said!" Leo protested.

"No, we have to destroy it." Vision said, clutching the wound in his side. Everyone started, like they forgot he was there. "I've been giving a good deal of thought about this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think that if it was exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps…" He addressed Wanda. "Its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you with it." Wanda said. She turned away. "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos doesn't get it."

"That's too high a price!" Wanda protested. Vision took her face in his hands. "Only you have the power to pay it."

Wanda walked away, distressed. "Thanos threatens half the Universe. Only one life cannot stand in the way of defeating him." Vision persisted.

"But it should." Steve said. He looked up at Vision. "We don't trade lives, Vision." Vision walked towards Steve.

"Captain, seventy years ago you gave up your life to safe how many millions of people. Tell me, how is this any different?" Steve took a breath to answer, but before he could Bruce interrupted him.

"Because you mighthave a choice. Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the Stone?" Wanda asked.

"I'm saying that if we take out the Stone, they're still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?" Natasha wondered. Bruce shook his head. "Not me. Not here."

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast. Ross isn't gonna just exactly let you guys have your old rooms back." Rhodey said. Leo looked wistfully in the direction of where his forges used to be.

There was silence for a minute. Then,

"I know somewhere." Steve said finally. Annabeth glanced at Captain America's classic shield. Vibranium.

(Jason)

Jason really hoped he hadn't made a mistake in deciding to go to Space.

They were thousands of miles from Earth, with no plan whatsoever in how to get back. But first, they had to save the wizard whose necklace could turn back Time. Hurray!

Jason, Piper, Frank, and Tony perched near the top ceiling of the ship (rafters?) and watched Squidward threatening Strange. The Doctor's cloak tapped Tony on the arm. He spun around, ready to shoot, but he saw it was just a piece of clothing.

"Wow, you're a seriously loyal piece of underwear, aren't you?"

"Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty…" Jason spun around and pointed his sword to the intruder's neck.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa dude! Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, 'Kay?" Peter Parker said, and raised his hands in surrender. Jason relaxed and put his sword away. "Sorry."

"It's cool." Peter muttered, rubbing his neck. Then he looked up at Tony, who was looking at him with a murderous expression on his face. "I know what you're gonna say-"Peter raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"You should not be here."

"I was gonna go home-"

"I don't wanna hear it."

"But, it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way and-"

"And now I gotta hear it."

"..And I kinda got stuck to the side of the ship." Tony rubbed his temples. Peter continued ruthlessly. "And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way, so if anything it's… it's kind of your fault that I'm here."

Tony looked up at him like; you're not helping the situation. Piper looked like she was about to burst out laughing and endangering their position. "What did you just say?" Tony said warningly.

"I take that back." Peter said quickly. "And now I'm here in Space."

"Yeah." Tony crossed to stand right up to Peter. "Right where I don't want you to be. This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You couldn't have possibly thought this through."

"No. I did think this through."

"You could not have possibly thought this through."

"It's just… you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood." He waited for Tony's reaction. "Okay, that didn't really make any sense. But you know what I'm trying to say! And plus, you said that… you know," Peter glanced at Jason, Piper and Frank.

"You said that they're teenagers too, so I don't think that it's fair that you're just letting them come and getting mad at me."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "That's different." Tony protested. "They're over eighteen, I'm not responsible for them and they're more-" He glanced apprehensively at the demigods. He seemed to be asking a silent question. Can I tell-

No.

"They're more what?" Peter persisted. Jason shook his head ever so slightly at Tony. "Tony. It's his choice." Tony sighed, threw his hands in the air, and walked off.

Peter shot him a grateful look. "Come on. We've got a situation." Tony said and leaded them to a viewpoint.

"See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go." Peter crouched down and thought for a minute.

"Okay. Okay." He popped back upright. "So you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?"

Piper started grinning. "I think he's on to something." Peter quickly told them his plan.

"And any one of them…" Squidward turned to see Iron Man and Jason standing behind him. "Could end your friend's life in an instant." He finished.

"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend." Tony admitted. "Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy."

Squidward walked slowly towards them, beckoning very large, very heavy metal objects to float behind him. "You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine." Jason did a couple of quick calculations. If he factored by using the speed of the wind, he should have enough time to dodge the objects.

But there was no wind in space… well; Jason thought wryly, he'd endured worse injuries.

"Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies." Tony said. He fired a rocket out of his shoulder to the right side of the ship near Squidward and it began to suck everything out via depressurization. But most especially Squidward and his large objects.

Strange was pulled loose of his bindings, lost the needles, but was also pulled to the hole, helpless to resist. His Cape wrapped around his arm and tugged him away, but his arm was pulled free. Spider-Man shot a web strand at him but it broke. Jason tried to control the winds, but it didn't work.

Percy had said that Alaska was the land beyond the gods. If Alaska was the land beyond the gods, then Jason figured that Space was the land way, way, way beyond the gods.

Peter's suit sprouted spider arms to keep him from falling back into the atmosphere. "Yes! Wait, what are those?" He crouched with his new spider arms and pulled himself and Strange back into the ship. Tony sprayed ice on the hole to make it close up.

Peter retracted his leg to see the Cloak floating (standing?) next to him. "Hey, we haven't officially met." He held out his hand to the Cloak. The Cloak ignored it and floated off to Strange.

Tony walked past Doctor Strange, shaking his head as the suit retracted. Strange got back up, looking surprisingly healthy despite the fact that he just got stabbed in a really gross way.

"We've gotta turn this ship around." He said.

"Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan." Tony said sarcastically, pacing around the ship.

"No. I want to protect the Stone." Strange argued.

"And I want you to thank me." Tony replied irritably. "Go ahead. I'm listening."

"I helped too." Jason muttered. Piper elbowed him.

"For what? Nearly blasting me into Space?" Doctor Strange said. Tony turned around, glaring at him.

"Who just saved your magical butt? Me!"

"I seriously don't know how you fit that head into your helmet."

"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused."

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."

"And due to that fact, we're now billions of miles away from Earth in a flying donut with no backup." Jason sighed. These two's egos together were a recipe for disaster.

"I'm back-up." Peter protested.

"No. You're a stowaway." Tony said. "The adults are talking."

Strange pointed at the other kids, who were hovering anxiously by the wall. "It's bad enough that you included the demigods in this-"

"Wait. What?!" All three of the said demigods said together. How in Tartarus did this guy know who they were?

"The Sorceress Supreme knows about you guys. She told me before she died." Strange waved a hand like it wasn't important. Peter just looked confused. "The point is-"

"How do you know about us?" Piper said angrily.

"It doesn't matter. Like I was saying-"

"It does too matter! Stark, did you tell him?"

"Of course not." Tony said, looking insulted. "I respect my promises." Frank took deep breaths.

"So you mean to tell me-"

Strange rolled his eyes.

"-That you knew about this this entire time, and no one-no one-told us?"

"It's not important!" Doctor Strange said. "We keep it a secret. We make dealings with Hecate's children every once in a millennia."

Frank walked off and muttered an insult in Latin. Piper just shook her head like she'd given up.

Doctor Strange continued as if nothing had happened. He turned to Peter. "I'm sorry; I'm confused as to the relationship here. What-what is he, like, your ward?"

"No." Peter said, so serious it was almost comical. "I'm Peter, by the way."

"Doctor Strange."

"Oh, we're using our made-up names. Uh… I'm Spider-Man, then."

"This ship is self-correcting its course." Tony said, almost to himself. "Thing's on autopilot."

Strange walked closer to Tony. "Can we control it? Fly us back home?" Tony looked lost in bad memories and didn't respond.

"Stark?" Tony started. "Yeah?"

"Can you get us home?"

"Yeah, I heard you. I'm thinking… well, I'm not so sure we should." Jason nearly fell over. Yeah, let's just stay in Space with no food or water. It'll be fun!

"Under no circumstances can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos." Strange said sternly. "I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."

Tony stalked over to the magic doctor. "No, it's you who doesn't understand." Tony looked like he'd finally been pushed over the edge.

"That Thanos has been in my head for six years ever since he sent an army to New York and now he's back! And I don't know what to do." His voice cracked. "So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say, we take the fight to him. Do you concur, Doctor?"

There was a pause. Jason held his breath.

"Alright, Stark." Doctor Strange said coolly. "We go to him. But you have to understand… if it comes to saving you, or the kid, or any of the demigods, or the Time Stone… I will not hesitate to let any of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it."

Jason winced. This guy was like the opposite of Percy.

"Nice. Good. Moral compass." Tony said finally. "We're straight." He stepped over to Spider-Man and formally tapped each of his shoulders like a knighting. "Alright, kid. You're an Avenger now."

Peter's face cycled through delight, pride, fear, and determination. But he couldn't help but grin.

A/N Alright everybody. Woooo long chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers. Just to let you know what's happening in the rest of the world: Thor met up with the Guardians, he, Groot, and Rocket went to Nidaviller. Gamora just got captured by Thanos.

Okay that's it. Shout out to reviewers:

Gottalovebooks14
Br0kenTh0rn (Did you notice I used your suggestion? Thanks!)

ShadeFireDragon (OF COURSE NOT! You'll just have to wait for the last chapter. "Isn't that… thoughtful of you!" "Hehe." #Grover #TheSeaofMonsters)

Zeta710
Solangelo21
DarkShadowDragon16