Gates of Hell

[Deleted]

((okay this is an idea that I cooked up kindda on the fly, so tell me what you think. I'm just going to see where it takes me and whether or not to finish it. many characters make an apperance and time line wise, GOR characters are 10 yrs older, but it takes place before Iron man 3, no spoilers and slightly AU, but after Avengers in NY))

CH I

Things were wrong. Tony felt it deep in his chest; he looked out over the ocean as he tightened up the screws on the robot he was working on. The last rays of the sunlight glinted over the water, making it look like some rather expensive water color painting. Tony adjusted something else; his mind wasn’t really into his whole tinkering thing that generally took his mind off of things that bugged him. Tony couldn’t put his fingers on why he felt as if the proverbial feathers were ruffled, but it made him feel a bit sick to his stomach.
“Jarvis?”
“Yes sir?”
Tony opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly it was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Tony frowned, he didn’t know of anyone who would come to call on him this late at night. Pepper was long gone. Ever since the issues within New York City, Tony hadn’t been the same. Pepper couldn’t take it, she packed up and vanished without a single trace. He still had his hopes up that one day she would come back, though by every single night, his faith was starting to dwindle. Tony held his hand out and called the armor of IronMan to him. The red and gold armor encased his arm, he couldn’t be too careful when it came to the safety of himself. He didn’t call it paranoia, though some would say otherwise.
“Who is it Jarvis?”
There was a blip on the computer screen and the front porch camera showed a trio. One was carrying a girl in his arms. Tony frowned as he looked at the screen. The dark haired boy rang the doorbell as he waited. Tony expanded the screen to get a good look at the man carrying the girl in his arms. The dawn of realization crossed his face.
“holy hell, what is Thor doing on my doorstep? Jarvis, get the dunce to cleaning out the spare bedroom. Looks like we’ve got some visitors.”
Tony pushed open the front door as he pounded up the stairs of his mansion.
“Well well, what’s the godling want at this time of night?”
Tony regarded in a rather condescending voice. The dark haired young man looked at Thor.
“My lord, are you sure this man can help her?”
“He may be a pig, but Tony Stark knows what he’s doing.”
Tony shook his head as he rolled his eyes.
“Look here thunder toes, I’m not a doctor.”
For once, the god of thunder and lightning looked at Tony in a pleading manner. The younger male curled his lip over his teeth into what looked like a snarl. A quick look from Thor silenced him before Tony gave a sigh and rolled his eyes. He bit back a comment as he motioned for them to follow him upstairs. Thor deposited the young woman on the bed while Jarvis was running some basic tests on the girl. Tony crossed his arms as he regarded Thor with a raised eyebrow.
“So you want to tell me what’s going on thunder chicken?”
The young man stepped between Thor and Tony. The boy growled and suddenly there were two daggers in the kids’ hands. Though Tony was surprised, his face didn’t show it.
“Stand down Gunnar.”
Thor’s low voice rumbled. The god looked over at Tony and sat down in the chair beside the girls bed.
“He has a right to know. Tony, this is Charlotte, she’s a daughter of a god.”
Thor paused as he took in a deep breath. Though it was obvious there gears going on inside the gods head, Tony knew that Thor wasn’t much known for his brain power.
“Charlotte McKenzie, Daughter of Mars, Roman god of war. She and Gunnar were accompanying me into the deep pits of Tartrus. There’s been some speculation that my brother has decided to ally with the titans and there’s going to be some trouble if we cannot stop it.”
Thor brushed a hand over his face, Tony noted how tired the god looked.
“Sir?”
“Yes Jarvis?”
Tony broke his train of thought as he turned his attention to the appearing computer screen in front of him. It had this entire young woman’s vital signs displayed. There was a heartbeat, faint but still there. Her breathing was shallow and there was little else that could be seen amongst the grime and blood that covered the poor girl.
“Her energy levels are really low, it could take some time for her to fully recover, but I detect a strange substance in her system.”
“Nectar and Ambrosia.”
The boy, Gunnar, spoke as he brushed a strand of Charlie’s hair away from her face. Tony raised an eyebrow, trying to guess if there was something that was just beyond his grasp of reality. He had heard of the stuff before, but it was mostly in the mythological stories that were from his short but firm grasp on the Greek and Roman mythology. Tony observed the actions of the male towards the female on the bed. There was affection, yes, but it was more out of respect and reverence.
“Just because she looks to be a pretty face, Stark, doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous.”
Thor spoke in his deep voice, bringing Tony’s attentions back to the present. Sometimes Tony wondered if the gods could read minds.
“Dangerous?”
“Her father is the god of war, she has killed more men on the field of battle then you could hope to in a life time.”
There was a rumbeling sound of thunder, rain started to pour, beating against the windows with power. Thor nodded, as if the rain was speaking to him. Thor stood up and motioned for Gunnar to follow with him.
“Wait, you’re just going to leave me here with this half-dead girl?”
“Stark, we have to move quickly. There’s not much time. When she wakes, she will take you to New Rome.”
There was a flash of lightening and the whole house lit up like a Christmas tree. Tony blinked, trying to get the spots from his eyes as he rubbed them. Slowly, his vision started to return as he looked around. It would seem that Thor and his little minion had vanished. ‘I’m going to have to get me a minion’ Tony thought as he regarded the young woman in front of him. Tony knitted his fingers together and placed his chin upon his hands. Since when did he have baby sitter tattooed across his forehead? Tony groaned as he stretched in the chair, he looked at the backpack left by Gunnar. Tony normally didn’t approve of snooping, but for once he couldn’t help himself. There was a few shirts, a change of clothes, some strange looking pens and a bracelet. Tony pulled out a picture of what looked like the woman back when she was younger. She had friends and it looked like they were in Rome, or at least that’s what it looked like.
“Well Jarvis, looks like we get to play nurse maid today.”
“Sir, might I advise changing her into something easier to take off in case of wounds?”
“Jarvis you’re a perverted old robot.”
Tony smirked at the thought as one of the drawers clicked open, revealing gauze, medical tape, and antiseptic cleaner. He had become quite the first aid master after a few too many mishaps in the garage. Tony’s favorite dunce of a robot appeared with a towel, a bowl of warm water and a wash rag.
“You know, scrap bot, for once I don’t feel like donating you to a science fair.”
Tony dipped the cloth into the warm water and he started to dab the woman’s face off. She looked to be in her late twenties, once he was able to wipe a majority of the blood off, finding a nasty gash across her cheek. Tony bandaged it up quickly. Her eyes were closed but as he continued to wash the grime away, he almost wondered if she was really a daughter of War. Her arms were calloused, scared with what looked like debilitating marks. His fingers lingered over a tattoo like brand on her arm, nineteen lines were etched into her skin, black, standing out against the white skin. SPQR? Tony frowned as he tried to think of what it would stand for, was that like SHIELD? Tony couldn’t hazard a guess.
“I don’t quite understand….”
Tony frowned as he examined another wound on her other arm.
“Sir, it would seem that the wounds are more deep then we once thought.”
Jarvis put up a projection of the brain on a screen, the sensors indicating pain lit up the darkened room. Her heart rate suddenly went out of control, the sensors screamed that she was going into cardiac arrest, but there was no physical indication.
“Sir, we have to do something if she’s to survive the night.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do you useless bucket of bolts?!”
Tony took a deep breath as he looked through the bag quickly before finding a letter and the photograph. He set them aside as he tried to think of what to do to try to calm her already near explosion heart. Tony Stark doesn’t panic, he told himself as he frantically continued to search for something to do to calm her.
“Sir we have to…”
“Shut up I’m trying to think!”
Tony snapped. Suddenly her heart rated dropped. It was still endanger of leaping out of her chest, but after Jarvis commented on how the sound of his voice seemed to calm her, Tony pulled a chair up and straddled it at the head of the bed.
“Look Charlotte, you know, I don’t know much about you much less how I got dumped into this situation of being your baby sitter, but I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me and tell me what’s wrong. Apparently Thor thinks there’s something I can do to help you, but let’s be honest, that thundering bag of wind doesn’t know much of anything.”
Tony paused as he looked up at the screen that hovered just above the head board. Whatever it was he was doing, it was working. Jarvis as per usual, pointed out the obvious. Suddenly, and with a strength that surprised Tony, the woman suddenly sat up, her eyes wide open. One of the pens from her backpack few to her hand, transforming into a sword in mid-air. A split second passed and Tony found himself against the wall, a sword to his neck with the said weapon wielded by a half-naked woman. Tony raised his hands, showing that he had no intentions of hurting her. She was strong, there was no doubt about it, Tony remembered she was a child of war. She was dangerous, trained and a killer.
“What’s going on… where… but… Thor….?”
The woman shrank back to the bed, looking around confused.
“Thunderhead is gone. Him and string bean said there wasn’t time to wait. You would take me to New rome.”
The woman blinked as she looked at the sword, staring intently at her reflection.
“Ugh, What is he thinking… there’s no way… Remus is going to kill me for suggesting it….”
The woman started to pace across the floor, her brow knitted together tightly as she thought out loud. Tony secretly wished she was still knocked out cold on the bed. This woman was insane. He watched her closely, the way she paced was like a caged tiger.
“Remus your boyfriend?”
Tony smirked at her as she lowered the sword, morphing back into the pen before she pocketed it.
“No my brother, and the praetor of the camp.”
She snapped back at his smirk. Tony was slightly taken aback by it.
“Sir might I suggest to not make a daughter of war angry?”
“Shut up Jarvis.”
She frowned as she looked for the voice.
“It’s alright, Jarvis is just the computer.”
He said, trying to make sure that he didn’t seem threatening.
“The name’s Charlie, not Charlotte. And Mr. Stark?”
“Call me Tony.”
Charlie drew in a deep breath before she looked slightly sheepish. Tony smirked at her, using the condescending looks that he generally reserved for a few of his favorite women.
“Tony, can I borrow a shower right quick?”
“Be my guest.”
“We’ll have to leave quickly, how fast can you get us to San Francisco?”
Tony quirked an eyebrow, why would they need to go there.
“quickly if you need.”
Charlie started to rummage through her bag and produced a prism. She flashed a bit of light through it and produced a rainbow. Once again, Tony raised an eyebrow, yup that was it, Thor must have brought the worlds craziest person to his house to terrorized him. Thor had the worlds strangest sense of humor. Charlie flipped a golden coin through the rainbow and to his astonishment, the coin vanished.
“Heya Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Remus Stone, the Principia.”
Tony’s eyebrows shot up towards his hairline as he saw the shimmering image of a boy who looked somewhat similar to Charlie. Blond haired and blue eyed, brutal and built much like his friend Dr. Banner.
“Give me your report Centurion. We’re eager to know how the quest went.”
The shimmering and floating head said.
“Remus, its…. It’s crazy. Thor left me here, said I needed to bring this mortal to camp while they searched for the rest of his team.”
Charlie visibly shuddered.
“It’s hell down there Remus. The prison doors just…”
“How long till you come back?”
“within the next few days depending on who else decides to show up.”
“Be careful little sis, I worry about you.”
“Thanks Remus.”
Tony’s mind was whirring, trying to figure out how exactly that worked. Tony immediately started to put together a blue print in his mind of how to build something similar. Charlie flashed him a knowing smile, like it was an expression that she had been used to many times before.
“The world is full of strange things, Tony Stark. It’s not all about Mechanics and gears.”

[Deleted]

CH2

“So let me get this strait…”
Tony sat outside the bathroom of the master bedroom on a stool. He never did get the shower fixed in the guest rooms. There was never a need for it before now.
“You’re a demi-god, Daughter of Mars, and you live at this place in San Francisco called Camp Jupiter that trains Demi-gods and legacies for battle against monsters.”
“Correct.”
Charlie’s voice called over the running shower water. Steam poured through the bathroom and Tony could only guess that the temperature was that of slightly cooled off lava. Whatever soap she was using smelled heavenly to him. Slightly like the smell of melted metal, some sort of flowers, and Strawberries. His mind drifted, Pepper was allergic to strawberries and he loved them. Tony glanced behind him as he heard the shower click off. For a daughter of the god of war, she looked more like she would grace the pages of the Victoria Secrets Models. However she wasn’t nowhere near as skinny as those girls were. His eyes wandered over the curves before he snapped them back to the bedroom where he sat.
“there’s something going on in the underworld and Thor has decided that this threat is really important.”
“Well, he may be Thor to you, but to us he’s Jupiter, though I’ve seen his Norse form more than once before.”
“So gods exist?”
“Only if you believe in them.”
Once again Tony hazard to take a glance over his shoulder at Charlie, compared to the white fluffy towel that covered up most of her midsection and torso, his imagination allowed him to guess at what was under the towel. Silently he berated himself. He had only met this girl an hour or so ago, he might not have liked to admit it, but he did have SOME morals, even if there weren’t many of them. He watched as Charlie pulled her blond hair back into a pony tail. Jarvis had set his latest creation on the bed, the Mark 42 suit that Tony needed and wanted to test.
“It’s a five hour drive; you’re not going to go all ‘swat-team-ninja-demon-roman-killing-machine-from-hell’ on me are you?”
Charlie shot him an icy glare as she stuck her head out of the bathroom. He tossed her a few of his clothes since the other ones she had were covered in grim and blood.
“only if you require an ass beating.”
“You know ladies shouldn’t speak like that.”
Charlie snorted from the bathroom as she put Tony’s clothes on. They were a bit big for her, but she could make do with them.
“I’m not a lady. I’m a soldier.”
She stepped out from the bathroom and proceeded to pull her boots on. Tony quirked an eyebrow at her in a rather curious manner, he could only hear what Steve Rogers would say in the back of his mind about ladies being fighters.
“Somehow I believe that.”
Charlie finished tying her boots up. She stood up and placed a few pens and a bracelet in her pocket. She didn’t want to be caught unaware again. She regarded Tony with a cold and calculating stare. Charlie wasn’t looking forward to being in a car for six hours, give or take, with this egotistical idiot. But if Thor thought he was a good man for the job, then so be it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The rain was relentless. Tony sped down the highway in one of his favorite little red roadster cars. Charlie had given him general directions and to be honest, Tony thought the poor woman looked exhausted. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of this woman that sat in the seat beside him. The windshield wipers beat in time with the radio. Tony focused his eyes on the road ahead. He jumped, his phone ringing was one of the last thing that he expected.
“Stark here.”
“Tony, we have a problem.”
“Director Fury, why did I have a feeling that I’d be hearing from you?”
“So I’m guessing Thor got ahold of you.”
“Yes, I’m on my way to this camp with a daughter of a god of war. I think my life may be in danger.”
“You’re Ironman, Stark, I’m sure you can handle a girl.”
Tony sighed audibly as he stole a glance at the sleeping woman in the passenger seat.
“Not so much a girl, Director.”
“Banner, Rogers, Barton and Romanov have been dispatched and should meet you presently upon your arrival. We need the help of these people, Stark, don’t screw this up.”
The phone clicked off. Tony had a bad taste in his mouth. He was a screw up?! No he was the one that got rid of the bomb; he was the one who tried to call Pepper when the woman didn’t pick up. No, he wasn’t a screw up. The last thought that went through his mind as he fell, that was Pepper. But no, she didn’t want to be bothered. Tony tightened his hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles became white. Tony fumed at himself every time he thought about it. The Mansion didn’t seem as cozy as it did when Pepper was there. It was so big, empty even. Tony had been left alone with his thoughts and his paranoia.
“You know, I think you could do with seeing the camp psychologist. The sons of Bacchus make great shrinks.”
Charlie quipped from beside him. It had been nearly two hours since she spoke. Tony cut her eyes across at her. Though to be honest it wasn’t entirely her fault.
“You know, I’ve heard about you. You and the avengers fought in New York city against the aliens. You know what’s funny about it?”
Once again Tony cut his eyes at her.
“You know nothing of battle.”
Charlie started to roar with laughter. It almost made the shivers ripple up and down Tony’s spine. It wasn’t an evil laughter nor was it funny.
“You’re rich. No wonder Lord Thor thought you were a funny mortal. I’ve killed men twice as strong as you. At the same time you avengers were fighting in the City, we Romans were fighting against the titans that wanted to enslave the human race. No one knew of the glory that we held on the battle field that day. You least of all. You mortals are selfish and petty and more concerned about your money. You know nothing of sacrifice, of honor, of duty, of respect.”
Tony slammed on the brakes, nearly causing her to face plant into the dashboard.
“I know nothing of sacrifice? I took the bomb into the worm hole to close it up and stop the aliens from invading into our planet. I almost died because I wanted to keep the people alive. What have you sacrificed?”
Tony shouted as he threw the break on and stormed out of the car. The door slammed behind him as he placed his hands on the rail beside the cliff where he stopped. Tony’s emotions were all boiling up and he felt his face flush with color. He was angry, angry that Pepper left him and he was angry that they brought him back to life to live through this pain all over again. He resented the fact he was still alive, Tony didn’t believe in the god (or gods as the case may be) but he hated them for allowing him to be put through all this pain. He pinched the bridge of his nose; fighting back all of the pain and tears that threatened to spill over. Tony nearly jumped as he felt a hand on his back.
“I’ve watched my friends and family die; I’ve had to kill people and I’ve had to fight against people I’ve loved. I’ve never had a child hood to love people or have friends. I trained since I was ten to be a soldier. Everyone I’ve ever cared about has died.”
Tony took in a deep breath as he watched the girl circle around to lean against the rail as she turned her head, looking away from Tony. He wasn’t exactly the most emotional of guy nor did was he really up to date on the whole ‘how to be on par with demi-gods’.
“So, genius huh?”
Charlie commented as she looked out over the horizon of the beach. It was lit up from the lights coming across the top of the cliff that kept most of the sun out of the way.
“yeah, graduated MIT at an early age.”
Tony felt his voice crack as he spoke. There was still a good bit of emotion that was welling up inside him. Almost like balloon with a puncture.
“You sure you’re not a demi-god?”
“Pretty sure, besides I don’t believe in gods. I knew who my parents were.”
Tony spoke with a bitterness in his voice. Charlie knew that tone well, she used it quite frequently when speaking about her own father.
“It doesn’t sound like you got along with them.”
“My father shipped me off to boarding school as soon as he could. He couldn’t stand to look at me.”
“My father shipped me off to a camp to become a trained soldier and killer.”
Tony gave a small laugh as he looked over the ocean before he glanced over at Charlie. He took in a deep breath before he looked up at the sky. It was almost like he was studying it. No clouds and the sky was a light pink and blue, there were things that he could appreciate in the world. He never before bothered to notice the beauty in the little things. Life had been different since New York and there was no changing that. Time would only tell if it would be for better or worse.
“Hey, Charlie, you like strawberries?”
“Yeah why?”
“I’m hungry and I totally know a great place.”

[Deleted]

Felicity was rather angry with the task that had been set ahead of her. She didn’t particularly have an interest in doing anything that Remus had asked her to do these past couple of days. Such a jerk, she thought, first he dumped her and then he sent her off on this crazy mission to go get someone she hadn’t even heard of all because that stupid god drug her nephew and best friend into the depths of her father’s domain to check on something that probably wasn’t even a problem. There was always something stupid going on in the underworld, that wasn’t new to anyone. But if that Thor idiot thought this was something big enough to bother Remus with it or if it was big enough for Remus to be bothered by it, there must have been something to it. She just didn’t see why this, this idiot, was needed.

New York City, this place just made her skin crawl and she tightened a hand around the hilt of her sword. It just didn’t seem right to be here. She glanced down at the piece of paper before making sure she had found the right place. An apartment just above this boxing gym, that was her intended target. Maybe target was too harsh of a word. It was a person she had been sent to collect and apparently shadow traveling right into the guys living room was bad form. She snorted in derision, after all she was a daughter of Pluto and being the child of the underworld, bad form was something that came naturally with the territory. Quietly, she made her way up to the apartment before she stood at the correct door. But despite herself, Felicity knocked on the door.
“I hope this dope is here, I don’t want to have to go tramping about New York like some sort of idiotic Greek.”
She muttered under her breath. After a moment of no response, she banged on the door one more time.

0-0-0-0

Steve Rogers felt the hot water pour over his body. Director Fury had contacted him just a little over an hour ago, stating his help was needed out west in California. His contact wasn’t supposed to be here for a while, but his bag was already packed, his armor and uniform was in transit via Agent Barton. He didn’t know quite what to expect or what would be going on, so as he was sitting about, he decided to take a shower. Steve didn’t know what sort of place this would be, so the first thing that he decided to do was shower, there was no guarantee this place would even have running water.
But it seemed, as per usual, the moment he rinsed off the soap from his body, there was a voracious knock at the door. Steve wrapped the biggest and fluffiest towel around his waist as he went to open the front door. Tony had said he would try to stop by sometime today when he had spoken with him last night. Steve pulled the door open with a fast jerk and his jaw dropped. He was standing in front of a woman and suddenly his towel slipped away from his waist. His face went beat red, the woman screamed, pushing him away from her with a surprising strength.
“What in the name of Pluto’s baggy boxers are you doing?!”
The woman shouted as she backed into the hall, Steve stepped out from the door frame, forgetting for a moment that his towel had slipped. Another woman screamed, his elderly neighbor fell to the floor into a dead faint.
“You my contact from the camp?”
Steve quickly asked. The dark haired woman nodded, backed up to the wall. Steve grabbed her hand and drug her into his apartment. Way to look like a creepy stalker or abusive boyfriend, Rogers, he mentally beat himself.
“I’m sorry about that. I just have the worst luck and I really thought you were Tony.”
Steve called to her from his bedroom as he quickly got dressed.
“The name’s Felicity Weingarten. I’m the centurion of Cohort four for the camp. I was just told to come and get you and shadow travel back. Hope you have a strong stomach.”
“I’m really really sorry miss. I apologize.”
Steve finally pulled his shirt over his head as he then paused while lacing up his boots. Wait… shadow travel? What in the world is that?
“Geeze, stop calling me Miss, what are you stuck in the fifties or something?”
Felicity snipped at him as he came around the corner with his boots unlaced. She glared at him before she looked pointedly at his boots.
“Actually I was frozen in the end of world war two, miss, but I’ve only recently been awaken.”
Felicity rolled her eyes as Steve shouldered his backpack.
“Let’s get this over with prince charming.”
Felicity grabbed Steve’s arm and charged full out towards a shadow that was cast upon the wall.
“Hold your breath, this won’t take long.”
She grumbled, right before they vanished into the shadow.

[Deleted]

Remus paced back and forth, he was worried about quite a few things. He was beginning to show his age, maybe after this whole debacle was over with, he would retire and pass the reins of leader onto someone else. The metal dogs watched him pace back and forth; their eyes followed him as he paced up and down the length of the war room. When the gods personally make a call, you don’t ignore them. You might be able to ignore them when the only thing you do is pray to them, but when Jupiter, the king of the gods, or Thor as he appeared, you just don’t blow him off. You piss in your pants, you salute and you do what they want you to do. Remus personally didn’t have any aspiration to be zapped into a pile of smoking ash. But it wasn’t the thought of the gods that had Remus all irritated. It was the thought of inviting mortals into camp, putting the safety of every one at risk. He turned his head, watching a few of the younger campers training on the field of mars. There was a ton of people that counted on him.
“Praetor Stone?”
Remus lifted his blond head to gaze at the redheaded woman that had made the camp her home. Natasha, that was her name. Remus knew her type, after all one of his good friends was an assassin. Gunnar and his sister had gone off with Thor/Jupiter, whichever that god decided he wanted to be.
“Yes?”
“I just received a call from the Director; he said to let you know that Stark and Rogers are on their way. Stark will be a few days behind but none the less we should keep your legion on standby.”
Remus pinched the bridge of his nose, he surveyed the map. His desk was covered in layers and layers of paperwork. Not all of it was just the run of the mill paperwork. Most of it was the documents of battles from previous battles. Everything was detailed and perfectly pictured; he was amazed at the level of work that had been put into it.
“I don’t understand why there’s nothing about this. Our history is perfectly written and there’s just nothing in here.”
Remus gave a growling sigh. The redhead raised an eyebrow as she watched him eye the papers as if they had done him a personal injustice. Natasha hadn’t seen him in battle but if the glares that he was giving the papers were any indication of his prowess, even someone as skilled as she was would have a rather tough time taking him down.
“There wouldn’t be anything there.”
She said, leaning against the table. Remus stared at the mountain of papers that had cascaded on top of his desk.
“No, history repeats itself, there’s got to be something.”
“You’ve got to take your mind off of things.”
Remus stood up suddenly, the mountain of paper shuddered precariously, but it was close enough that it didn’t topple over.
“You’re right.”
Remus whistled, the gold and silver automaton dogs leapt to his side as he opened the door, motioning for Natasha to exit first. Despite the fact that he was a son of war, Remus didn’t feel the need to act like a brute. There was a reason him and his favorite little sister were at the top of their respective food chains. His brothers and sisters were a bit… mean spirited. There was a certain finesse that was needed to be able to deal some of the problems that had amassed around this camp.
“So, Agent Romanov, you’ve been settles in in the apartments in the city, you’ve seen most of the camp, would you care to check out the available weapons supply?”
Natasha smirked, her eyes turning to a pair that was lurking out of the forge window as they passed by. Remus looked up and glanced at the face that was peeking over the window sill. Then another pair of eyes came from another window.
“Do all of your windows have eyes?”
“No.”
Remus shook his head as he turned to glare at one of the sets of eyes before raising an eyebrow at the other.
“That’s Edmund and Jaycee, children of Vulcan. Jaycee is the younger of the two, she’s only like eleven, but she’s already picking up bad habits from that stupid brother of hers.”
Remus shook his head. That Edmund was such a pain and he had that stupid shredder, Cinny, sissy, whatever it was called. It was more accurate to describe the tissue box as a paper shredder from hell. Soon the quite forge was ringing with the sound of a hammer, though if Remus had his way, he would have killed the forge monkey a long time ago. Well maybe not kill, per say, but he would have made Edmund think twice before going for his next tour of duty in the legion. Why that little probie hadn’t mustered out of the legion yet was beyond him.
“Here’s the armory, You can find armor, weapons, cross bows and…”
Remus’s words were cut off by a sudden torrent of water. Beside him, Natasha coughed and spluttered. Remus felt his neck grow hot under the collar of his work shirt. Oh he knew exactly who had done that and nothing was going to stop him from slitting that brat’s throat. Even at the age of twenty seven, Edmund still hadn’t outgrown being a jerk. Remus tried to wring out his shirt, trying hard to squeeze out whatever water was still soaking his shirts.
“I apologize for that. Some people never learn….”
Remus glared up at the roof where he could just barely see the top of Edmund’s head. He pulled a dagger and threw it at the spot, hitting just below the top of his head into the wood of the building. Not that he would kill him (what was stopping him again?); he did want to at least make the idiot think twice about dumping another bucket of water on him.

[Deleted]

Remus called the senate meeting to order. Charlie sat in the seat to his left while Zidane sat to his right. After all Zidane was a praetor, albeit a silly and rather useless one. Charlie watched some of the guests that had been required to be here. There was Tony Stark, who looked quite ridiculous in his toga. It was traditional, Terminus said. Sure Tony had stood there going toe to toe with Terminus before she was able to get Remus to rescue him from clipping the grass of New Rome with a pair of safety scissors. It had been really stupid the amount of trouble that she and Tony had gotten into when they stopped at the diner on their way up here. A basilisk and a gorgon both trying to get a taste of her. Charlie would have happily killed both but Tony got to it a bit more quickly than she did. She barely had time to draw her sword before he made them both disintegrate. It had been plenty of trouble and Charlie was a centurion and felt a tiny bit insulted that she wasn’t able to quickly dispatch the monsters that hunted her kind. While her eyes met with Tony’s, she quickly looked away from him. She could tell he had grown a bit attached to her. That couldn’t happen; it just wasn’t going to happen. Sure Tony was a nice guy and all….
“August, You said you had a prophecy from the gods?”
Charlie looked up to the Augur as he stalked up on the stage. At one point they had been friends and maybe there could have been something more. Unfortunately that wasn’t what had been written in the stars. August was a sweet guy and had an important job. There were those that didn’t appreciate him, but Charlie appreciated his work.
“Yes, it wasn’t easy by any means…”
Charlie watched August glance at Thor. Charlie knew what the prophecy was, she had heard it in her dreams. Dreams were never simple for the demi-gods. August cleared his throat as she watched her friend Felicity smirk. Felicity and August never saw eye to eye.
“The thunder king and war’s girl are time’s bane,
Treading lightly where the last breath goes,
When death and justice’s power wanes,
Magic and muscle will find a way.
Sword and dagger walking proud and tall,
Thunder King and the Daughter of war trail through Rome.
Northmen and legion will prevent the fall,
A child will bring the new way of life.
Mischief and time together will fail.
Love will conquer those that struggle fast.
The romans and mortals together will fight.
Together will give the titan’s death last.”

Murmuring broke out amongst the senate seats. Charlie felt uncomfortable and she shifted in her seat. She could feel the eyes on her as she sat with the other centurions on the raised forum stage.
“Are you sure these people can help our problems with the Titans?”
One of the lare’s called out from the back row. Charlie winced, recognizing the lare as Titus, a son of Neptune that had been beheaded a few centuries past. He had a good load of valuable advice and experience.
“They are Graccaus. They do not belong here!”
Another Lare shouted from the back. Charlie stood up.
“They are every bit of strength that we demi-gods are. I stand by them for the safety and glory of Rome.”
She said in a strong voice. Most of the talking had tapered off. Charlie didn’t always have much to say, but when she did, people tended to listen.
“I take full responsibility for them, on my honor or on my death.”
“Don’t do us any favors, Charlie.”
Tony quipped in a joking manner from the front row. She rolled her eyes at him.
“If you weren’t supposed to be here I wouldn’t so I am. Alright?”
There was more of an uproar as the other legionnaires and reserved members of the legion started to murmur amongst themselves. Charlie frowned. It would seem that the senate wasn’t too happy about having outsiders in the forum. On any other day, Charlie would probably have agreed with them. This was different. Their very survival hinged on the cooperation of these people. She had heard that prophecy once before but it wasn’t from hanging around the Augur. Thor, Charlie finally resigned to the fact that he was indeed Thor, had come to her with the prophecy in her dreams. Normally that was reserved for those overly happy go lucky Apollo kids. Thor was much different from Jupiter. Though other than Mors, Charlie hadn’t had many dealings with the gods, but the stories told of how selfish and childish they were made her think twice about being friendly towards a god. She sat back down, crossing her legs underneath her toga. Remus dismissed the senate with a shout and the reply of “ave!” echoed through the forum. Nothing was scarier than a bunch of war hungry romans, she thought with an inward roll of her eyes.

---------

Charlie sat down on the ledge of the fountain. There was an apple, a banana and a bottle of water beside her. It wasn’t much for lunch, but it was something that would be enough to sate her hunger till she could actually go to the mess hall for lunch. Most would consider it strange for a daughter of war to be any place other than the field of mars. No, the field of mars would be off limits till they returned from where they were headed. Charlie, Thor and Gunnar had scouted ahead where the quest would take the group, but it was more terrifying than anyone could begin to imagine. Charlie barely noticed a presence sit down beside her. If she had been about four years younger, Charlie would have been quick to draw a knife or a sword to defend against whomever was unlucky or stupid enough to sit down beside her. There was a familiar scent, ozone, blood, even sweat and mead, there was only one person that had that particular scent. A rough hand placed itself on her hand and Charlie turned her blond curled head.
“You don’t have to do this you know.”
A deep, grumbling voice heard in her ear interrupted her thoughts. She blinked as she looked into the sky blue eyes of Thor. She took a deep breath, collecting her thoughts.
“You came to me remember?”
She said slowly.
“I’m just as much a mortal as you are.”
“Let’s not get into this.”
Charlie said in a finalized voice. There was a big difference between the Norse gods, the Asgardians, and the Roman gods. These Asgardians were different, they were more human than the others seemed to be. A tight feeling welled up in her chest as she looked skyward before looking at Thor’s eyes.
“Do you remember our first meeting?”
Charlie gave a small laugh.
“How could I forget, you nearly took my head off and I nearly separated something else from your body.”
She grinned. Thor flashed a smile as well, mirroring her own.
“That’s right, you were training in the forest and I happened upon you, getting between you and the dummy by accident and one thing lead to another….”
Thor’s deep voice make her laugh. Charlie gently put her head on his shoulder, letting out a small sigh of contentment and relief. Thor gently put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.
“When this is over, when this is all done, you will return with me to Asgard, I think you will enjoy it.”
Thor drew her up into a hug. Charlie had been grateful to the offer of going to Asgard. She had been here in New Rome too long.

----

“I don’t understand what she sees in that pathetic looser god.”
Felicity grumbled as she watched her best friend sit with the blond headed god. She crossed her arms and leaned against a column.
“Ma’am there’s only one god, none else.”
Felicity looked over her shoulder to see Steve Rogers standing behind her. It looked like he had already changed out of that ridiculous Toga. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the man standing behind her, however her eyes lingered briefly over his strong chest. She scoffed.
“So you think I’m here because of blasphemy?”
Felicity raised an eyebrow in a questioning albeit accusing manner. Steve raised his hands and put them in front of his body in defense.
“I never said that.”
“The gods exist, childish and egotistical they are. You’re better off with your one god who lives in a book.”
Felicity sighed as she shot her best friend a glare.
“You’d probably be right about being a child of blasphemy.”
She admitted in a jaded tone. She bit her lip, turning her head away so she didn’t have to look at that stupid god. Steve went to open his mouth to say something, but Felicity cut him off.
“There was nothing meant by it. I keep coming off as an emotionally constipated bitch half the time. The life of a Demi-god is never easy.”
Steve drew his lips tightly across his face, thinking about his own childhood.
“I know all about hard childhoods.”
He said slowly. Felicity gave him a hard look as she breathed deeply and carefully considered what it was she wanted to say.
“Do you? Do you know what it’s like to be ridiculed just because you’re father is the god of the underworld. Flowers are always trying to kill you people look at you like you’re a cursed problem walking on two legs. I will always be looked down upon because my father is a Big Three and the king of the dead at that.”
She snapped bitterly, drawing in a shaky breath. Felicity hadn’t realized that she were clinching her hands, her nails bit into the palms of her hands, drawing a few lines of blood. The crimson drops fell across the skin of her hands as she gave a frustrated punch into the stone column.
“Woah, hold it.”
Steve gently took her hand into his as he wiped away the blood from her knuckles.
“It might not have been to the same degree, but believe it or not, I was picked on a lot when I was younger.”
Steve looked to the side, recalling a memory from what seemed like a distant path.
“I was always picked last, I was the smallest, the weakest kid. I wouldn’t have lived through anything if it wasn’t for my best friend.”
Felicity looked up at Steve; she blinked and realized how close they were under the awning. There was a low rumble of thunder and the dark clouds that had been threatening rain all day started to downpour. Steve pulled out an umbrella as he offered a hand to Felicity. He gave her a quite smile.
“Come on, let’s do dinner or something.”
Felicity bit her lip as her brow furrowed. She felt her mind reeling in the proximity of the two bodies close to each other. Her heart pounded as she looked away from his eyes. She pushed away from him.
“I just got out of a long relationship with Remus, I can’t… I can’t do this.”
Felicity turned on her heel and darted out into the rain. For the first few seconds she heard only her footsteps but soon she felt someone wrap their hand around hers.
“Then as friends. Let’s do this as friends first.”
Steve said as he wiped the soaking wet bangs off of his forehead. Felicity’s lip quivered as she looked up at him.
“Fine, friends first.”

[Deleted]

“What on earth do you guys do for fun around here?” Tony asked as he looked around. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, but it was strange for him to not be the center of attention. Most of their soldiers are so young, he thought as he wandered back through the camp. A Little girl ran past him and into a massive building where smoke was pouring from the top. Tony, being curious, decided to take a look at what particularly going on. The moment he poked his head inside the door, he felt a bit at home. There were a few people in there making things. A boy there carving out a bow, the little Asian girl he had followed was tinkering with some circuits and a larger man working the bellows before making a hot blade. The little girl looked up at him and her eyes grew wide.
“By the gods you’re Tony Stark!”
She exclaimed as she dropped what she was working on before running up to him, looking at him squarely in the face as best she could.
“Yes I am.”
“I’m such a huge fan, like, I want to do all of the cool stuff you can do!”
Tony gave a small smirk, he always loved to have his ego stroked by people. It didn’t matter the age group.
“Maybe if you work hard and when you’re older kiddo…”
“But look!!”
The girl pulled out something from the drafting table and showed him. Tony looked at it in awe. How on earth could this kid recreate something to this magnitude without the same facilities and technical know how as he did??
“How did you…”
“well it’s not a true arc reactor, it’s powered by solar light. It absorbs the rays before diverting about fifty percent to the storage unit here and then the other fifty here for immediate use. I don’t know if it’s powerful enough as the regular arc reactor but I just went off what I could see. I’m a technopath.”
The little girl grinned proudly as she handed him the solar powered arc reactor. There was a knock at the doors, the ones that had already been slid open.
“Knock knock Vulcan children…”
A sarcastic voice said as everyone looked up.
“Rhiannon.”
The oldest boy regarded the female with a nod.
“I’m not a Vulcan child, warlow.”
The girl rolled his eyes at the boy who spoke to her.
“Whatever simmons.”
Suddenly there was a massive shaking. The building swayed and shuddered as Tony tried to keep his balance. There was an earsplitting crack and Tony jumped, diving to get the new comer out of the way. It was lucky he had done that, otherwise she would have been flattened by the crashing stone. A fissure erupted, the crack snaking it’s way through the camp and all of new rome, erupting blue flames, threatening to swallow whatever it touched with ice.
“Alright, time to go!”
Tony shouted as he started to concentrate, his armor leaping to his body at will as he then blasted off, not letting go of the woman that he had just saved.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Remus paced back and forth once again in the Principia. HE wasn’t sure that he liked the idea of his sister going off with some god. Asgardian or not…. It left a bad taste in his mouth. His two metallic dogs watched intently as he continued to pace. Sure there were other daughters of Mars, but the prophecy could only mean one person. And considering it was brought to Charlie first even before the Augur had seen it, it probably had everything to do with her. No this is stupid, he thought savagely. Something told him, deep seated in his gut that something wasn’t right about this whole thing. He gave a small growl as he shoved his sword in his scabbard before throwing his shield over his back.
“Agent Romanov, I’m heading to the Field of Mars. There’s supposed to be war-games tonight in honor of your arrival, I need to make sure preparations are well under way if you would care to join me.”
Silently, the redheaded woman stood, moving silently through the space that expanded between the male and herself quickly. A single stride closed the gap. No one should move that quick without being a demi-god. Remus didn’t care if some of the people that were supposed to help the camp were gracceus or outsiders, but many of them could have been demi-gods.
“I think we could take a look.”
The agent said softly, not taking her eyes off of the praetor. Remus held the door open for the red headed woman. It was a rather short trip from the Principia to the Field of Mars. Remus surveyed the construction going on, mostly it was construction that had been put up by the first and second cohort for the third, fourth and fifth to bash their heads upon. He took a bit of personal pride in the fact that his former cohort, the first, was always victorious in their plights against the others. He totally wasn’t biased.
“Roman were not only conquerors, we are builders. On any given day, we could pick up camp and move it where ever we choose and have it rebuilt in less than a week.”
Remus commented, the passive face of the SHIELD agent standing beside him not showing any bit of being impressed. He motioned for her to get closer so she could inspect the quick handy work of his former cohort. Suddenly, seemingly coming from inside the fortress, there was a shockwave that racked the field of mars.
“I swear if that’s Alistair….”
Between Remus’s feet, a Fissure erupted spewing blue flames, encasing the field in ice. Natasha slipped, flailing trying to regain her footage. Remus reacted almost instantly, his roman training kicking in. He dove for her hand, sliding on his side easily catching her before attempting to grasp the side of the fissure. A hand darted over the edge, grasping on to his while Remus held on to Natasha for dear life.
“X, you and Banner are in charge!”
Remus ground his teeth together as his numb fingers slowly slipped through the grasp of his brother. Remus gasped, having a split second though of fear for his people, his soldiers as his icy fingers slipped through his brothers warm grasp.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-