Bruce stared at the phone. The screen showed that the call had ended, and the screen went black. He felt dread in his stomach.
The door opened, but Bruce didn't have the energy to turn and look at who it was. The phone felt heavy in his hand.
"Bruce?" Tony's voice came from behind him. He looked at his friend's sagged shoulders. "Everything alright?" He tilted his head.
He shook his head and closed his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked and placed a hand on his shoulder.
The doctor took a shaky breath and opened his mouth. "It's Percy...," said he.
"What about him?"
"The school called..." He sighed and rubbed his temple. "He's been expelled."
"Oh... no worries," Tony smiled, "We'll just find another one for him!"
Bruce shook his head with a worried frown upon his face. "No. I don't think he's coming home, Tony."
"What? Why not? He wouldn't leave without at least telling you."
Bruce looked up into his friend's eyes. "They said he and Grover disappeared. They're gone, they have no idea where they are."
"Well... uhm, there's a reasonable explanation for that." Tony swallowed, "I know there is. They're probably out buying pizza or something." He shrugged it off.
"I don't know Tony... Something feels wrong." He sighed.
"Let's get you something to eat. See, soon Percy will be walking out of our elevator completely fine," Tony assured his friend and dragged him up. Bruce slowly nodded, though he didn't believe a word his friend said.
***
There's nothing like sitting in a car with your best friend while being attacked by a bull wearing boxershorts and trying to get over the fact, that earlier that day, you killed your math teacher, Mrs. Dodds, with a sword that turned her into dust.
And that was what exactly happened to Percy today. He had had a terrible day. Going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was okay, but then Nancy was being annoying and teasing him and Grover. Mrs. Dodds hated him, and he got a pen-no, a sword-from Mr. Brunner, his Latin teacher. And now he was in a taxi with Grover, while trying to escape some crazy bull wearing boxershorts. It was having fur from about the bellybutton on up and naked except for a pair of bright white Fruit of the Loom underwear. And then it just seemed to hate Percy for no reason. Grover was sitting next to him and nervously fiddled with his hands.
The bull-man roared outside the cab and the driver shrieked then rolled down the window and yelled at the crazy man-animal. "Yo! Leave my car alone, crazy animal!"
Percy stared at the man yelling at the monster, how could he just yell at it like it was nothing? He should have peed before they left.
"Bahh!" Grover yelled as the car drove off the road and down in a ditch. Percy banged his head back in the seat and then into the passenger seat in front of him. He groaned and opened his eyes. His head spun. He looked over to Grover who was lying with his head at the bottom of the car and his legs sprawled in the air.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked and reached over to help him up.
"I'm fine, I just..." Grover struggled, and Percy widened his eyes as he realized his friend was taking off his pants.
"Grover, I... I don't think now is the time to change pants." Percy looked out the window to search for the bull-man. But it was nowhere to be seen. "Where did it go?" He muttered for himself. When Percy looked back at Grover, he had thrown his pants off. His eyes grew as big as teacups.
"You..." He blinked and stared at Grover's legs. No, they weren't legs. They were the legs of a sheep. "What happened to your legs?!" Percy asked his voice was high pitched.
Grover looked down at his own legs, then looked at Percy. "Look- "
"You have the legs of a sheep!" Percy yelled.
"It's goat!"
"Your half sheep!" Percy grabbed his own hair.
"I'm half goat!" Grover shouted over Percy.
"How?!"
"You know Greek myths?" Grover asked and Percy nodded. "Well, they're real! I'm a satyr and-" he was cut off by the roar of the man-bull. "We've got to move!" Grover kicked open the door and jumped out of the car, Percy was quick to follow, but when he turned around to get the driver with them, the driver was gone.
"Where's...?" asked Percy.
"I don't know! Let's go!" Grover grabbed Percy by the arm and dragged him after him into the woods.
Percy couldn't believe it, he was following his friend Grover, who was able to run and not only that, but his best friend also had the legs of a goat! And they were running from a crazy bull-man. And apparently Greek myths were real according to Grover. Had Percy gone mad?
"Come on! Hurry up!" Grover yelled and ran faster. Percy struggled to keep up with the speed, his heart beat ten times faster than usual in his chest. He stumbled over various rocks and branches.
"Grover-" panted Percy, "P-Please slow down!" He couldn't keep running at this speed. His friend-who was half goat, might he add-looked over his shoulder at Percy with fear in his eyes.
"We can't just stop!" He exclaimed.
"Can't... Can't run..." Percy stopped and bend over trying to catch his breath. Man, he was not fit for this.
Grover tipped around, "We don't have time for this, I'm sorry, but the Minotaur is going to come and kill the both of us if we don't move soon." He looked worriedly at Percy.
"The Minotaur?" Frowned Percy.
Grover nodded eagerly, "Yes! Half bull half... man? I don't know, half something." Said he. His eyes darted around everywhere, expecting the man-bull to come running out of the woods and into the small clearing they had found. "We just have to get up to that tree on the hill," Grover pointed at a huge Pinetree on the top of a hill. "And then we'll be safe."
"Seriously? I am not running up that hill." Percy crossed his arms and straightened his back. Grover opened his mouth to answer when the roar of the bull resounded around them. Percy flinched and stepped closer to Grover who shrieked. "Okay, maybe we can run up that hill after all." Percy admitted, terror striking his body as he watched the red eyes of the bull in the shadow of the trees. "I really, really, hate bulls." He muttered. The Minotaur seemed to have heard him, because it grunted and scraped its hoof against the ground.
Grover looked between the Minotaur, Percy, and the hill. "You have to fight it." He spoke slowly. Percy's head snapped to him.
"What?" he looked at him incredulous. "You can't be serious?"
"I am," Grover nodded with wide eyes. "You still have the pen, Chi- Mr. Brunner gave you, correct?" asked he. Percy frowned at the stutter but nodded, nonetheless. "Good. Use it."
"But it's just a pen. I was hallucinating last time I used it, right?"
Grover shook his head, "No, take the cap off and kill that Minotaur." Grover bleated as the Minotaur charged at them.
Percy stumbled back as he reached into his pocket. His fingers closed around the pen, and he pulled it out and was quick to uncap it. He only realized the problem in the last second, he had no idea how to fight. He stumbled to the side and barely avoided the Minotaur as it ran past him. He sluggishly raised the sword at the man-bull who grunted. His hand was shaking slightly. He glanced towards Grover who had picked up a stick.
"Run Percy!" bleated he. Percy blinked and looked at the monster before him, then turned on his heel and ran towards the hill. He stopped when he was almost at the top and looked back over his shoulder, just in time to watch Grover getting thrown across the air and into a tree where he crumpled down.
"NO!" yelled Percy. His eyes wide. He stared at his friend, praying that the goat boy would get up, but he didn't move. "Grover, come on." He muttered. When the goat boy didn't move and the Minotaur began walking towards him, Percy made up his mind and swung the bronze sword in his hand. He trudged down the hill, his eyes fixed on the bull.
"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone on your own size?" yelled Percy at the monster. The Minotaur turned its head and snorted at him, snot flying everywhere. Ew, Percy thought, disgusting. The Minotaur scraped its hoof against the ground, but the young demigod didn't go by those rules and charged at the large bull. He swung his sword at the monster but was only kicked back. He hitched in a breath and eyed the monster. The bull charged at him, and he jumped to the side and turned to watch its moves. He noticed how far it ran before it turned in a big arc.
He raised his sword which felt perfect in his hand, though he had no idea how to use it. He stared at the bull as it ran towards him. In the last second the jumped to the side, reached up and wrapped his fingers around the bull's horn and swung himself onto its back.
In the background Percy heard a bleat, indicating that Grover had woken up. At least he wasn't dead. Percy tuned back onto the fight and raised his sword, but the bull jumped he yelped, and he dropped the sword to hold onto the Minotaur to not fall off. His heart pounded in his chest as he fought to hold onto the Minotaur. He grabbed both horns as it ran and turned its head in the direction of a tree. Right before collision, Percy jumped off the Minotaur's back and watched as it collided into the tree, its horns buried deep in the trunk. He grinned victoriously. But the smile soon disappeared when he watched the bull trying to get free. He looked around for the sword he had used, but it was gone. He had no weapon to defend himself with, no way to kill the bull. His eyes searched for anything and at last landed on the man-bull's horns. If he could only break one off... somehow luck was shining down on him, because one of the horns had a long crack in it, perhaps from the impact with the tree. Percy hurried over and heard Grover's panicked shouts and bleats behind him, but he ignored them and grabbed the horn and pulled. The Minotaur roared. He pulled and pulled and suddenly the horn slid free from the tree and the Minotaur. Percy stumbled back as he stared at it in awe for a second or two, before remembering what he had to do.
He narrowed his eyes at the Minotaur and watched as it pulled itself free from the tree. It turned to the young demigod and snorted. It scraped its foot along the ground and aimed its remaining horn towards Percy's torso. Then the Minotaur charged. Percy leaped to the side and stabbed it in the side with its own horn. It roared and exploded into gold dust. Percy coughed and wiped some gold dust out of his eyes. He blinked and looked at where the Minotaur had been only seconds ago. The only remaining thing was the horn he had used to kill it with. He looked up when he heard someone yell his name. His eyes landed on Grover who ran towards him with worry etched on his face. The Percy showed the white out of his eyes and crumpled to the ground.