Bruce POV:

It's not every day that you see someone with a knife strapped to their thigh. Much less a blond, teenage, book-buying girl.

I swear, teenage fashion crazes get stranger every hour.

I had decided to go book shopping with a seething Natasha. (Long story short: Tony had exchanged all of her clothes with pink, floor length dresses, complete with lace, glitter, and a puffy skirt.) She had finally convinced (or rather, threatened) him to give it all back, and before she could do any more, I had dragged her out of the tower. After a cold discussion, I had convinced her to come buy a movie with me. There was a new store downtown, called Books Buy Movies*, that I wanted to check out. They specialized in books and, well, movies.

When I entered the shop, I was astounded by it's coziness. The roof spiraled overhead, held up by beautiful white columns, ending in an ornate ceiling speckled with windows. The walls towered upwards, second and third floors peeking out from the space. There seemed to be no artificial light, only sunlight. Bookshelves lined every wall, and extended into rows throughout the building. Little nooks opened themselves here and there, many hid by bookshelves. Reviews that I had found online even said that, when a certain book was pulled out of it's comfortable spot on the shelves, a space would swing out, previously masked, filled sometimes with discounted movies, ultra-comfortable reading chairs, and the ever-so-rare vending machine. Some spaces were locked away, only to be opened on certain days. But the interesting thing about the layout was how movies, based off of their respective books, were placed next to their paper versions. At least, that's what the banner above the tops of the bookcases said.

Natasha immediately pulled me over to the action section, for, despite its 'store' status, it had the sorting system of a library. We rounded the edge of a bookshelf to see a girl reading the back of a movie, eye twitching. The girl had curly blond hair, reminding me of a princess. It was pulled back into a ponytail, so that her hair only brushed her shoulders. Her skin was bronze in hue, with a refined nose, sharp grey eyes, and the look was completed by her lean, but athletic, stature. Clad in comfortable shorts,a gray tee-shirt, and owl earrings, she looked like she could sit down to read for hours or battle monsters at any moment. A stack of books nudged her knees, composed of at least 15 separate authors. She mumbled to herself as she read the movie summary, and, finally, shoved it back into its spot. I glanced at the title, trying to see what had gotten her so worked up. The movie was titled 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief'. Huh, I can't see what the problem with that is.

She spotted us out of the corner of her misty grey eyes, and smiled enthusiastically, turning towards us.

"Hello! I haven't seen you around here before, you must be new. Are you looking for a certain book, a movie, or just browsing?" Natasha looked at me, and I noticed how most of her anger had dissipated. Good, I wouldn't want her judo-flipping an innocent civilian.

"Just looking for a movie. Lots of action, if possible. Do you have any suggestions?" She thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"Well, 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' is a good one, and also 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief', but let me warn you right now, they are absolutely nothing like the books!" She emphasized the last part, and I got the impression that she could rant on about this for hours on end, most likely having read and seen both.

With one last smile, she turned around to pick up the stack of books. As she hoisted them up into her arms, a corner lifted the hem of her Bermuda Shorts. I normally would have just looked away, save for the tip of a bronze knife the book had revealed. Now that I looked more closely, I could see the outline of a dagger underneath the denim. Natasha noticed too, and settled into a defensive stance. The girl obviously saw our reactions, and somehow, balancing the books in one arm, managed to put one finger to her lips in the 'ssh' gesture. She quickly grabbed the book 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief' from the shelves, tossed it towards us, and walked away, calling as she left, "That was a nice chat we had Banner. Next time though, I think I'll talk to Black Widow."

Bonus material!

"You'd never guess who I met today, Percy." Annabeth said, walking through the camp with her boyfriend at her side.

"Let me guess: Zeus had a fling and needed you to save him from Hera's wrath, since she hates you already." Thunder rumbled, though the day was clear. "Shut up Thunder Pants!" He shouted to the sky. Turning back to his girlfriend, he continued. "Or maybe you met that Rick guy who ran away from camp after publishing that book about our lives."

"Nope! I met the Hulk and Black Widow at that Books buy Movies shop." She said, a smug look spread across her face.

"W-what! The Avengers were at a book shop! And you didn't tell me until just now?" Percy spluttered. "Wait, wasn't that the bookshop you helped design? The one with the manager named Dee that promised you free books for life?"

"That's the one Percy. Now I'll race you to the mess hall! Loser has to do the other cabin's chores for a week!" She didn't even wait for a response before taking off.

"Oh you're on!" Percy shouted, darting after her retreating figure.

*Books buy Movies is actually my idea, though if someone can make a bookshop like this, you can use the name on the condition that you let me know of its existence immediately!

Yours in demigoddishness,

MarineDolphin