"ETA 10 minutes"
"Make it five." Agent Coulson ordered over the headset, sitting in a pitch black helicopter that sped across the New York, star-filled, night. He wore his standard black suit, gun loaded at his side, as he looked out the helicopter as it flew over the Hudson River, his eyes falling on Stark Tower that was shining among the other towers. He thought back to the Chitari invasion when he had been stabbed in the chest by Loki...
Luckily, Fury had saved him... Coulson had alien blood running through his veins. Project TAHITI had saved his life but altered his memories. It was a secret project Fury had going on, studying an alien they had found a while back; it reminded Coulson of Area 51. He'd known Thor was alien, the Chitari as well, but the idea of having a blue-skinned alien on ice just to save him from death definitely freaked him out. Of course, the building exploded and with it TAHITI so all traces of it were gone. He'd stuck to the shadows after returning, Fury's orders, after Hydra attacked SHIELD, though. It was better for SHIELD to be out of the limelight, they'd garnered too much attention to do what was needed. Phil Coulson as acting director of SHIELD, now, and planned to keep it on the straight and narrow, fighting battles that could only be fought in the shadows.
He'd assembled a team to try and rebuild SHIELD the way it was supposed to be, an organization working out of the public eye to handle the weird stuff so the average civilian didn't have to. Then came the Inhumans. Humans with powers, capable of doing amazing things, that had been bred by the same alien tech that had saved his own life. Coulson's eyes fell to Daisy, one of SHIELD's top agents, and began thinking about how far she'd come. She had been a hacker when they had met, tampering with SHIELD files and blowing the lid on superhumans; one of the best hackers he'd seen. Through a series of horrible situations, she had become Inhuman; able to manipulate vibrational waves.
"Quake," He started, her code-name when they were in the field, "We need this one alive, he was the first star to fall and the only one we can round up right now."
Her shoulder-length brown hair whipped in the wind and her big brown eyes shined against the lights on her wrist braces, "As long as Super Soaker doesn't try anything..." Coulson nodded in approval, his agents' lives came before all else. They'd stuck together through thick and thin, traveled to another world to fight an alien parasite, fought a resurfacing Hydra, and lost friends along the way. He couldn't risk their lives for some water controlling kid.
The chopper landed with a thud as the doors closed and the cloaking shield activated. The bright white SHIELD logo turning invisible along with the pitch black paint; a silent arrival. Several news helicopters flew overhead, their bright spotlights chasing the target through the alleys of Hell's Kitchen so their own arrival had been unnoticed. Luckily the news crews had only managed to get vague images of the crazed kid.
Coulson and Daisy hopped onto the SHIELD standard motorcycle they had brought on the helicopter. Normally they would have brought a Quinjet, faster than a chopper and stealthier with better battle capabilities, but there weren't any nearby spots to land such an air vehicle.
"Fitz, where's he headed?" Coulson spoke into his earpiece to their weapons and tech specialist, one of the first people he'd put on his secret team...before Hydra destroyed SHIELD from the inside out.
"Uh...he's heading towards the Empire State Building, sir." Fitz' Scottish accent buzzed in both Daisy and Coulson's ears, Fitz always seemed on edge; especially when it concerned Inhumans.
"Copy," Daisy stated, speeding on the motorcycle with Coulson clinging to her back as they swerved between cars in the streets.
"Sir," a British female's voice buzzed on the comms.
"Go ahead Simmons," Coulson replied as Daisy made a quick turn down an alley. Simmons was the biochemist, she and Fitz were a package deal and Coulson was more than happy to take both on the team; he called them The Wonder Twins. An unstoppable force of the two smartest people he'd ever met.
"He can't create the water, he seems to be using what is readily available. I've never seen any Inhuman with this much power, though..." She seemed skittish. Where Fitz was excited to learn about Inhumans, Simmons was more than weary; she'd seen firsthand what an evil Inhuman was capable of.
"Noted, keep him away from the river." Daisy nodded as she tried to urge the bike faster.
"Two more streets, make a right down the alley of the bakery, and you should cut him off." Fitz rattled off, tracing both Coulson and Daisy's position with the kid's.
"Copy that." Daisy nearly sideswiped group of people standing in the middle of the street, crowding around a police officer as he tried to corral them away from the danger about a block away, "SORRY!" she called back, urging forward.
She'd been just cleared for the mission, after sustaining heavy injuries from taking on an Inhuman who could shoot concrete from their hands, and didn't want to mess her chances up. If Coulson took her out for reckless endangerment...she'd be bored for weeks on end. Daisy loved the feeling a mission gave her, a rush like a roller coaster, and loathed the downtime between them. Perhaps it was an attitude she picked up from her teacher, Agent May, when she was training to be a SHIELD agent...she made a mental note to thank her for that .
"S-sir," Fitz interjected, "He's gone into a warehouse just up ahead, two stories. News teams seemed to have lost him so-"
"Now's our only chance to do this clean." Coulson nodded with a small smile, if he had been reported escaped then that would keep questions to a minimum in the public's mind. If he had just disappeared after two people spoke to him...the media would lose their mind.
The duo pulled into the warehouse at blinding speeds, barreling through the loading bay doors and into the main floor. Daisy jumped off the cycle as quick as she could, holding one hand out with a gun in the other; ready to take anything dangerous on.
"Is that an ICER?" Coulson asked Daisy, Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun made by Fitz; effectively a night-night gun.
"No," Daisy replied coldly, she didn't like taking chances with Inhumans. If you gave a bad one an inch, they'd make you regret it.
"Fair enough." Coulson nodded as he pulled his gun out before shouting in as calm a voice as he could muster, "Hello?"
"We're not here to hurt you!" Daisy followed, both of them agreeing to take different sides of the warehouse to cover more ground.
Daisy slowly stepped over pieces of lumber and metal on a conveyor belt, trying to think where she would hide in his position. She'd stay low to the ground, going up would only box you in more, sticking close to the walls would mean you wouldn't have to watch your back either...
Coulson was thinking the same thing, they had begun to walk along the walls of the large warehouse before they heard a rumbling come from beneath the ground.
"COULSON!" Daisy shouted, seeing him through the gaps in the machinery across the warehouse, as water erupted from all around them. It surged forward like a tidal wave, bashing Coulson against the metal machinery and causing Daisy to land on her back. But as quickly as the rush of water had come, it had gone.
Daisy rolled on the ground, cradling her head as her ears rung. Whoever the Inhuman was, they had gotten the drop on her and Coulson...they were good. She slowly turned over onto her belly, looking beneath the machinery as she saw the shoes of someone standing near Coulson. They were running shoes...but they weren't wet from the water at all. Daisy saw Coulson's face, knocked out cold as blood dripped from his skull.
Anger rushed through her body as she held out a hand towards the pair of shoes, sending waves of seismic energy that way to try and keep them from hurting her superior. Coulson had been the only father figure she'd known and she'd take on The Avengers before anyone tried to hurt him. The machinery shook as the energy pushed towards the attacker, sending him to collide with the wall of the warehouse. Daisy had to break line of sight but that should have knocked him out, it should be alright now.
"Fitz-Simmons," She radioed, "Coulson's down, send a Quinjet to the roof now. Target d-" Daisy was interrupted from a jet of water snaking through the machinery to punch her square in the face. She was sent backward, her back hitting metal with a loud thud, as she held out both of her hands; her gauntlets glowing blue. Her powers had nearly broken every bone in her arms from using them, these gauntlets were the only things keeping her in one piece.
"We don't want to hurt you..." Daisy sputtered out, hoping that talking would work as she saw more water build up near her, "But we will if we have too!" She shouted, ducking as water rushed just above her head as she ran forward. A blur of blue raced past her that was heading for the exit before she sent a wave of energy at him; pushing him to the ground. I don't think so, she thought as he lay motionless on the floor; water pooling all around him. With as much speed as her bruised body could muster, she raced towards the fallen enemy to detain him; getting the first look at his face.
He had impossibly black hair under his blue hoodie, his face was tanned like he had spent several summers in the sun. Daisy could spot a hint of orange peeking from under his zipped up jacket, it was an obnoxious color that was bright even in the darkness of the warehouse. He looked no older than nineteen...just a kid.
Daisy pursed her lips as she pulled out thick handcuffs from her waist, snapping one around the boy's wrist. As soon as the click of one of the cuffs resounded around them, the boy's eyes burst open to reveal a deep green color full of fear. The water that had pooled around them, that had drenched Daisy but left the boy dry, formed tentacles and pulled Daisy's legs away from him. She was dragged under machinery, hitting her head on several pipes, before the boy stood up with shaky legs.
"F-Fitz..." She tried to radio before a voice interrupted her.
"Not necessary, Quake," Coulson stated, standing to the side of the boy as he stood up, a gun in hand. Without wasting a moment, two ICER rounds collided with the boy's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground once more as Coulson held a hand to his own head.
"Kid packs a punch..." Coulson muttered as he clicked the other half of the handcuffs on the boy's hands, "Fitz, where's that Quinjet?"
"ETA two minutes, sir."
"Quake, you alright?" Coulson asked as Daisy crawled out from under the metal machines, her whole body covered in bruises and cuts.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." She answered, shaking her head to clear her vision.
"Good, let's get out of here."
He woke up to a bright white light staring down at him. Dark gray walls surrounded him on all sides with a mirror on one.
Stay calm...He thought, immediately growing restless. His leg moved up and down, he tapped his fingers on the bulky steel table his head had rested on, and he cracked his back against the uncomfortable chair he was cuffed to. His eyes drifted to the table in front of him, eyeing the files spread out for him to see.
Images of a comet falling from the sky from several different angles. Security camera pictures of him jumping over a taxi, water flowing down the street as he ran. He tried to remember what he had done, what had happened in that warehouse, but came up flat.
"That was quite a fall." A calm voice said as the thick door opened. A man with thin brown hair, almost bald, wore a black suit as he entered. He held a briefcase in his hands with the symbol of a bird on it in white, "Wanna tell me where you come from?"
The boy could only raise an eyebrow, he would have loved to tell suited man. But he couldn't remember anything...he couldn't even remember his name.
"Do you speak English?" The man asked as he sat opposite of the boy, "Can you speak?" He raised an eyebrow, wondering if the boy was sane enough to say anything. A sane man wouldn't have trashed several blocks with water powers.
"What's Camp Half-Blood?" The man asked, pointing to the shirt the boy wore. A bright orange shirt hid beneath his blue hoodie, ripped in some spots from something.
The boy could only shrug as he looked down, he didn't remember putting any of this on...let alone what camp that was. He could see a black wing poking from some animal on the shirt, like a horse.
"The more you work with us, the easier this will be..." The man said as he folded his hands on the table, "I'm Phil, Phil Coulson. Director of SHIELD." He motioned towards the boy, "And you are?"
The boy was still staring at his own shirt, his brain aching as he thought. He'd seen this color before, no he'd seen the shirt. The image of a beach flashed in his mind as his eyes clenched shut. What was that place? A forest was next to it, someone was calling his name...a girl...she wore the same shirt as his. It was all he could see.
"P..." He started, his brain feeling like it was on fire as he tried to hear the full thing, "P-Percy." His eyes opened to look at the man across from him.
"Well, Percy, you're in a lot of trouble..." Coulson said with a furrowed brow, Percy could only look confused as he looked at the pictures of a comet on the table more.