Percy
He hovered on the edge of an abyss, staring down into the endless void of Nothing. Akhlys was there, her face contorted in pain, "Stop!" she gasped, clawing at her swollen throat, "Please, stop!" Tears streamed down her hollow cheeks and he felt a surge of power as yet more water joined the flood of poison drowning the Misery goddess.
"Percy!" Annabeth cried. The look on her face broke him, "Percy, stop!"
"Annabeth!"
He thrashed awake, tumbling from a bed onto a cold, tiled floor. Trembling fingers clutched and unclutched rhythmically at an unfamiliar sheet, damp with sweat. The memory of his dream cut like broken glass as Percy tried to make sense of his surroundings. The room lurched and he doubled over, retching.
"You'll be okay," said a faraway voice, "It takes a while for the sedatives to wear off."
Warily, he cracked open an eyelid. He was in a cell; empty except for a toilet, a sink and the bed which he'd fallen out of. Above him, a fluorescent bulb threw white light into his eyes. A barred window faced a room of similar cells, from which stared back faces Percy recognized – at least, from TV.
"You-you're the Avengers."
A dark-skinned man – Falcon, he thought – grimaced, "Not anymore, kid."
"I'm not a kid."
"How old are you?"
For a terrifying moment, Percy couldn't remember. He swallowed, "Eighteen."
The strangers exchanged glances. There were three in total, the Falcon and an older man he recognized as Hawkeye – pretty much the Apollo kids' idol – and one he couldn't remember seeing.
"Where am I?"
"The RAFT," Hawkeye said, rubbing his temples, "Top secret underwater facility for imprisoning superhumans which begs the question, why are you here?"
Percy dragged himself to his feet, his fingers curling around the bars as he rested his forehead against the cool glass, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" the third man cried.
"Who are you?"
He swore, "Scott Lang, Ant-Man."
"I've never heard of you."
"Typical," he muttered.
Percy sank down on the bed. He was captured, imprisoned. He had no idea if his friends had escaped, or if they were even alive, no way of contacting them… Annabeth. He groaned. She was going to kill him.
"What's your name?" Falcon asked gently.
He hesitated, "Percy Jackson."
"I'm Sam Wilson and this is Clint Barton, formerly of the Avengers."
"Formerly?"
Barton's fists clenched, "It's a long story."
"I guess we've got time," Percy said, "Since we're inmates." Wilson chuckled.
"Percy…"
The memory of Annabeth's voice sent shivers down his spine. She sounded so close…
"Percy!"
A white mist formed in front of him and, before he could swat it away, Annabeth's face appeared from the cloud. Relief flashed briefly across her features before quickly being replaced by anger.
"Thank the gods! Percy, I swear to Hades if you've got yourself into trouble again-"
"Annabeth," he jumped in quickly, "I'm not alone!"
The Avengers watched the exchange in bewilderment. Scott pinched his arm, as though checking what he was seeing was real, "What the-?"
Annabeth's eyes widened, "Where are you?"
"Some top-secret jail with the Avengers."
"The Avengers? Di immortales! Percy, this is bad…"
"I know," he said, "But I'm gonna get out, I have a plan."
She rolled her eyes, "No you don't."
"No, I don't, but I'm working on it."
"Just promise me you won't do anything stupid," she sighed.
"When have I ever done anything stupid?" he demanded, his eyebrows shooting up in indignation.
"Percy…"
"Fine, I promise," he forced a grin, "I'll see you soon, Wise Girl."
"You'd better," she smiled back and waved her hand through the mist, breaking the connection.
"Who was that?" demanded Clint.
"My girlfriend, Annabeth."
"She seems nice," he said dryly.
"She is," Percy pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to think. I'm gonna get out… His situation seemed pretty hopeless – if this place was built to contain the Avengers, what chance did he have? The hum of machinery told him this place was probably fully automated, making brute force pointless. Beyond that, he could hear the sound of waves crashing against rock.
Waves… He grinned, a plan slowly forming in his mind.
"Where did you say this place was again?"
Annabeth
"I need to speak to Tony Stark."
Annabeth strode across the marbled lobby of Avengers tower, Piper hot on her heels. The receptionist watched their progress towards the mahogany desk, her expression ready with a red-lipsticked smile.
"I'm afraid Mr Stark is unavailable at the moment. Would you like to make an appointment?"
Piper stepped forward, "Please," she looked up at the secretary through her thick lashes – a look she knew was irresistible, "It's really important."
"Well…" she frowned, tapping her perfectly manicured nails against the expensive grain of the desk.
"We'd be so grateful," Piper insisted, "It's about a friend."
"Well, in that case…" she beckoned them over to the platinum-and-glass elevator, "Make it quick."
"Thank you!" Annabeth practically ran into the elevator. Percy had been missing a little over twenty-four hours and only the gods knew how much trouble he had caused already. If it was true that the Avengers were involved – and she believed Percy that they were – then it wasn't just him, but the entire camp, at stake.
There were no buttons in the elevator but as Piper joined her, an electronic voice asked, "Where would you like to go?"
"Uh…" Piper glanced at her, confused, "we need to see Tony Stark?"
"Ascending to Mr Stark's laboratory." The elevator began to rise, and Annabeth checked her reflection in the glass as they shot upwards. She was wearing her school uniform – the same thing she'd been wearing since Thalia IMed to say Percy was missing – and her hair was in a tired-looking ponytail. She pulled out the band, letting her curls fall in frazzled waves around her face.
In no time, the view out of the window was dizzying. The electronic voice bade them a good day as the doors slid open, revealing the strangest room Annabeth had ever seen. Floor to ceiling windows cast light on technology the Hephaestus kids couldn't even dream of, littered carelessly across the steel counters. Blueprints pinned down by half-empty coffee mugs showed even crazier designs and holograms made Annabeth feel as though she'd stepped through a portal to the future. Hunched in front of monitor the size of a flat screen TV was the world renowned billionaire, genius and one of Annabeth's personal role models; Tony Stark.
She straightened her blouse and stepped inside, "Mr Stark?"
"Jarvis, I said no visitors."
Tony Stark was a short man with a large presence. He had an air of confidence that his rumpled t-shirt and hipster glasses couldn't take away from. Behind the glasses, his dark eyes looked sad.
"Your receptionist approved them, sir," A voice from the ceiling apologised.
"It's important," Piper pleaded, "It'll only take five minutes." Her voice was so persuasive Annabeth found herself wanting to sit down and have a nice chat.
Tony Stark blinked, "Alright then," he said uncertainly, "What's this about?"
Annabeth fumbled for her phone, "This is my boyfriend, Percy Jackson," she said, holding up a picture, "Do you recognise him?"
"The kid from the surveillance footage…" Stark muttered.
"He's being held captive with the Avengers – your teammates," he paled, "I need your help to free them."
"I can't," he snapped.
"Why not?" Annabeth demanded. She'd come all this way, relying on his help, "They're your friends! Percy's my boyfriend! Why can't we help eachother?"
"Because," he took a deep breath and looked up at her unhappily, "I'm the one who put them there."
Annabeth listened incredulously as Tony explained how the Avengers had fought over something called the Sokovia Accords and how he'd tried to kill Steve Rogers after discovering Rogers' friend had murdered his parents. The Avengers were over. The relief Annabeth might've felt a week ago at this happening (the mortals coming so close to the supernatural had not gone over well with the gods) was overshadowed by her growing panic because if Tony Stark, one of the most powerful men in the world, couldn't help her rescue Percy, who could?
"So, what's the deal with this kid?" Stark asked finally, "I saw the surveillance footage from the other night, that woman had some serious tech."
"It wasn't tech," Annabeth whispered.
"What?"
"It's real."
Shock rippled across Tony's face, "That's impossible."
"I'll explain everything," Annabeth knew she was about to make a mistake – maybe her worst yet – but she didn't care, she had to find Percy, "If you come with me."
"Come with you where?" he asked suspiciously. Ignoring Piper's glare, she met the older man's gaze.
"Camp Half-Blood."
Chapter 2 is out, and I hope everyone's as excited for this story as I am! Please support this story by letting me know what you think! Question; I know it's an old debate but are you team cap or team iron man? Let me know, by reviewing! Also, if you like Harry Potter I am currently on book 2 of my HP/PJO series and things are heating up so check it out!
Macca69, thank you for being this story's first fave, follow and review! I always aim to continue my stories until completion, and I have this one planned out, but I don't know how frequent updates will be as I'm very busy with exams :(
Rainbowsphinx - Thanks, I'm so glad you like the story so far!
treyalexander63917 - Some of the demigods will be teaming up with the Avengers and some won't - hence the civil war! As for the threat level, they'll be pretty evenly matched though obviously the more powerful demigods like Percy will be stronger than the weaker Avengers and some Avengers, like Thor, will be able to defeat the weaker demigods pretty easily. Hope this makes sense!
Percabeth2.0life - Thank you so much! Keep reading!
Mae - Wow, thank you! I'm glad you like my writing though I'm always looking to improve so if you ever have any constructive criticism, let me know!
Hope you enjoyed!
Lileaf, xoxo