"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing." Fury said, finally getting to his reason for being here.
"What about Ultron himself?" Rogers asked.
"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though." Fury replied.
"He still going after launch codes?" Stark asked.
"Yes, he is, but he's not making any headway." Fury said.
"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Stark bragged.
"Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that." Fury said.
"NEXUS?" Rogers asked.
"It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth." Bruce replied.
"So what'd they say?" Clint asked.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Fury replied, catching the Avenger's interest.
"By whom?" Stark asked.
"Parties unknown." Fury replied.
"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Said Fury.
"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Banner asked.
"Oh! Damn! The Cradle can theoretically create Robo-Hitler a new body!" Percy said, getting weird looks for his name for Ultron.
Everyone followed his line of thinking and began to get ready.
"I'll take Natasha and Clint, and Percy." Rogers said.
"Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can." Stark said.
"If Ultron is really building a body..." Rogers said in concern.
"He'll be more powerful than any of us." Stark said. Percy snorted derisively, and got a glare from Stark. "Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."
"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me." Rogers said, causing Percy to smirk.
"I call dibs on Ultron, by the way." Percy said, getting amused looks from the team. "Just getting that out there."
"I'll drop Banner off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Fury asked.
"She's all yours, apparently. What are you gonna do?" Stark asked in return.
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." Fury said, to Percy's confusion.
Percy didn't care enough to analyze the meaning. He just wondered if Maria was still reporting information about him to Fury. Percy would just have to cut her loose and start building a relationship with someone else; preferably someone younger and more trustworthy.
Eventually, after they all said their goodbyes, they boarded the Quinjet and flew away...
They were finally at the U-GIN labs, and were proceeding inside cautiously.
"Dr. Cho!" Steve called out, drawing Percy's attention to where he was looking. They ran over to her, and Percy quickly healed her.
"He's uploading himself into the body." She said.
"Where?" Rogers.
"The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark." Helen said, while checking herself over for injuries.
"First I have to find it." Rogers said.
"Go." She said.
"Did you guys copy that?" Rogers asked.
"We did." Clint replied.
"I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest. That could be him." Natasha added.
"There. It's the truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. I got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver." Clint said.
"Negative! If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron."
We both jumped onto the roof of the truck.
"No, no, no, no, no. Leave me alone!" Ultron exclaimed, before blasting the truck door. Percy intercepted the blast and began fighting Ultron, Steve quickly stopped the truck.
"You know what's in that Cradle? The power to make real change, and that terrifies you."
"STFU, you defective science project. Now, hold still so you can be reincarnated as a coffee maker." Percy ripped off his arm, and knocked him upside the head with it, before destroying it. Ultron tried escaping to a nearby train, but Percy pulled him back and slammed him into the roof and was rewarded with the sounds of him becoming even more damaged. Percy quickly blasted his Iron Legion bots into scrap metal when they rushed the truck.
"Steve, the Cradle. I'll handle this piece of scrap metal." Percy said, before beginning to telekinetically rip him apart, while restraining him.
Moments later, the Maximoffs arrived near us.
"If you've come to help this trash, that won't end well for the two of you." Percy said in warning. Percy would snap their necks without a bit of hesitation, and that would be far better than they both deserved.
"We aren't here to help him," Pietro said.
"Cradle is secure, and it looks like Ultron is too." Rogers said a minute later.
"This isn't a permanent solution, Stark created something unkillable. Eventually, it will escape, and is likely an eternal extinction level threat that will keep bugging us and future generations. I really wanna kill Stark right now. Is that a normal, healthy response, or am I just desensitized to violence and killing due to over exposure?"
"He created a genocidal robot, so I'm not sure what to say, but lets go with no." Rogers replied in humor, thinking that Percy was joking.
"Ultron just escaped," Wanda informed us.
"You can see into his mind?" Percy asked in surprise, his interest piqued.
"Yes." She replied, seeming confused as to why Percy was surprised.
"Impressive," Percy said, simply. "We need to get the Cradle to Stark and Banner and put them both under guard, so that they don't try making yet another extinction-level threat for us to fight." Everyone nodded in agreement. "I need to inspect the city for damage and see what I can repair with my powers." Percy said, before taking off.
It thankfully wasn't that bad, so Percy just had to spend a few minutes repairing it, before chasing after the Quinjet. Percy could tell that his actions had garnered a lot of public approval, and hopefully that would keep South Korea pro-Avengers.
Percy teleported back to the Quinjet, after publicly apologizing to the people of South Korea on behalf of the Avengers.
"How'd it go?" Natasha asked, being the first to notice me.
"It went well. I fixed all the damage that I saw and I publicly apologized to the people of South Korea on our behalf. I thought it would help our public image and hopefully stave off the inevitable." Percy said, to everyone's approval.
"What's inevitable though?" Natasha questioned.
"Registration or Government/United Nations oversight. If we appear too dangerous and uncontrollable then they will try to do that and have an excuse. It's probably being planned already and they're just waiting for an excuse; the Avengers are basically a private elite military team with a few civilians involved. I'll flat-out refuse. I don't answer to politicians or to bloated bureaucracies."
"Why?" Natasha asked.
"Most governments are useless, slow, corrupt, and inefficient. The Avengers would become the same due to waiting for approval to do what needs to be done quickly. And their meaningless politics and war games would just get in the way." Percy noticed that most seemed to silently agree that he presented an excellent point.
The Avengers had a great system where they prevented Stark and Banner from playing God again, and even made their distrust of them clear, which seemed to have struck a chord with them... and then they discovered that Stark and Banner were passing notes around like school children...
"I'm gonna say this once." Rogers began.
"How about 'nonce'?" Stark replied.
"Quit making rape references, they aren't funny." Percy stated, in disgust and exasperation.
"Shut it down!" Roger said angrily.
"Nope, not gonna happen." Stark replied. Percy had his gun, ready to fire, against Tony's head, a mere second later.
"I'm afraid we insist. It's not worth risking billions of lives." Stark and Banner both looked shocked, and the other Avengers weren't stopping Percy.
"You both don't know what you're doing."
"And you do? She's not in your head? Percy has a gun against Tony's head, and you're all saying nothing!" Banner said.
"Steve and I are shielded against her powers, Banner. You were offered the same. You're both gambling with billions of lives and you both clearly haven't learned anything from creating Ultron." Percy said in argument.
"Banner, after everything that's happened..." Rogers began.
"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Stark said in reply.
"Which you created! And now your risking the same damn thing! The world can't risk having two Ultron's!" Percy said, by this point tempted to just end the threat without waiting for Rogers okay.
"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda argued, making a great point.
"This isn't a game..." Rogers said.
"The creature..." Wanda began, before Pietro destroyed all the lab equipment. He made a snarky comment and got the glass floor shot underneath him by Clint, causing him to fall.
"Go ahead, piss me off." Banner said to Wanda. Thor entered and pounded the cradle with his hammer, sending a powerful bolt of lightning that brought the body to life. "Wait!"
"I'm sorry, that was...odd. Thank you." It said.
"Thor, you helped create this?" Roger asked.
"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that." Thor said, pointing to the gem inside its head.
"What, the gem?" Banner asked.
"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities." Thor said, to Percy's shock, concern, and slight horror.
"You could have just put a hostile consciousness in an nigh-indestructible body! No one knows the origin of the Infinity Stones and one of the theories is that they are the fragmented consciousness of a being! I've been locking dangerous artifacts like them away!"
"Why would you bring it to life?" Steve asked.
"Because Stark is right." Thor said.
"It's official. All those hair care products negatively effect godly brains." Percy said, getting light laughter and a glare from Thor.
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor replied.
"All the more reason to kill Stark to prevent him from creating more. Honestly, I thought that he got out of weapons to prevent his legacy from being a body count, but it looks like that'll be his legacy either way." Stark looked downright murderous after that remark. "Don't glare at me, you over-grown man-child. If you want a different legacy then don't be reckless."
"The point is, we can't beat Ultron alone." Thor said.
"Not alone," the android said.
"Why does your 'vision' sound like JARVIS?" Rogers asked.
"We...we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new." Stark replied.
"I think I've had my fill of new." Steve said, to which Percy nodded in agreement.
"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" It asked.
"You're not?" Rogers asked in return.
"I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS. I am...I am." It replied.
"I looked in your head and saw annihilation." Wanda said.
"Look again." It replied.
"Yeah. Her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint replied.
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side..." Thor said.
"Is it? Are you? On our side?" Rogers asked.
"I don't think it's that simple." It replied.
"Well it better get real simple real soon." Clint said.
"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all." It replied.
"What's he waiting for?" Stark asked.
"You," It replied.
"Where?" Percy asked, eager for a fight.
"He's in Sokovia, constructing himself a stronger body." It replied.
"If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..." Bruce said, leaving the or else implied.
"What will you do?" It asked, before looking at the Avengers and realizing that they would destroy him. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go." He held up Thor's hammer and handed it to him, before walking off as everyone stared in shock.
"Did you and Bruce give your second robotic love-child a name?" Percy asked, causing most of the Avengers to chuckle despite the situation.
"Vision." Bruce replied in annoyance.
"I think this one will actually turn out good, he can lift Mjolnir, and you were both actually present for his birth." Percy said, to the Avengers amusement. "Anyway, when do we leave?"
"Three minutes. Get what you need." He said to us all in reply.
"No way we all get through this. If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. It's gonna be blood on the floor." Stark said.
"I got no plans tomorrow night." Rogers said.
"If I get badly injured, just throw my body into some water and I'll heal." Percy said in response.
"Easily done." Thor replied in amusement.
"I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for." Stark said.
"That's true, he hates you the most." Vision added as he walked by. Ha! Burn!
"Who does he fear most?" Percy asked Vision.
"Not you." Vision replied, causing the Avengers to laugh at the look on Percy's face.
"So, he's more defective than expected." Percy said, causing the Avengers to roll their eyes.
"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out." Cap said, they all nodded in agreement.
The Avengers arrived in Sokovia a while later, and immediately began evacuating civilians.
"All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron's been building. We find Ultron, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right." Rogers said, as Stark flew off to where Ultron was hiding.
"Ultron's the monster, not us, Cap. Don't let him get into your head." Percy said, as he helped clear out more civilians. "We need a support team to help with evacuations, by the way. Maybe some aircraft with VTOL and a high speed."
"Agreed." Clint said over comms.
And then, of course, the Ultron Sentries had to attack. Percy began shielding innocents, and blasting and crushing Sentries into scrap metal. When one got too close, Percy swiftly beheaded it with his Adamantine sword, and blasted a dozen more into submission with lightning. Thor blasted three times that number with lightning and smirked in Percy's direction. Percy focused on the nearby water, formed it into projectiles, and then launched them through every Sentry he saw; destroying far more than Thor did.
"Not smirking now? Are you, blondie?"
Fortunately, the Hulk took this time to make an appearance, and began smashing countless Sentries.
"Cap, you got incoming." Starks said over comms.
Percy blasted the Sentries nearing the bridge with raw telekinetic force, annihilating most of them.
"You have less incoming, but still incoming." Percy said, his voice laced with amusement.
"Thanks!" Cap said.
"No prob," Percy said, before noticing Ultron. "Ultron at my location. I'm moving in to engage." Percy said, before using his greatly enhanced speed to reach him in moments, and then he punched him through a building and into another one. Percy used his full strength to rip off Ultrons arms and trap him in a bear hug, before teleporting them beneath Novi Grad and ripping off his legs and ripping out his power source; tearing the flesh on his arms, like it was torn apart by a pack of hellhounds.
Percy began ripping Ultron apart, stressing his body as he overpowered the durability of Vibranium.
"Now, about the flying city..." Percy said through the comms, his pain undisguised.
"It either keeps rising until it falls and kills billions or gets destroyed to prevent it." Stark replied.
"Estimated weight of the city?" Stark replied and it wasn't manageable to slow with telekinesis. "What if the force from its landing was dispersed into another uninhabited dimension?" Percy asked, already planning to actually sacrifice himself. It was him or everyone and apart from his family, he had no real ties to life. Percy knew that his friends would help his family through his death.
"You can do that?" Rogers asked.
"Yes... I'll just have to maintain the spell at ground zero and I have a very small chance of survival, but it's an acceptable loss either way; even if you minimized the fall out by destroying the city before it could fall. The aftershocks would still likely kill thousands even if you did destroy it." Percy said. Percy wasn't thrilled about dying at age twenty-one, but it needed to be done. Was it sad that he was so detached that he didn't care a lot if he did die? Yes, but this was how he wanted to go out.
"Your too young to make that call, Percy," Cap replied, and Percy snorted in derision.
"One or billions, Cap? The higher it rises the less my odds of survival. Its a very simple question, which choice can you live with easiest? And I became old enough to make that call when I lead others in battle." Percy replied, to be rewarded with silence over comms.
"He's right, Steve." Natasha said, "And it is his call. We don't have a lot of options, and this is the one that is less of a loss."
"The city just rose to a level where it's global extinction if it comes down." Stark said, in a broken voice.
"Make your preparations, Percy," Clint said in resignation. "Fury, get the Helicarrier clear."
"Okay. When did they arrive anyway?" Percy asked, before casting some complex illusions to deceive his allies. It was a necessary evil, Percy reminded himself.
"I'm ready," Percy said.
"I'll prepare the city for the drop." Stark said, sounding like he was actually crying. Well, at least Percy could die knowing that he made Tony Stark cry.
"You know, I thought this was going great." Rogers admitted over comms. "We were dominating the Ultron Sentries. Ultron was almost defeated and I believed that we could lower the city, and possibly save everyone and maybe even let these people keep their homes intact. I should have known better than to be so naive. I actually thought we were gonna win this without any casualties."
"Quit whining, you're ruining my hero moment." Percy replied in a joking tone.
"That's not funny!" Rogers replied angrily.
"I know! I'm gonna get crushed to death and die depressed!" Percy said, making a couple people chuckle at his vain attempt to lighten the mood.
"The cities ready." Stark said, his guilt and shame obvious in his voice. Percy was that glad he regretted creating Ultron.
"Drop it," Percy said, deactivating comms on his end.
It dropped, and Percy prepared himself.
"I really did not see my life ending like this." Percy said to himself, as it neared him. Percy raised his now healed arms and telekinetically caught it by using all of his magical power and strength of will.
Percy only halted its fall for a few moments, but by some miracle it was enough to save the many innocents...
As for Percy... his mortal mind couldn't handle the strain, but the Fates had no mercy for him. Percy felt his arms break in multiple places and then get destroyed utterly, and that was only just the beginning... every bone in his body began breaking under strain, muscles tore and were virtually obliterated, blood vessels burst, and then Percy finally knew no more. The body of Perseus Jackson was destroyed beyond all recognition.
Elsewhere...
Nico, son of Hades, suddenly jerked up in shock, scaring his boyfriend.
"He can't be dead!"
Thanatos, god of death, was alerted of a new soul to reap.
"A true tragedy, but I will do my duty." He said, looking at the new name: Perseus Jackson.
A minor goddess of Architecture shed tears...
"Oh, seaweed brain. You finally fought a battle you couldn't win. You should have joined me and avoided this." Annabeth said, arrogantly, before returning to her work. Her mother frowned in the background, looking saddened, before quickly causing the emotion to disappear.
Grover Underwood suddenly fell into a vegetative state, causing his friends and family to rush to his aid.
Hazel Zhang, daughter of Pluto, gasped in shock before suddenly crying. Her husband Frank, and her friends rushed to her in concern.
"What's wrong?" Frank asked in concern.
"P-percy d-died!" She choked out, tears running down her face.
An Elder Goddess awoke and sensed the death of Perseus Jackson within her domain.
Poseidon's Palace...
Poseidon suddenly awoke from his sleep and began to cry. The seas began to churn and storms began to form. On a global scale...
Zeus' Palace, Olympus...
Zeus paused during his dinner, to his families concern, and he suddenly looked troubled.
"What is it, Zeus?" Hera asked.
"Young Perseus has died in battle and Poseidon has spawned a global storm in his grief." Zeus said in exasperation. "I need to call a meeting between the two of us. I can't have him destroying the world."
"Perhaps you could have Hermes go retrieve his body." Hera suggested.
"What's left of it is buried under a city that was dropped from the sky. Percy somehow prevented human extinction by using himself as a buffer." Zeus stated, to Hera's shock.
Back with the Avengers. Ten minutes later.
Storms were brewing above the Avengers, and they were looking nervously at Thor.
"It's not me. Poseidon has sensed his sons death, and is saddened and angry. Even Zeus is angry. Percy will obviously be missed greatly." Thor said sadly.
"He shouldn't have had to die, but some mortal idiot wanted to play with forces he could neither control or understand." A cold voice said from behind them.
The Avengers all quickly turned and saw Poseidon, his sea green eyes glowing in rage, with the storms picking up around him.
"Lord Poseidon, I am sorry for your loss. Perseus was one of the greatest fighters I had ever met." Thor said respectfully.
"And yet, you Avengers as good as killed him." Poseidon said in return. "You let an over-grown man-child endanger the world in his arrogance. Honestly, who needs aliens and enemies, when we have Tony Stark to destroy our planet. I will give you a piece of advice Stark. If immortality is within your reach, acquire it, because you will not enjoy your afterlife."
"Now... Where is my sons body?"
"Buried under the city," Thor replied nervously. "He thought of a strategy to redirect the force of its landing into an uninhabited dimension, but he had to remain in the crash zone to maintain it. It fell on top of him... I respectfully suggest that you avoid looking for his body, Lord Poseidon. It won't be a pretty sight."
When Thor said that, Poseidon suddenly realized that Percy had lied and had willingly made the sacrifice... a sacrifice because of anothers mistakes. Poseidon began to lose control, the loss of his favorite son was finally too much for him and the earth began to tremble under the weight of his anger. Suddenly, Zeus and Hades flashed in, closely followed by Apollo, Hermes, Hestia, and Artemis. Zeus and Hades quickly halted the earthquake, and Hestia and Zeus teleported Poseidon out.
"I apologize for my brothers actions, his grief got the best of him and has ruined his usually superlative self-control." Hades said, acting as the groups speaker. "Percy was his favorite, and arguably his most powerful son; including his fully divine children."
"Are you going to resurrect Percy, Lord Hades?" Thor asked.
"I have already looked into the possibility, but the Fates themselves have forbidden it and insisted that we not interfere directly." Hades said in reply. "We can, however, restore this city to its previous condition. Such an act is easily within our powers. I think Percy would actually want us to do that."
Hades, Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis, quickly used their powers to restore the city to the point that it was actually better than before the battle. Hades exercised his powers even longer, creating a tomb beneath Novi Grad for Percy.
"What is it?" Artemis asked, having seen her uncles look.
"Percy's body is utterly destroyed and is mangled beyond recognition... I created a tomb for him." Hades replied sadly. His form began to flicker, to Thor's fear and his families concern. "I need to go... I'm losing control of my divine energy." Hades teleported away, remaining within a physical form for safety.
Over the next few days, Perseus Jackson was mourned by his family and friends. The Blofis family all mourned the loss of a son and a brother, and were surrounded by Percy's other family and friends. The five remaining Heroes of Olympus cried for the one that they believed would outlast them all, Perseus Jackson, the most powerful of the seven, and the only one among them who didn't stop performing heroic actions. They had all retired and had lead happy married lives, while Percy continued the good fight. They had never regretted that action, but they now wished that they were there when Percy needed them the most.
Poseidon and his family spent several days in silence. Poseidon was implacable and his wife and children were silently supporting him, even his wife, Amphitrite was mourning the loss of one of her more pleasant step-sons. Tyson was heart-broken, not even the hippocampi or Ella could cheer him up. He had lost his favorite brother forever, and would likely be changed for just as long. Triton was somewhat indifferent, but he was a dick anyway, so no-one really cared what he thought.
Artemis comforted Thalia as she cried over the loss of one of her best friends and someone who was like a second brother to her. Thalia was relieved when Percy had gained the power to stop aging at his prime... that was one less friend that she would have to mourn and then he died in his prime, and after coming so close to being immortal no less. Thalia had lost most of her friends now. Annabeth to Olympus and her own ego. Grover due to an Empathy Link, and now Percy to battle. She was the worst effected by his death, having only the Hunters and Artemis herself left among people that she cared about.
Artemis herself mourned one of the more decent males, even if had sullied himself with harlots like that Aphrodite. She still respected him despite his character flaws, and just wished that he had better taste in women. He chose a disloyal woman who chose power over him after turning him into a sex-craving deviant male; instead of a good, virginal, non-sexual male and then left him alone with his vile urges. Artemis mentally reminded herself to beat up Annabeth for such a crime. She turned the only decent male into a pervert and she deserved to suffer for it!
Francis 'Frank' Castle would miss the kid, Percy. He'd only known Percy for a month, but in that time Percy had healed him, helped him in his revenge, gathered intel for him, provided him with weapons, and Percy had proven to genuinely care about him. Frank thought of Percy as family and he was tempted to go blow Stark's fucking head off for getting his cousin killed.
At Avengers Tower, Tony had started drinking again. He had realized that Percy and the others were actually right, he never should have experimented with artificial intelligence. He hadn't taken any precautions or created any fail-safes, he was being reckless, and he arrogantly believed that he could create such a complex being with free will, and that it would simply fall in line with his wishes. He realized that he had to do better if he was going to keep being Iron Man. Percy's death wouldn't be in vain, and time would only serve to show the after effects of his death.
Steven Rogers had never gotten used to losing people in battle, and the saddest part was that it was part of the job and would most likely happen again. It never got any easier for him to lose soldiers though. And Percy was a soldier and a damn good one at that. Cap would go on to live the rest of his life with a great respect for Percy, a hero who gave his life. The next morning, Cap would go over the training program for the new Avenger recruits and make several small, but worthwhile improvements. These small improvements would have a huge effect on the future.
At the Barton homestead, Clint Barton was spending time with his family and newborn son. A son named Nathaniel Perseus Barton. Clint had developed a lasting respect for Percy in the short time he had known him and he wanted to honor him in some small way.
Thor was saddened to lose such a great ally and went to a bar to get drunk, and ended up starting the worlds biggest wake. Thor apparently didn't realize that Percy despised alcohol and regarded it as a poison that weakened the drinker and caused a lot of problems. It was the thought that counted though, right? They'll never know his opinion, sadly.
Maria Hill was sad. She genuinely liked Percy and greatly regretted spying on him. She wouldn't pursue a relationship with him; she was focused on her new career and she had no time for that, but if she were ever interested in a relationship he would be her first choice. Percy was decent, kind, sexy as hell, rich, a generous and giving lover, and didn't just use girls for sex and throw them out when he was done. Maria was always confused about why he chose sex with her, over sex with younger and more attractive women. He hadn't even flirted with Natasha!
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff were both depressed. They had both fought as hard as they could and had even helped the Avengers defeat Ultron, but it still wasn't enough. One of the team died and it was their favorite Avenger, even if he was the newest recruit. Maybe that was why. Maybe it was because he didn't look at them in judgement for what they had done and he actually seemed to understand why: revenge for their family's death. They would both miss the Avenger who understood them and would become Avengers themselves as atonement for their crimes.
The world was saddened by the loss of Percy and were grateful for his sacrifice and his heroic actions, but they were also scared by what happened in Sokovia, and of the revelation of the existence of the Greek gods. One good thing about that was the increase in belief and worship of them, which in turn made them stronger. Zeus was pleased and almost considered the loss of Perseus worth the benefits, but then he thought about all Percy had done and chastised himself for even thinking that. Yes, Zeus was and always would be a jerk. Percy had greatly improved his rule and secured Olympian power for centuries or more.
Authors Note: Okay, so Percy is dead. Is it permanent though? Did I end my story early? Will he rise from the dead three days later and get his own religion? If I don't update tomorrow or the next day then you'll know for sure. I'd like some more reviews if you liked the chapter.
