Chapter 7: "…But Not Us"


Jason

Jason coasted on the winds, readying himself to land on the pad in the Avengers Compound. He'd just gotten word that they'd figured out a way to bring everyone back. The second that he decided it wasn't a prank call, he'd put Dakota in charge and got the heck out of there.

It was no mean feat to travel from California to New York in two hours, but Jason managed. He'd just be exhausted when he got there. He landed on the platform lightly, but somehow still scaring a guy who was eating a taco.

"Oh my—"

"Hey." Jason greeted him, still having no idea who he was. "Where's Cap?" He pointed towards the Compound. Jason resisted from rolling his eyes. He knew Steve was in the Compound. Just where in the Compound was what mattered at the moment.

He sighed and started walking into the Compound just as a space ship landed on the grass. Jason recognized it as Nebula and Rocket's ship. Obviously Steve and Natasha had called all hands on deck for this.

"Hey humie! Where's Big Green?" Rocket yelled as he strode past the Taco Guy. Was it Sam? Or Scott? Jason was pretty sure it was Scott.

"Uh, kitchen, I think." Scott replied. "That's all I needed." Jason muttered to himself.

Nebula landed hard down on the Compound landing strip. Scott jumped so hard half the ingredients of his taco fell out. Nebula glanced at him and then started speaking into her communicator.

"Rhodey, careful on reentry. There's an idiot on the landing zone." Jason grinned and walked in with Nebula and Rocket.

"So, what's up with you, Sparky?" Rocket asked him. Jason groaned internally. He should never have told Rocket what Leo used to call him.

As always, there was a little pang when he thought of Leo, but he shook it off. He'd gotten better at that over the years.

"Not much." Jason replied a little too casually. "Anything new with you guys? Any new evil dudes that we need to take care of?"

"No." Nebula replied in her usual dark tone. "I already did."

They walked into the kitchen, Rhodey on their heels.

Jason was surprised to see that he was the only demigod in the room right then. "Where's—"

"We were hoping you would be able to find Percy." Natasha finished. "Any idea where he might be?"

"No." Jason replied. "He could be literally anywhere in the U.S."

"Is there anywhere important to him? Maybe somewhere where he's been to before that's important to him?"

Jason thought. Then a slow smile spread up his face. "Have you ever been to the Hoover Dam? Percy told me once that it's got a dam good snack bar."


Natasha Romanoff
New Orleans Junior High School
10:32 AM

Natasha Romanoff slid on one of her disguise-o-mesh face masks (Tony's words, not hers) inside a car. She was sitting in front of a New Orleans Junior High School. Not normally a place that she would hang out, but she had a reason this time.

She usually didn't wear her disguising face masks, they were highly uncomfortable. But it wasn't like you could go strolling into a Junior High School as an Avenger. Everyone had known how they had failed in Wakanda, so they were considerably less popular right then. So she was using the mask because she really didn't want to make the news at that particular moment.

She walked into the school building and stopped at the office.

"I'd like to get a volunteer badge." She told the secretary. The secretary looked at her suspiciously. "Name?"

"Natalie Rushman." Natasha replied. "I'm volunteering for one of your classes." The woman sighed and printed out a badge without arguing. She hadn't had her morning coffee and didn't really care one way or another about where the red-headed stranger went as long as she left quickly.

Natasha walked down the hallway of the school, looking around. Finally she saw one whose headboard said, Mrs. Levesque. Natasha smiled slightly. In a spurt of feminism, Hazel had kept her old last name. Maybe to honor her mother.

Natasha looked through the window and saw a twenty-four year old Hazel Levesque. She was now a history professor for a junior high school in New Orleans. Why Hazel had chosen to be a teacher as a distraction, let alone a teacher for teenagers escaped her, but she supposed that she would be a good history professor, considering her past.

"And who can tell me why Alaska was mostly unharmed during World War 2?"Hazel asked her class. One boy raised his hand.

"Yes, Andrew?" The boy pointed to the door, meeting Natasha's eyes briefly and then looking away. "Um, there's someone at the door for you." Hazel glanced at Natasha standing outside the doorway and met her eyes.

Natasha nodded briefly at her. "Katie, you're in charge while I go talk to her." Hazel told her students.

One girl nodded and grinned slightly. As soon as Hazel walked out of her classroom, it was complete pandemonium inside. Hazel took no notice and walked straight to Natasha.

"Natasha, what are you doing here?" Hazel asked in a low voice out in the hall.

"We've found something. A chance to bring everyone back." Hazel swallowed. "Look Nat, don't get my hopes up. The Infinity Stones were destroyed. I'm doing my best to move on, alright?"

"I know. I just need you to trust me. We'll tell you when we get to the Compound, but we need you now."

"We? Who's we?"

"Just me, Steve, Tony, Bruce, Scott, Rhodey, Rocket, Nebula, Thor, and Jason."

"Oh, is that all?"

"We need all of you. As many people as we can get."

"What about Emily?"

"You daughter?" Natasha's hard gaze softened. "I thought she was staying at your camp." Hazel raised her eyebrows.

"And let my four year old daughter go through Lupa's torture? What kind of mother do you think I am?" A junior high schooler walked by, heard part of the conversation, and walked faster towards his classroom, no doubt about to tell his friends that 'Mrs. Levesque finally snapped'.

Hazel took no notice and continued. "Most legacies go out at age eight. Emily's at daycare." Natasha honestly didn't understand half the things that Hazel had just said, but decided to roll with it.

"Well, then keep her there. It shouldn't take longer than a day… in fact, if it works, it shouldn't take any time at all." Hazel looked at her, golden eyes studying the assassin, as if gauging how crazy she looked right now.

"Just trust me, Hazel." Natasha said again. "I know it's hard. But there's a chance. I think we should take it."

"We really could bring everyone back?" Hazel asked softly.

"If it works."

Hazel looked down, and when she looked up, Natasha could see some of herf old steely gaze back in her eyes.

"Let's go get Frank."


Steve Rogers
Long Island, New York
2:17 PM

As Steve sat in a taxi on a drive to Long Island, he tried to remember the instructions Percy had given him for how to get into Camp Half-Blood.

Five years ago, right after they'd gotten back from that devastating trip to Thanos and before Percy had disappeared. He'd told Steve, and only Steve, which made him feel honored but also kind of freaked out.

"The gods would literally hit me with a bolt of lightning if they knew I was telling you this," Percy had told him. "But to Tartarus what the gods think. Still, I should probably not take any chances. Don't tell anyone after I tell you."

Steve had promised, so Percy had told him.

"The Mist was created to make a level of reality that mortals can understand. But I think that you've seen enough that a dragon, some gold sheep skin, and a multi-colored campfire wouldn't exactly blow your mind. You'll have to concentrate though. It's a pretty strong layer. Peleus—that's the dragon—is pretty fierce, but if one of the campers tells him to stop then he will. Maybe try and wave to one of the campers and they'll get you in. You're Captain America, so I don't think you'll have much trouble. But only try and get to camp in emergencies. Got it?"

Steve asked the taxi driver to let him out at the address Percy had given him and he gave him a pretty strange look.

"There's nothing there. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Steve said firmly. The driver just shrugged and drove in the direction of the address. Steve got out and stood out on the beach. He was starting to doubt Percy's instructions. There was the huge pine tree and a strawberry farm, but there wasn't really anything unusual, was there?

He concentrated. Nothing happened. He tried again. That time it worked.

Have you ever been outside on a really hot day and seen heat waves? Imagine that, but on a much larger scale, and the landscape actually changed when the heat waves stopped.

That was what it was like for Steve. He had to focus to keep his jaw from dropping.

There was a huge dragon near the pine tree, and on the pine tree was the Golden Fleece. There were some cabins in the distance and some kids in armor running errands. It looked more like a military school than a summer camp, but then again, the Snap changed everything, for better or worse.

He hesitantly walked closer to the tree, getting the attention of a camper who was standing in front of the tree next to the dragon. She glanced over casually and then looked away. Then she took a double take and looked at Steve closer.

"Hello." Steve said uncomfortably.

She didn't even answer and pointed to the dragon next to her. "Can you see this?" Steve shrugged.

"The dragon? Sure."

"How—"Then her eyes widened. "You're Steve Rogers."

"Thanks, I know."

"But you're an Avenger."

"I know that too."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to find a camper named Nico di Angelo."

She looked at him quizzically. "Nico? What do you need Nico for?" Steve sighed.

"It's a long story. Could you just call off your dragon so I could get in?" She shrugged.

"Well, you're Captain America, so I suppose you'd be trustworthy. Still, I'm gonna have to bring you to Chiron."

"Yeah, okay."

"In that case… Peleus, down!" The dragon lay back down again, his eyes following Steve as he cautiously stepped through the border.

The girl smiled. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Captain. I'm Lou Ellen, by the way."

After Steve had gotten permission from Chiron, who had gladly let him go find Nico, who was apparently getting even more depressed than he usually was, and even Will Solace was having a hard time cheering him up.

Lou Ellen pointed him towards the sword fighting arena, looking afraid for his life. Steve walked towards the arena, getting a lot of strange looks on the way. But Steve was used to it, being Captain America and all.

One little boy came up to him and shyly asked for his autograph, pushed by what looked like his older sister. "Come on, Jake." She muttered. "You've killed a hellhound, but you can't ask a mortal hero for his autograph?"

Steve smiled at the kid and signed a piece of paper. The older sister gave him a tired smile and asked where he was going. "I'm looking for the sword fighting arena." He answered politely.

"The sword fighting arena? That's over there." The girl pointed towards it.

"Come on, Angela." Jake whined from a foot away. Angela walked over to Jake.

Steve said thanks, and didn't bother telling her that he was getting lost in this huge camp.

Finally Steve managed to find the sword fighting arena, where he figured out why Nico was the only one there.

He was taller, older, and even darker, if that was possible. He wore the same skull ring that he always did, and used the same Stygian Iron Sword to fight, and those straw dummies certainly weren't good to bother anyone any time soon.

His black sword whirled through the air, cutting off all the limbs of the straw dummies, and Steve figured that there were a whole host of demigods outside the arena, waiting nervously for him to be done. Nico looked so absorbed that Steve didn't doubt that anyone who moved too quickly near him would lose a limb too.

Finally Steve got up the courage to step forward. "Nico?" Fluid as thought, the black sword was right next to his throat, but luckily the sword stopped moving when Nico saw who it was.

"Steve?" He sheathed his sword. "What are you doing here?" Steve shrugged.

"No reason. Thought I'd do some sightseeing, since this is, you know, a camp where the gods' children hang out?"

Nico raised his eyebrows. He didn't look very amused.

"Okay, fine. Jeez, can't you take a joke?"

"I'm not really in the mood for jokes these days."

"We might have figured out a way to bring everyone back."

Nico looked so surprised, the dead look in his eyes actually changed for a second. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Nico looked at him. "And how are you supposed to do that? It's not like we could aim for the arm this time."

"It's gonna sound pretty crazy."

"You're saying that to a kid that was born in the nineteen thirties, got trapped in a magic hotel, and came eighty years later."

That was a good point. "We're travelling back in time."

"You're doing what now?"

"You heard it."

"Going back in time? That's impossible."

"So was wiping out half the universe with one snap." Steve pointed out. Nico shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. I mean, I've been let down so many times, what's one more? Will's always telling me I should get out more." His eyes widened. "Oh, Tartarus. Will's not gonna be happy about this."


"You want me to get Percy?" Hazel stared at Jason. "Why?"

"You're like his little sister. He'd come if you asked him to." Jason told her. "He doesn't really like me at the moment." His face darkened.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't. We're just guessing. Hazel, this entire thing is guessing. Going back in time is practically impossible."

"Are you sure Nico couldn't do it? Or-or Steve or Natasha?"

"Come on, Hazel. What are you afraid of?"

Hazel was silent, but her expression showed it all.

Him.

They all had had their different ways of coping. But Percy had lost something that was more important to him than any of the others combined. No one knew what he had done to push through, but they knew that whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"All right." Hazel said finally. "I'll do it." Jason nearly sighed in relief, but he restrained himself.

"Okay, good. Don't worry; you're gonna be dam good at it."

"What?"


Hazel Levesque
Hoover Dam, Nevada
4:19 PM

Hazel arrived at the Hoover Dam and was greeted by complete chaos.

People were screaming, kids were crying, and the tour guides were running around, yelling at the top of their lungs over the din, "It's okay! It's just a cleaning!"

Hazel doubted it, so ran over to the guide and asked where all the trouble was coming from. He pointed wordlessly at the window, and Hazel rushed over to it and looked through it. It was too dirty to see through. She cursed and grabbed a piece of iron from the ground (it just popped up, like it always did when she was agitated) and tossed it at the window, which shattered.

Now, above the shouting and the screaming and the yelling of the tour guides, there were also alarms piercing through the air.

Hazel stuck her head out the window, hair whipping in the breeze, and saw the incredible sight.

There was a whirlpool inside the dam, sucking up some strange creature, and it was so deranged and wounded that it took Hazel a second to recognize it.

A drakon, one of the biggest she had ever seen, and battling it was a much more different person that Hazel had known.

The drakon was roaring, adding more noise to the chaos, and was trying with all its might to break out of the watery trap that it was held fast to.

Percy manipulated his hands so the water swirled faster, and he jumped down from the whirlpool that he himself was standing on, Riptide raised high. He slammed his sword into one of the glowing eyes of the drakon, and it howled in pain.

Hazel could just catch the barest hint of a bitter smile as he hacked and chopped at the scales. In fact, if Clarisse was there, she would have to grudgingly admit that he was just as worthy as she was of the title of Drakon-Slayer.

Hazel wanted to help, but she doubted this was the time. Plus she had been in retirement for nearly three years now, only fighting off monsters when they threatened to hurt her or her family. She hadn't seen Arion in months, let alone fought in battles.

Percy finally got an edge into the rock hard scales of the dragon and ripped it off. From there he stabbed right into the open skin of the drakon and… well, you don't need to know the details.

Suffice it to say that soon enough, that drakon was crumbling to dust, fighting the entire way. The water in the dam went back to normal, sloshing slightly. Percy collapsed on the grass, not even bothering to collect the spoil of war; the green scale that he had ripped off.

Hazel was impressed. He'd held that whirlpool for a good amount of time, at the same time attacking the monster with all the skill that he had.

She knew she had to get to him fast, before he disappeared again, so she shadow traveled.

Nico had taught her the basics, and she'd just home taught herself from there. She did it rarely, since death and darkness was more Nico's domain of skill, but she wasn't bad at it.

She appeared about five feet away from him. He had stood up and was wearily wiping his sword on the grass, trying to get the monster dust. When she appeared, he froze, and then turned slowly.

"Hey, Percy." She winced at the casual greeting. She never had been good at those. It sounded like a, hey-I'm-meeting-you-for-lunch sort of thing, not what it was supposed to be, a hey-I'm-meeting-a-friend-I-haven't-seen-for-five-years-and-now-he's-a-murderous-vigilante.

Percy studied her before answering, removing the hood that had been covering his face. With a pang, Hazel realized it was the Tsunami hood that Piper had made for him.

"Hazel."

Hazel finally got a good look at her friend that she hadn't seen in half a decade.

His black hair was the same as it had always been, messy and windswept, but a bit more grown out. His green eyes were almost the same, but now, instead of cheerful and sea green, they now looked like poison, deadly to the touch and guarding.

He had more scars running down his body, but Riptide flashed the same as ever, Celestial Bronze and beautiful. He had some facial hair on his chin, probably not having the time to shave when he was doing… whatever he was doing.

Yes, Percy Jackson had been changed over those five years, not necessarily for the better.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was hoarse, like he hadn't used it very much.

"I would ask the same thing about you."

"Isn't it obvious?" He gestured hopelessly around at the scene near them; a Hoover Dam that was overflowing, the monster dust covering nearly the entire valley, Riptide lying on the ground next to him.

Silence fell.

"You've changed." Hazel said suddenly.

"So have you." He replied uncomfortably, starting to inch away again.

"Oh, no you're not. Percy Jackson, I haven't seen you in five years and you're trying to get away from me without a hug?" She walked over to him and they hugged. Hazel thought she heard a sob escape from his lips, but it was gone when they pulled apart.

"Thanks. Now can I go?"

"We think we might have found a way to bring everyone back." In came out bluntly, not the way she was exactly going to break the news, but she couldn't take it back now.

He was halfway to turning around again, but he froze. "What?"

"You heard me."

He rubbed his face furiously before saying again. "Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"You're trying to give me hope. Stop. I-I can't let this happen again."

"Come here." She said softly. When he didn't, she came to him.

"We need you, Percy. This plan, it's a long shot. I half don't believe it myself. But there's a reason we're the only people out there who didn't move on. Because we can bring everyone back. I know you miss… her. But we could bring her back. I promise you Percy, I wouldn't come here if I didn't think there was a chance that we could do this. We need you."

This entire speech, he was looking away from her. But when she paused to take a breath, he looked at her again. His green eyes looked less angry, now more lost and in pain.

"You don't need me."

"Of course we do!"

"Not according to Clarisse."

"What are you-"

Hazel stopped short. She realized there was a reason that Percy didn't come back to Camp Half-Blood, there was a reason Paul couldn't find him. There was a reason he was staying away from all of them, travelling the country, left to deal with the events by himself.

Because Clarisse had finished with him.

"Clarisse doesn't know anything. She was angry and she took it out on you. Seriously, why would you believe her? She doesn't speak for Camp Half-Blood, she doesn't speak for Camp Jupiter, and she definitely doesn't speak for us."

"Who's us?"

"Everyone that's left."

Percy looked away, and then back again. This time his eyes were full of determination, and Riptide was held tightly in his hand.

"What are we going to do?"

"It's a long story."

"I've had practically no entertainment for five years. I could use a long story." Then he froze. "It... it doesn't have anything to do with time travel, does it?"

She stared at him. "Actually, it has everything to do with time travel. How'd you guess?" Percy shrugged.

"I didn't tell you. Rachel... she said another Great Prophecy."

She nearly fell over. "What? Do you remember it?"

Percy closed his eyes and recited,

Through times both old and new

A team must find their way to

Face either their death or salvation

And a reincarnation

Will await them if they find their way through

The disgraced must come together

Their failure will become their tether

And destruction following a betrayal from one of their own

Old enemies they will face

For a choice will end his days

The world will be preserved or razed

He finished and opened his eyes. The way he recited it told her that he'd been thinking about it ever since it had been spoken.

"That... that was a limerick." She said. Percy nodded, slightly annoyed. "Yeah, I know. I've been trying to figure out the lines this entire time. I guess the 'through times old and new' means that we'll be travelling in time. As for the 'a choice will end his days' line, well," he snorted. "I've heard that one before."

"That's highly disturbing. And, also kind of weird."

Percy shrugged. "Yeah, that's because the author is really bad at writing poems."

Hazel looked at him in confusion. "What?"

Percy looked just as confused as her. "I... don't know." She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We'll have to pick apart some of the other lines when we get to the Compound. The rest of the Avengers will be able to help. 'Betrayal from one of their own...'" Hazel mused to herself. "I wonder what that means."

"Your guess is as good as mine." Although Percy's eyes flicked away and back as if he'd already given thought to it.

"Another Great Prophecy... I can't believe it. The last time Leo died. Who-"

"Don't." He cut her off again. "Don't think that way."

She sighed. "Okay. So are you coming back, or what? We really could use you, Percy."

He turned away, but when he looked back, there was fresh determination in his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I will."

Hazel threw her arms around him, and he stiffened, like he hadn't had a hug in years. Which, come to think of it, he probably hadn't. "Sorry." She extracted herself carefully.

"It's okay. Besides, I haven't had a good chocolate chip cookie in ages."

Hazel smiled sadly. The Percy that she used to know was coming back. And by the gods, she was going to keep him that way.


A/N (original) thanks everyone for your patience! I know I took longer than usual to update and I apologize for that. Part of it was because this was a lot longer chapter than usual. Also, check out my new chapter names! I'm very proud 'cause I'm really bad at thinking of good chapter names, but these ones were good (I hope).

Anyways thanks to everyone that reviewed! PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP REVIEW! They're the best please please please review!

Again, please vote on my profile for which story I should write next! I have so many in mind it's hard to choose.

Thanks to reviewers:

DaughterofAthena223
IdrisianGraecus (Yes, I will have a few deviations from canon. I don't want to spoil anything tho, so I won't say too much. Suffice it to say there will be a few big deviations. As for the Percy going to the Battle of Manhattan thing, I haven't decided yet but… probably not, to be honest. Sorry!)
DarkShadowDragon16
GottaLoveBooks14 (What's weird? I don't think you finished)
The Sorrowful Deity
HISHB (Well, I guess you're just going to find out, aren't you? :)
the guy who loves all gunpla
NostalgicFangirl
Guest
batasinincrsresearchot
Guest
Guest (Yeah, I like to play around with the trailers. I mean, Marvel does it, so why shouldn't I?)
Guest
avengersboy946
NinjaFang1331
Game-Watch (Yeah, that's what I was sad about too. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?)
Lieutenant Myst
HISB
tremors
Spottedfrost7 (Thank you so much!)
Biyboyboy (Yep)
tillerm6 (Yeah I didn't like how I killed off two of my favorite characters either)
Hisb (Hmm not all caps this time! This is new! Also, here's the update. You're welcome!)

A/N (added) again, I added some things. I also added things in next chapters, so please check those ones out.