Chapter 6: A better day


(A/N) I know that I portray Percy out of character sometimes but there's a reason for that. (Also, wouldn't you be frustrated, depressed and generally angry if the girl you loved just died in your arms?)


I do not own PJATO or the Avengers.


(SHIELD compound, New York)

Percy was lead through the halls of the compound. He had no clue where he was but if he could guess he'd estimate he was still in New York. He hadn't slept that long, had he? After that question he'd given up guessing his location and just went with it. Fury turned and so did Percy and Natasha, following the one eyed spy. Natasha stepped smoothly next to Percy, "So we were talking about how you knew I lied, I'd still like to know very much."

Percy smirked, "I was actually bluffing; I've watched enough James Bond movies to know that the person who is likely to interrogate you would never reveal their names." Most times movies like that were full of nonsense but sometimes there were the little gems of knowledge hidden deep in the BS . . .

Natasha stood shocked, "You bluffed me?" She asked letting the astonishment play on her face for a second.

Percy shrugged, "I've played higher stakes before." He told her cryptically. Percy though was thinking of his time with the romans and going on the quest for them.

Fury had also listened in had almost shook his head, the kid was as about as different as Thor. They made their way through a flurry of SHIELD agents all working to their best and helping the organization's overall productivity. To Percy this place resembled an anthill: Every worker ant making sure all was cool for the queen ant. In this case that queen ant's name was a certain Nick Fury.

Finally they reached a metallic door which opened without even touching the door. When Percy stepped inside he wasn't really prepared for what he'd see. Tony was still in his Iron man uniform; Steve was sitting on the table, in his Cap' uniform while sketching; Bruce was busy writing in a journal; and Clint stood in the corner with his shades on and assessing everything around him quietly.

When Fury walked in nobody really paid heed and just went on with their business; when Natasha stepped in Tony stared for a second before muttering about how it was illegal for someone to wear a suit that tight, Natasha went directly to the seat Clint had left her as Fury stood in the centre and Percy walked in. When Percy walked in everybody stared.

Fury looked at them all, "I'd like you to meet your new team member," he pointed at Percy with a hand wave, "Percy Jackson." Percy said nothing but still walked in confidently, something he'd learned from the Romans: Never show weakness in front of potential enemies…

Steve stopped staring; he looked at his sketch before closing the cover and standing up. He walked to Percy and held out a hand, "Steve Rogers." Percy nodded, remembering the man's awkwardness when they'd talked as well as his own left cross. The man was blond and had the look of most veteran soldiers; still he kept the smile.

"Percy Jackson," Percy said as he gave the man's hand a firm shake.

To Percy the man looked like he came out of a fifties war movie. Steve smile brightened a little, "You know," he said as they released the death grip handshakes. "You've got a good left on you." Percy vaguely remembered an old class trip to the museum of New York where there were a lot of WW2 memorabilia. He also remembered the teacher going on a monologue about a captain Steve Rogers. Percy then wondered for a second if this was some descendant from him or something before shrugging it off and moving on.

Percy shrugged, "I try," he said with a smile of his own, "you heal pretty quickly though, or was I just out that long?"

Bruce intervened here, "You were only out for about eight hours." He said with a timid smile, "Bruce Banner." He said while holding a hesitant hand out.

Percy had heard of the doctor, how the man turned into a green rage monster every time he'd get angry. He wasn't afraid of the man; he'd fought gods, titans and giants; no, he actually felt sympathy for the man. He shook the hand and smiled, he knew that people as different as Dr Banner often only wanted to be treated the same. "Percy, it's good to meet you."

Bruce looked a little startled, not many treated him like an equal and most viewed him as a monstrosity, "Good to meet you too," he said as he released hold, "I have a question actually." The doctor looked a bit worried, as if this might be a touchy subject, "um, how do you, you know, uh, teleport?" he offered. He didn't like offending people much but still a scholar always wanted to know more.

Percy grimaced, and then shrugged, "It's hard to explain."

The doctor frowned, a million possibilities running in his mind. "Hmm," Tony said as he moved forward and interrupted Bruce's thought process.

The man in the Iron Man suit didn't offer a handshake, "I can think of a few possibilities for that, like for instance; you're creating a rip between time and space, the only real problems with that theory though is that I don't see how you'd do it and much less how'd you would be able to do the calculations. Now offense but you don't look much like a valedictorian at Oxford."

Percy looked at him and sighed; he knew both who this was and what type of Person he was. "I see the tabloids really do get things right sometimes, huh?"

Tony chuckled, he wasn't really offended. "All in the past," He said with a wave of the hand, "Starting over; new leaf and all that self-explanatory stuff." Tony moved then to a cabinet and took out a glass from the top as he opened the bottom and took a look, "I need a drink," he turned to Percy, "Want one?"

"You do know that I'm still underage right?"

Tony shrugged, "I'd already drink whisky weekly by your age."

Percy sighed, "I haven't had much time for the normal school and social life."

Tony nodded with a small knowing smile as he poured in the golden substance, "Oh, I've heard." He motioned to a monitor where a file was with Percy's name, age, hair colour, school record and even his likes and dislikes. "The blue food is what boggled me the most." Tony said.

Percy shrugged; he was more relieved with the fact that they hadn't made the connection with him and his Greek heritage. He turned back to the others; he found Fury was gone, he really didn't know how that happened but then again the man was a master spy. Bruce was frowning as he thought to himself. He turned to Tony. "You don't think he'd be able to split his atoms into small movable forms and then just move to the location?"

Tony frowned for a second, "Again it would have a lot of questions." He said to the doctor as Percy tried tuning them out and move to Natasha's spy friend, "The first question would be: How does he split his atoms to such small molecular models? The second is: How does he survive the process and move consciously to his desired location? The third question would be: How does he even know it's the right calculations and area mass to reform?"

Bruce nodded and went back to his contemplating while Tony just sat down and drank from his glass. Steve stared at them for a second, sometimes he wondered if maybe he didn't travel to an alternate also an alternate world too. Clint saw that Percy was moving to him and stood up, he held out a hand and Percy looked at it for a second before he asked, "You the guy who shot me with an arrow?"

Clint stood unsure of what to say before shrugging and replying "Yeah," he paused, "Clint Barton."

Percy nodded and took the hand. Percy squeezed the hand, making the bones to brush up against each other. Clint grimaced but said nothing as Percy said, "Percy Jackson," he then released the hand that was now a little bruised; "Now we're somewhat even." Clint only nodded and went back to the seat. He'd actually expected much worse.

Just then a man walked in and Percy recognized him as the man mountain. He seemed in a very good mood, "I was only just made aware of your release and induction into the assembly," He said while grasping Percy's hand tightly and squeezing it, "I hope our actions back at the grave site will not hinder you in any way."

Percy let go of the hand and smiled, "I don't hold it against you," He said, "You were only following orders."

"This is good," he said clapping Percy on the back. Percy only barely managed not to cry out, "Soon, You and I should go for some mead and a talk about our various quests and accomplishments. I am sure you have some interesting tales to share!"

Tony looked at them, "Care to share?" Percy looked at him briefly before turning back to Thor with a warning look. The Asgardian knew all too well it meant.

"We should do that Thor," Percy said dismissively.

Tony looked at his watch for a second before, with a big smile, he said to everyone, "I hope you kids are packed; because you're all coming over to bunk over at the new Avengers tower!"

Steve frowned, "What are you talking about?"

Tony smirked before telling everyone to follow him, "I've kinda got into this new team thing and started designing a few stuff. He punched in a few keys on his phone before pressing a button and saying into the mike "Send the bird JARVIS."

They walked to the top floor of the building before they could hear Fury, "I had no knowledge of him fighting the lizard prior to this week." They heard Fury say to the council, "It wasn't a situation I could control."

"That being said director, this could easily happen again. We're starting to doubt your effectiveness as director. Maybe Hill should take over as you have . . . suggested retirement." They heard one man say.

"That may be councilman," Fury said with a little cold rage, "But know this; I was the one who brought together your team. I was the one who picked up the pieces where you all failed. And I was the one, in time of great distress and need, who saved you all from a calamitous fall as well as covered for you on the Parker scandal."

Everyone frowned before the two spies shook their heads, "It's not nice to listen in on other people's conversations." Natasha said and Clint nodded but looked perplexed as he stared at the room that Fury was talking in.

Tony softly snorted, "You're one to talk." He said but still moved up the stairs. They reached the door to the roof as Tony turned around at looked at each of them. "Prepare yourself." He said with a smirk.

He opened the door and there was . . . nothing. The roof looked a lot like most building's roofs. "It's beautiful, huh?" Tony said.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to look at." Percy said.

Tony frowned before saying to the open air, "Camouflage mode off." Suddenly with a whirr the air in front of them turned into something no one could really expect. "Lady and Gentleman, I'd like to introduce you to our new mode of transport." He moved around the large aeroplane and stroked it lovingly, "I designed it seeing that only two of us can fly and we need to travel around the world. This beauty will help us with that."

To Percy it vaguely resembled a jet, he gulped; "I don't think I can go in that thing."

Tony frowned, "What?" he asked before smirking, "Scared of heights?"

Percy looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Deathly afraid."

Thor knew all too well what Percy meant and chuckled, "Do not worry Perseus, while with me you are safe in the sky."

Tony frowned, "Why wouldn't he be safe in the sky?"

"Personal reasons." Percy said looking apprehensively at the jet like thing. Everybody frowned but decided not to comment.

"Well then people, climb aboard!" Tony said as he pressed a button on his mobile phone and the back that seemed to resemble a cargo holds door slid open. Percy walked in tentatively, and sat down as Tony and Bruce took up the cockpit and the others sat. Bruce didn't seem that much at ease either.

Percy had a feeling that this trip wasn't gonna be fun…


(Hades, field of Punishment – about the same time)

A Russian man cried out in pain as he felt the searing pain of a blade's cold steel running across his chest. He tried to move away from the knife on instinct only to feel a whip run across his back as he struggled against the chains holding him. He looked up and growled for a second before chuckling. He looked straight at the ghoulish face of his tormentor and said in a deep gruff voice, "Do your worst."

Between the pain and delirium he'd begun envisioning those who tortured him in life. At first it was a few Russian mob bosses; then it quickly turned to a particularly well known rich man with a goatee…

He cried out in pain again as his looked at directly at what he thought was Tony Stark, but was actually a ghoul from Hades. Another whip crack and more pain. Another blade, more whitish ghoul blood. Another punch to the face and more bruises to an already bruised face. It stopped for a second and the man rested as his wounds began to heal. His normal state of dead returning.

He shook his dirty head and frowned. He'd wondered if he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do. Make god bleed. If not he'd failed; and not knowing that, was what tore at him even more than the knives currently cutting an arc through the air to his chest.

He looked back down on the ground, his thoughts of a past he was unable to forget swirling around in his head. The knives struck and a bright flash surrounded everything. The Russian cried out for a second before frowning; was this his salvation from this? Or only the cataclysm to signal his descendent into madness?

He looked up and found himself staring straight into the golden eyes of a being that made him feel inferior. This, he knew, was no mere man. "god…"

The man frowned, "No, I am a titan!"

The Russian looked astonished, his father, in the delirium before his final death had uttered things about gods, titans and primordials. Could they have been true? He looked at the man and asked the question that stood foremost in his mind. "What do you want with me?"

The man smiled, "Tell me, do you still want revenge against Stark?" he then frowned as he looked at his surroundings, "What about revenge with the beings that brought you here?"

The Russian frowned, "I am dead; this is not achievable."

Here the golden eyed man smiled, "I don't think you know how well my friends and I are connected." The man said, "I will give you back your life, your revenge against the man who has tormented your family, all the riches and resources you desire, and finally when we create the new world you will be there to rule of over a portion of it as you choose. I will give you all these things in exchange for one thing…"

"What is it you want?" The Russian asked with eyes holding greed, "And what is your name?"

The man smiled knowingly but to the Russian it seemed . . . off. "My name is Kronos, or if you are Roman Saturn." He said to the shock of the Russian. "And I want you to be in my own personal team. A team that will face Tony Stark and a few of his friends."

The Russian thought about it. A titan was offering him something beyond his comprehension. "I accept…" He said. Kronos smiled and then took out a sword. For a moment the Russian looked feared before Kronos simply cut of the chains bounding him and the Russian stood. Kronos materialized out of his pocket a box of pills and gave it to the Russian.

"Swallow the pills. They'll restore your life." The Russian did so before frowning. He dropped to his knees. Suddenly where there was nothing stood flesh. His face regrew itself. Hair rose in that familiar dirty blond surfers look and muscles grew back. The Russia stood again and marvelled at his hands.

The Russian felt stronger, he looked at his muscles and they seemed to bulge even more. He looked at Kronos, "What did you do to me?" he asked astonished.

Kronos smiled knowingly again. "Only improved you," he said before clapping the man on the back. "Now we've got to go meet my father." He said and the Russian wondered slightly who that would be. "Welcome to the team, Ivan Vanko . . ."


(The Palace of Hades, you know where- shortly after these events)

Hades opened his eyes with a gasp and looked out on his domain. He fingered his sword and helm nervously. Persephone to his right looked concerned, "What's wrong husband?" She asked. Hades was a lot of things but scared was something she never saw him being.

He looked at her, "I don't know yet," he said. "But still, I want you to contact my brother and tell him to order a meeting." He looked nervously around his immediate surroundings before muttering, "That's two souls stolen from my realm and a missing Percy Jackson." He looked back at her, "I don't like it. I know how Zeus is with these things, so persuade your father, please?"

Persephone was even more shocked now. Hades wasn't really much for manners. "Uh. Yeah, sure." She said as she flashed to her the Throne room.

Hades looked around him; he spotted a distressed Nico and sighed. "I'm not going to let you see their souls Nico." Hades said before Nico could even ask, "It would hurt you too much to see them." 'Or the fact they're both not here…' Hades thought to himself.

"Please I just want to-"

"No, Nico." Hades interrupted. Hades may not have been the best father but what most didn't know was that he was willing to try.

Nico's eyes began to harden, and his jaw tightened. "Fine, you were never that helpful anyway." He promptly stalked off.

Hades looked at his son and tightened a hand into a fist. He felt like an invisible rope was slowly choking him. In a fit of rage he punched the wall, making it crumble. He breathed for a second before sighing and running a hand through his sleek overly gelled hair. "I think it is time I have a talk with my kelp-for-brains brother…" He said and then vanished.


(The domain of Nyx, her palace)

Annabeth landed on what seemed to be a cloud. She walked steadily on it as she saw the various heroes and monsters in a ghoulish form walking around. It was a strange sight to see these monsters and heroes walk among each other without killing each other. She walked along the path without real hurry. She reached a door that was made to look exactly like the night sky.

She opened it, to her surprise, with ease. She shook her head; there was probably some switch or mechanical device on the other end helping her. She walked into the room and found a giant hall. She walked in, her shoes making a loud clacking noise that reverberated across the room. She reached the end of the hallway where two thrones stood. Only one was occupied.

"Do you know the cost of war?" Nyx asked her and she frowned. Nyx chuckled ruefully, "What am I saying? Of course you do." She looked forlornly at her side where a throne of total darkness stood. "Did you know immortals can die?" She asked turning her head to Annabeth.

Annabeth shook her head, "I didn't know." She said, "He must've been a good…guy?" She asked.

Nyx chuckled, "Erebus? He was a great husband and a loving father, but what he's most notably known for was his warrior's prowess." She said and sighed. "He was a good man. He bought time for mother to escape with Tartarus's minions the sad thing was that that action cost him his existence."

"So he's…gone?" Annabeth asked bewildered.

Nyx sighed, "How to explain?" She asked herself. "You see gods can die but only at the hands of another deity." She said with a wave of the hand then turned to Annabeth, "When the war was fought my husband died." She looked around her as if he might reappear from the air. "When we die, we don't just go to a domain like Hades, no, a part of our very soul gets sucked into our domain or the controller of that domain. Another part…"

Annabeth frowned, "what happens to the other part?"

Nyx looked down, "There are certain things even Primordials do not know."

Annabeth nodded but resigned to the fact she wouldn't get answer she said, "I have request."

Nyx smiled knowingly, "You have your shortlist I see." Annabeth nodded, "Well then, who is it you require?"

Annabeth looked at her steadily, "Zoe Nightshade…"

Nyx smiled, "Ah, the huntress, a fine choice." She called a man forward, "Castor, be a dear and bring Ms Nightshade to me."

The man groaned and Annabeth heard something about him missing how Zoe would beat the crap out of Herc'. She actually smirked, 'Always the feisty one aren't you Zoe?'

She looked at him for a second before widening her eyes, "That wouldn't be…"

"The original Castor?" Nyx smiled, "Yes, I employ the brothers to help me sometimes. They are quite efficient."

Annabeth nodded slightly surprised. They waited a few minutes and in came someone Annabeth had never expected to see again. Zoe Nightshade walked in the room with a frown, "What is it Thy request of me, night goddess?" she asked.

Nyx said nothing but pointed at Annabeth, Zoe looked at her shocked for a second, "Dí Immortales!" the girl said with a jump, "Thee should be in Hades, how are you here?"

Annabeth was shocked, "How-how did you know I was dead?"

Zoe smiled affectionately wish was strange for her, "I still see the quests of those I hold dear here in the sky." She pointed at Annabeth, "Especially those of the very person who showed me my wrongs." She said with a hesitant look.

Annabeth gulped lowly, "Ho-how is he?"

Zoe laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, "He misses you greatly," she said to the now depressed Annabeth, "Now, I hate to ask; but why is it Thy has requested me?"

Annabeth steeled her gaze, "I am recruiting fighters for an upcoming war, and let's just say I need a hunter, more specifically a huntress."

Zoe contemplated this, "I am correct to assume the Olympians do not know of this?"

"Yes."

"Will they be brought into it?"

Annabeth looked down, "Yes…"

"So milady Artemis would have to fight in a war that has even the primordials frightened?"

"Yes…" Annabeth whispered.

Zoe smiled, "It is the duty of a hunter to always protect her patron. I think it is time I fulfil this duty again."

"So you're in?"

Zoe nodded, "it would be my honour, besides, who else would save the son of Poseidon from his own stupidity but us?"

Annabeth chuckled, "Welcome to the team Ms Nightshade . . ." ((*))


(The cave of the Fates, an alternate dimension)

Three old women stood staring at the wall in front of them as their minds played over the images of the past few days. "Hmm, most troubling…" Clotho muttered.

"Indeed," Atropos muttered, "It seems brother has also been recruiting. This could be a problem."

"Not necessarily" Lachesis muttered. "These warriors all have become adept, and still there is even more to happen in the future."

Atropos looked at Clotho with a grim frown, "The future is not bright. I still do not see your faith in the boy."

"I trust his character, I trust how he is." Clotho said, before turning to a glowing orb showing Percy, "The future might look dim, but you all should remember it is not us who make the final choice this time. It is him."

"What of the things we've given them? That may not be wise." Lachesis pointed out.

Clotho looked at the orb with interest, "While the future might seem very dim Perseus Jackson, you will be the light that steers us true and hopefully to a better day . . ."


(A/N) I don't really have much to say but that was fun. Oh, also thanks to every reviewer and person who favourited. It really makes my day! Also a lot of people are asking about the pairing, so I'm saying this. This will be my only story ever to have this pairing: PERCABETH (Percy/Annabeth).


((*)): If you think about it in which domain would Zoe really be? The one with the stars, moon, and night; or the one with the air? Also somethings I explained and brought into this chapter could only be brought in with Nyx.
Also I'm not too sure I got Zoe's character down, if I didn't you can probably forgive me right? Not like I live with Will Shakespeare...


I hope you caught the small cameo in this chapter! Also, as always, REVIEW! . . . Please!