I'm a horrible lazy ass. I left you guys hanging for MONTHS. I'm terribly sorry, but I've been so busy and stressed... I don't know when I'm going to update next, but hopefully it will be within the next two months. It would be helpful if you guys reviewed. I need at least 10 per chapter please to keep me writing this...

Percy was dragged out of the room, unable to move or speak. He lay limply as the guards pulled him away from the Collector.

My people, who will soon have a leader in their ranks.

Percy wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He was sore all over and was helpless. He hated this.

Percy was thrown into a cell and the first thing he caught sight of was a shed of a purple shirt. He ran over to pick it up, not even paying attention to his nausea. Percy slipped the piece of fabric into a pocket in his robe-thing for safe-keeping.

Cautiously, Percy observed the cell. It was plain and grey and dull and dark. The floor smelled slightly of chemicals, like it was just cleaned. If it was cleaned, though, why would they be clumsy enough to leave a chunk of his cousin's shirt on the ground? They probably meant for him to find it and make him get angry. It worked. Percy was red in the face and clenching his hands. They had Jason somewhere if he hadn't escaped.

On top of that, Percy had no idea where he was and he missed Annabeth terribly. And the whole "join SHIELD" thing was stressing him out. They were expecting him on Friday… and it was days after that.

He thought about his predicament. There was no way that he could escape, period. He was trapped. Part of Percy wished he was able to teleport like his father or at least summon water from thin air to smash through the walls. Percy waited and listened for a minute. He recalled back in Tartarus when he had fought Akhlys, the goddess of misery, daughter of Khaos. He had used her weapon, poison, against her and had bent her tears to choke her.

Percy shuddered as he remembered the feeling of a guilty pleasure that had overwhelmed him, along with a...darker, stronger, more powerful feeling. He had not vowed to never use that again even though it didn't seem healthy. Besides, wasn't it for the greater good?

Percy suddenly shook his thoughts away. He lost track of himself. Since when did he do things for the greater good without making sure everything else was in order? But, then again… Percy could get out of here using that sixth sense of awareness of the water around him. That wasn't bad. That was just being observative, right?

The voice in him snorted, Yeah. Helpful, but it made Annabeth scared of you, remember? Stupid.

He waved the statement away. He didn't listen to voices inside his head. That wasn't normal.

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, Percy stood straight with his eyes closed, feet shoulder-width apart, and his palms facing outwards. He could do this. He could do this safely. He could do this.

The air was humid and thick; Percy could tell that much even without his powers, but really, anyone could because it was hard to breath and he was sweating already. There was a chill on the walls as droplets of condensing water collected on them. The droplets weren't big, in fact, they were so tiny, Percy could only just see them as little goosebumps on the walls. Feeling the borders of the room from the water drops, Percy tried to extend his perimeter. His gut was tightening almost painfully. He screwed his eyes shut and concentrated. He pushed past a mental barrier, slowly and agonizingly. It finally snapped.

Percy was suddenly knocked out of his meditation by the sheer vastness of what he was aware of. When he relaxed, the awareness went away, so he closed his eyes again excitedly and intensely focused on the same wall. It was an easier break this time, and much faster. There was a series of corridors throughout the facility. In the centre was a room Percy had not yet been in, but he could tell it was nearby the arena he had just left. There were guards outside his cell and stationed at intervals all the way down the hall.

Percy heaved a long needed breath, then slumped against the wall, drained and tired. It was harder than it seemed. He needed to rest before attempting to break out, and also, he was a little curious as to who the Collector's people actually were. Maybe too curious for his own good.

So he waited and he thought.

Around thirty minutes after he really had to go to the bathroom and decided to go in the corner, the doors swung open and three mortal soldiers stood in the doorway. One motioned for Percy to stand, and Percy followed them wordlessly, trying to find weaknesses in his surroundings. Two soldiers walked behind him and one in front. They carried guns, whereas Percy was weaponless. He smirked internally and felt a little bad. They must really not know what he could do even without Anaklusmos. Percy waited and looked around as he walked, just making sure his suspicions on the surroundings were valid. They were, and Percy was relieved. Now he could rely on a new power.

"Hey," Percy said, poking the back of the officer in front of him. "Where are we going?"

"Stay quiet," replied one from behind him, jabbing him with the gun.

Percy mumbled, "Wasn't talking to you."

The quartet rounded a corner and through a big wooden door with brass handles. The guards pushed him in, and immediately upon entering, Percy was struck with a rancid smell, like rotting bodies. He held back a choke as his eyes watered. Something died in here a while ago.

The room was dark enough that he couldn't see his own hands in front of him. The sound of marching feet had ceased, and for a moment Percy thought the guards had left him there with nothing to do. He stood very still.

From somewhere in front of him, there was a shuffle. Then, it was behind him, to his left, right, everywhere. The sound surrounded him in a circle.

Percy didn't remember hearing the door close.

The shuffling sounded like millions of tiny feet patting the ground. There was a slow slosh that wasn't water by any means. The shuffling got closer; the smell got worse. Thousands of small red lights lit up in front of him and seemed to analyze him...like eyes.

The shuffling seemed to be more like scuttling now that he thought about it. The sloshing sound must've been a residue of sticky mucus or something of sorts. The thing around him was a bug. A huge bug.

There was a chirping and the red lights danced closer. The chirping continued; it would come from the mouth most likely, Percy thought.

And it's going to eat you, the voice said.

"Shut up," Percy muttered quietly.

Upon hearing his voice, the monster lunged towards him. Percy dodged, but only barely, and rammed into something gooey on his left.

That's the monster's side, you idiot.

The goo smelled horrible and it clung to his robe. The monster felt Percy and lunged again. The only reason Percy knew it was trying to get him was because from the side of the monster, he could feel its muscles tense.

Sooner or later, Percy was going to tire, though, and he still couldn't see a thing.

Stultus.

"I know, I know, I know!" Percy growled.

The thing leapt at him again, red eyes gleaming dangerously. Percy wished Riptide was in his possession.

Percy had no time to try to meditate to find escapes here, so he improvised. He stuck his left hand in front of him and his right to the side, searching for water in the room. The only bountiful available semi-liquid was the goo. Percy used what he had.

It was much harder to control the goo because it wasn't composed of water, but managed. Slowly, he clenched his fists and the goo rose. He tossed it directly at the red eyes that were waiting for a clue to reveal his hiding place. The monster hissed and backed away. It thrashed; the long body's tail whacked him in the chest, knocking the wind from him and he slammed into the wall. The thing's head whipped towards him and lunged.

Percy threw his hand up in front of his face and swung up globs of the goo. He focused all his energy forward. Pain exploded in his right arm and he fell to his knees into the goo waist-deep. Percy yelled in agony. The world around him muted into a white noise. He felt his blood dripping on to his hand that grabbed at the bitten part desperately. Red and black spots danced in his vision, not like he could see much anyway.

Percy slumped and his eyes closed.

Percy awoke blearily. He struggled to open his eyes.

"I'm quite impressed, Jackson. Fourteen minutes in the dark room. My other subjects couldn't last more than five due to fear or death."

Percy blinked, still not completely registering the words being said to him.

"You killed the monster, unfortunately, using the its mauris against itself."

Mauris means shit in Latin, drool freak. You were tossing around that thing's waste.

Repulsion shook Percy awake. He lurched and tried to grab something to defend himself, but his shoulder suddenly ripped with pain. Percy clutched his right shoulder with a squeak higher than his vocal chords could tolerate. He didn't have something to grab a weapon with, not without an arm.

Percy breathed hard, looking at the stitches on his shoulder that bunched his skin together. Blood leaked out from in between the seems and the skin around the wound was a sickly grey.

Percy didn't have an arm, his dominant arm no less. He stared wide-eyed at his arm, or rather, lack of one. He snapped his head up to the Collector who sat calmly to the side of the sickbed.

"You were out for a couple days. Nothing serious was lost, save for a cousin of yours… Your family gets into trouble often, yes?"

"Jason?" Percy's voice was hoarse from shock and disuse.

"Yes, that was the boy's name… Jason Grace. He was quite the fighter, too. Would've made a good soldier in my army."

"W-What happened to him? What did you do?"

The Collector raised a very blue eyebrow. "He escaped. I really don't know how, but his absence is a trivial problem compared to what's in store."

Percy coughed into the crook of his arm. Droplets of red blood littered his skin. His mouth tasted of rust.

His right hand itched, which was strange because it was non-existent. He scratched at the shoulder joint through the scratchy hospital gown instead and it hurt like Hades, but he he did it anyways, like he was itching the hand that lost him.

"I also imagine you want your sword back now. It is very good." The Collector set it on the bedside table.

Even worse, he just realized that he lost his dominant hand. It didn't matter if he got Riptide back or not anyways because he couldn't fight.

Percy reached across his chest to the table and grabbed the sword with his left hand. It felt off and uncomfortable. He uncapped it and the sword sprung out, gleaming in the bright white lights of the infirmary, still clean and unspoiled. So perfect looking.

Percy frowned. He was marred and now he was unfit for a blade like this.

Hero, scoffed the voice. You're slacking too much.

Grimacing, Percy sat up as best he could with one arm. The Collector offered no assistance. When Percy managed on upright position, he stared at his reflection in the flat edge of the sword. He looked back at his shoulder. The skin puckered at the stitches and the grey-color was making Percy sick.

"You're in shock. I'll leave you alone, for now. Tomorrow, you are going to train the people here. I'm sure you'll manage just fine with your left hand. You fail, you die. Kapeesh? Okay. Goodnight." The Collector left without another word and Percy was alone.

Percy tried to slow his breathing. He sat criss-crossed on the hard bed uncomfortably. He closed his eyes, left hand still wrapped around his now-capped sword. There was water nearby. It might speed the healing process of his shoulder and rejuvenate him. Percy opened his eyes and concentrated on the water across the room. He summoned it over to himself and let it soak into his shoulder.

The skin was sewing together and the thread fell out. A thick white line was left where the stitch was. A patch of skin right over his shoulder was still that grey color, but he felt immensely better. He rolled his shoulder, wincing as his joints cracked.

He stared at the left-over water floating in front of him and decided to drink it, after seeing if it was safe. Deeming it was, Percy took a long drink until the last of the water dissipated.

Percy stared miserably at his hands before steeling his resolve to figure out where he was. He prepared himself to be tired.

Closing his eyes and going into the meditative position, he probed his sixth sense further and further outward. He was in a building in the middle of everywhere, it seemed. He was still in the state of New York, just a more run-down abandoned place. He was south of Manhattan, in Brooklyn. Brooklyn. Carter lived in Brooklyn, right? Percy stared at his left hand, where Carter had inscribed the Egyptian insignia. He was about to call Carter, but that would put him in danger, so Percy decided against it. It was out of the question.

There was a river nearby, where he could find safety. If only he could get there… But that would have to wait when he was ready. Right now, he was tired and sore and not in the best mood.

It was night, by what the Collector said, so Percy sang himself to sleep with only the dark to haunt him.

The Black Widow and Hawkeye sleuthed through the empty alley. They were well aware of the danger they were in and the allusions magic could bring. They stopped at an empty wall.

"Cover me," the female agent ordered. Romanoff focused on the wall until her head hurt and slowly, the wall revealed a door. She took out the unlocking device and creaked the door open. She and Clint entered, each with their guns out with the safety off. Fury thought it would be safer for Clint to use a gun rather than his bow.

It wouldn't make a difference in the end anyway. Too quick blows to the head out of nowhere, and the unconscious duo was dragged away to a certain Collector.

Percy awoke to a loud beating noise on the door. He snapped his eyes open and fumbled around.

"Time to get up!" shouted a voice from outside. "Change now!" His black robe was thrown at him, cleaned and freshly black. He got underwear this time. It was like a speedo and was black. Figures.

Percy frowned, but pulled the clothing on. It was much more comfortable than the hospital garment anyway. However, the robe still had the sleeve on the right side, and it flopped around uselessly. He sighed.

Nothing's gonna please you, huh?

Grumbling, Percy walked through the door and came face to face with Cyclops guards. Percy immediately thought of Tyson, but shoved that thought away. He couldn't afford to think of home at the moment, as he had to be especially en guard as he was more defenseless than usual without an arm.

He was shoved forward into hallway after hallway. He was led to a large room, much larger than the arena. What was in the room horrified him. Prisoners, naked and grimy were tied down to the floor helplessly.

Just as Percy was about to sputter to the Cyclops in anger, two new people were shoved in in almost nothing. They looked angry. What little they had on, which was like a towel, was about to be pulled away from the man and the woman, but Percy called out, "Leave them be."

Startlingly enough, the guards listened. The two looked grateful. Percy took a closer look at them. One was a red-headed woman and the other a buzz-cut man. They both had scars on their face and neck.

He was confused. First, he knew for a fact that the two new people were not normal and second of all, why did the guards listen to him?

As if answering his question, the Collector stepped out of nowhere and said, "They will be under your command now, Perseus. I trust you to stay under my orders, but take lead."

The Collector started monologuing about world domination, yada yada yada. Percy held back a yawn.

When he was finished, the Collector gave a set of directions as to what to do and when, as if Percy would listen to him. The newcomers also looked bored while the ones that had been there for a while seemed fearful.

The Collector left after that.

Percy cleared his throat awkwardly. "Leave me," he told the guards. He looked at the redhead and the blond buzz cut dude. "Are you mortal?" he asked them.

They looked at him like he was a little off. "Yes," the buzz-cut guy said. "Most people are."

Percy pressed his lips into a thin line. "Yeah okay. What's your name?"

The redhead seemed to consider the question for a while before saying, "Are you Perseus Jackson?"

Percy's mind went haywire, analyzing all possible escape routes and judging if these people were safe. Percy didn't reply. He called the guards back in. "Untie all these people. I can't train them if they're stuck to the floor." The cyclops complied.

Percy looked back to the couple. He had a suspicion of who they were. "Are you agents of SHIELD? If you are, sorry I'm late for the meeting. I got sidetracked."

The redhead cocked her head to the side for a moment. "Natasha Romanoff, agent of SHIELD. This is Clint Barton, fellow agent."

"Black Widow and Hawkeye. I'm not oblivious." Percy smiled. He had read about them somewhere.

"Yeah," Clint said. "So you are Percy Jackson."

"Yep."

They nodded. "We have to get you out of here, assuming you didn't come here voluntarily."

Percy shook his head, trying to be as adult as possible in front of these very mature people. "No, I didn't. I wasn't planning to come here, but once I was, I thought I would try to understand the gist of the situation."

"That's good," Natasha said. "But we know the Collector. We never expected he could gather this many people from seemingly nowhere. We need to go now, elsewhere where we can talk. Can you get us some clothes?"

"Clothes? Yeah."

Once the trio was dressed and had conveniently found their weapons, Percy led them away from the newly freed "slave" people. The Collector would no doubt be after them soon. Percy knew this escape was too easy, but he went with it.

"We're south of Manhattan, just beyond the river bordering Brooklyn. If we can get out of here, we should go north and meet a friend of mine. He'll help you get cleaned up."

Natasha and Clint still looked wary but remained a passive face.

It was easier working with Annabeth because he knew how she moved and thought. It was nice having to stealthy people with him though. It made the trip just a little easier.

They went on, winding through passageway after passageway. Each hallway looked the same as the last, but in the end, Percy could sense a gate and a surrounding fence with guards. That'd be harder to get by. There was already an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine because they made it this far without much trouble—just a monster here and there.

"Watchtowers at 0200," Natasha said, seemingly to no one.

However, Clint was alert. He took out three arrows and shot them expertly at the watchtower, silently killing the guards up there without sounding alarm. He was as good as the Apollo cabin and possibly on par with the Hunters.

The two agents knew each other well—that much Percy could tell from the way they looked out for each other and walked, moved, talked.

Percy sighed and itched his right shoulder lazily. He looked out for an opening so they could run by unseen. They walked right by the base of the building, where the stone was a very very dark grey. Their black outfits should conceal them a bit.

"Blind spot under that watchtower," Clint whispered, pointing. "We're going to have to run into the open and under the eaves of the tower."

It was risky, but Percy thought it was worth it. For a split second, he regretted leaving all those people in the building, but they would've never made it out, so he moved on.

"On three," he said.

"One, two," Natasha said, watching the area carefully, "three!"

They sprinted across the dirt and made it under the eaves. Percy felt off-balance without an arm, but he stayed upright. Unfortunately, they were spotted. The alarms rang like… church bells and tentacle-like tendrils of the black sand shot out of the bottom of the building. The black sand was glowing red in some parts making it seem alive.

"Shit," the female agent cursed, seeming familiar with the sand. "We're going to have to run for it. Follow me." She took off, and all Percy could do was follow.

So please review! I'm so happy I just hit 100! Remember, I'm not going to update until I get at least 10 more! Thanks guys! If you read, please just leave a little note. It makes me more motivated.