DON'T TRY ME

PERCY'S APARTMENT

"Hey, mom, there are these people who just moved in next door, and asked to have dinner with them." Percy called across the room. He was busy washing the dishes from what he ate. He could have used his powers to wash it themselves, but what was the fun of that?

"Really?" She called, setting down her bag and removing her shoes. "Are they nice?"

"Yeah, seems like it. But we have to meet them to determine that."

He and his mother learned that the hard way when his mother met Gabe Ugliano. He was nice at first, before showing who and what he really was. Luckily he was… disposed of and sat in an art gallery, far away from New York.

"Paul and I are going to stop by and say hello then later." She said, coming toward the kitchen door, and then brushing a kiss on his forehead. "How was your day?"

Percy shut off the faucet and dried his hands on the towel saying, "It was fine. There's a celebration tonight at camp." He explained, "We just finished fixing it up so Chiron had an idea for a celebration for our hard work."

"Congratulations," His mother answered with a smile. "What time does it start?"

"At night. I'm going to go with Annabeth, and I might be staying over."

Opening the fridge, his mom took out a pitcher of blue lemonade she made yesterday. "Just be careful, Percy." She warned.

The buzzer from their apartment went off.

Percy pushed himself off the counter, walking past Paul who was half sitting and half getting off the couch.

"Hey, Percy." He said, leaning back down on the comfort.

"Hey," he quickly greeted. "I'll get it."

He pushed the button. "Yes?"

"There's a kid here to see, uh, Percy Jackson." The doorman informed.

"What's his name?" Percy couldn't be too careful of who he sent up the stairs.

There was a moment of silence. "Nico." Came the voice.

Percy froze, and then said in a controlled voice. "Send him up."

As he waited for his friend to come up, Percy couldn't help but think about the expression: Death comes knocking at your door. Well technically his kid, but close enough. It took a minute for Nico to knock on his door.

When Percy opened it, he leaned against his doorframe, a smile on his lips, an eye brow quirked up and his arms crossed.

He took in his old friend. He had the same attire. Almost everything black, with his hair a bit messier than usual. Though, Percy usually couldn't see the difference.

"Since when do you actually use the door?" He joked, letting Nico in.

He shrugged as he stepped inside. "Since I passed out in the back of the building."

Percy raised a questioning gaze as he closed the door.

Nico shrugged. "I underestimated the distance between San Francisco and your apartment floor. So I ended up in the back." He saw Paul on the couch. "Hey, Mr. Blofis." He greeted.

Paul tried to take the coming of Nico as if it was nothing, just as Percy did on regular occasions when Annabeth would suddenly Iris message him from the kitchen or when Tyson would visit and raid their fridge, or Grover who did that regularly during frequent visits and would make himself comfortable by taking his fake feet off to show off his hooves. Paul would even take in the strange conversations that Tyson, Annabeth or Grover had with Percy with the mention of statistics, battle plans, old memories that contained blowing things up, crossing states and talking about funny moments with monsters or the camp.

"Hey, Nico." Paul greeted back with a small wave. He looked at the two boys curiously, and Percy tried to give him a I-had-no-idea-he-was-coming-here stare.

"Hey, mom!" he called. "Nico's here."

His mom came through the door. She quickly saw Nico and smiled. She also had to go through the comings and goings of half-blood life, and she adapted faster than Paul did, but he knew that she still felt a little off the end about his protection.

"Hello, Nico." She said with a smile. "Do you want something to eat or drink?"

Nico was dazed for a moment, probably because he was still suffering the after effects of sleep from his eyes.

"Uh, water would be really great, thanks." He said.

Percy took the shoulders of Nico and steered him in a direction. "We'll be in my room."

Nico instantly sat on Percy's bed and leaned on his pillows groaning when they entered.

Percy sat on his desk. "So what were you doing in San Francisco?" He asked casually.

Nico sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Traveling," He answered.

Percy knew there was more to the story, but he saw how tired his friend was, worse than wear. He hadn't seen Nico in a long time. He would occasionally pop in and out of camp to help with the cabin for Hades, but that was it.

"Soooo…" Percy drawled on. He leaned against his desk chair and swiveled around a few times awkwardly. "Uh, what's up?"

"You're going to the party right?" He asked out of the blue.

Surprised, he answered. "Yeah, you going?"

"I might. Just… I don't really know why I'm here either."

"Uh huh."

"Just tired I guess." He said, leaning on his knees.

His mom came in producing a glass of water, which Nico took gratefully. She assured Percy that she would be in the kitchen if they needed anything.

Percy leaned back dangerously on his desk chair as he started saying, "There was a news report saying that there was an explosion. You don't happen to know anything about that do you?"

Nico smiled. "Now that was a complete accident." He said. "Dad sent me on an errand to San Francisco, and when I finished I stumbled across a few people bringing in Greek supplies like the swords, daggers or the fire inside some building, and it wasn't a place for a history museum. I decided to investigate it out of pure curiosity. I almost got caught, which resulted it blowing up when I used the Greek fire that they were somehow able to salvage. Dad found out about it and he didn't seem to be surprised. It was like he sent me there to blow it up too."

"He probably did." Percy answered. "Did you find anything interesting there though?"

Nico scratched his chin, "Yeah, some of the weapons I found were bent or broken. I think they were from the war we had and they just decided to study them. There was a room full of tests for the Greek fire though. I think the governments trying to use it or something."

"The gods should do something." Percy said, "I mean, yeah it was the demigods that lead the battle of Manhattan, but if the government is getting too close to that we exist, there could be problems."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Nico answered. "We have people on the inside who work for the government. They keep nosy inspectors away from us."

"I didn't know that."

"Neither did I until I blew up the building."

They laughed at that. Of course to a normal person, blowing buildings up would be considered as a terrorist act and nearly getting caught by security or the government should have shaken them to the boot, but unfortunately, demigods had worse conditions to deal with in their daily lives.

Percy remembered something. "Oh, by the way, me, Annabeth, and Thalia are heading to grab some burgers to hang out. You can come if you want."

Nico's eyes lit up. "Are you sure? I mean, what about Grover?"

"Grover's meeting us up later. He has some duties to attend too back at camp. And besides, I don't want to be the only guy there."

"But the three of us. Me, Thalia and you in the same place. It wasn't exactly a good idea last time."

Percy agreed, but that was another story when Nico's stepmother, Persephone, called the three of them last winter to find a sword that was forged for Hades, but was very dangerous and a threat to Zeus and the other gods. Actually, she didn't really call them. Percy and Thalia followed a glowing deer that the goddess sent, and she literally dropped Nico in front of their feet.

"Well we have a good side." Percy said. "Annabeth will be with us, so if anything happens; she'll probably find a way for us to get out of it."

Nico smirked. "Having a girlfriend gives you more options, huh?"

Percy smiled. "That and then some."

THE HELLICARRIER

According the files Fury was examining, Thalia Grace should have been in her early twenties by now, but judging by the picture that he was able to get from the camera's, she looked no more than sixteen. Her mother died in a car accident from drunk driving. Thalia went missing before that, but since she had no other family no one was able to make a call for a missing person's request.

Her father was unknown.

She had a brother that was born a few years before her disappearance.

He should have known that it was Jason Grace.

Jason was spotted in numerous countries and states for the past few years, but no one was able to identify the boy face to face. Not until now, when Fury looked him up from past cases.

He had a tendency to turn up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Much like Percy Jackson, but his case closed when he wasn't seen again.

After he went missing as a baby, Thalia later followed.

Fury threw the files on the table before him, folding his hands in front of him.

Percy Jackson. Thalia Grace. Jason Grace. They all connected by one thing: They all went missing.

Unfortunately, Jackson was the last disappearance and then the first to reappear. After him came Thalia, but Jason was still missing according to police reports.

It didn't seem like a coincidence that when Percy went missing, Thalia suddenly came back and now the two seemed like best pals.

Or maybe it was. No one could be sure.

From the corner of the his eye, he pressed his finger against the solid table where a digital button was. A small screen from the table produced a black screen. He started pressing other things until someone answered on the other side.

"Agent Grant, report." He said.

He was unable to see the other man's face, but from Fury's ear he had a little earpiece to help him communicate.

"Jackson had a visitor today." Grant stated, "He called himself Nico. He and a few others are going to go out later, but it seems that they are celebrating something for camp. Everything else was hard to understand."

"Explain."

"Something went wrong with the listening device. Agent Skye and I were only able to catch them talking about the San Francisco bombing, but that's all we caught" – He was cut short as he moved away from the mouthpiece. "Skye can you get that?" He yelled. "We have visitors, sir."

"Keep me updated." He hung up.

Fury leaned on the table, rubbing his head in the process. He and the others had more important things to do rather than chasing missing teenagers. It didn't seem like a big project that they were working on, but the council insisted on it.

"Sir." Agent Hill called.

Frowning, he looked back up at his young helper. "Yes?"

"Tony Stark is on the line." She reported. "He wants to say something."

Sighing, Fury dismissed Hill and then pressed the table again. This time it was a video call and it was showing on the table.

"If this is another call about that club, Stark, I'm telling you again too"—

"Oh calm down." He interrupted. "Don't frown so much or else you're going to get wrinkles."

Fury started at him through the visual. It looked like he had another hangover, with his messy hair and his crumpled shirt.

Tony continued. "Me and my fellow freaks were able to find something that might interest you, and to look in more closely."

"And what is that?"

"You see, here"—He reached out in front of him, where another screen appeared next to him—" Is a file that was salvaged from the San Francisco bombing thing. My people were able to catch this certain photo of our famous little teenager."

The screen zoomed in to catch a black and white photo of Percy Jackson among a heap of rubble. He had some sort of weapon in his hand, which Fury first thought was a gun, but then shifted to a baseball bat. He rubbed his one eye, and then looked at it furiously. It was a sword.

A strait up sword in Jackson's hand. And behind him stood Thalia Grace, holding a spear.

Jackson was pointing forward, seeming to yell at people behind him. No one was there though, besides a turned up car.

The Empire State building was in front of him.

There were some other normal civilians who were running different ways away from some unseen danger.

"Was there a video feed on this?" He asked.

Stark shook his head. "Most went missing. Some are just too banged up to even hold."

"I've got people looking in on Jackson already." Fury explained. "Continue your search, Stark. I'll handle Jackson."

"Oh and by the way, archer guy was able to obtain Shakespeare. He's on his way to return the jet he borrowed, and then everyone will be here. Well everyone besides Banner and Rogers. They just went out a few minutes ago. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be back soon."

The screen turned black.

Fury folded his hands in front of him again, pondering the new information he received about Jackson. Seems like things were about to get much more interesting.

AN ISLAND/ COUNTRY

Loki wandered the strange dirt roads of where he landed. There were strange people surrounding him, disgusting creatures who lived like dirt, and yet enjoyed their own pathetic lives.

Children were roaming the streets, with muck all over their hair and soot covering their faces. Though some wore clothing to the normal eye, which was cleaner than the others.

The people around him had light brown skin, and some of them were pale. They all had black hair though, women having theirs down or pulled up. They wore sandals on their feet, or were barefooted, walking on the dirt roads.

Some of them looked at him, as if asking the question: Why are you wearing so much clothing?

The heat where Loki was at was far too hot for his taste, yet he still wore the same garments that he was given from his trial. Gray and plaid clothing; with a tunic that covered most of his arms, a loose sash around his waist and heavy trousers.

All the people around him spoke a strange language, one he could not even understand or detect.

Some tried offering him things which was mostly food. He denied every single one of them.

The crowds were suffocating him, as he started fighting a wave of sweaty people coming his way. It was too noisy, too wet if it started raining.

He had to dodge people who were carrying other people by carts, or other strange vehicles.

As he made his way out into an isolated place, away from civilization, Loki put his hands on his knees.

Usually, people would cower before him, or tremble at his feet. He couldn't believe that none of these people knew who or what he was.

Then again, he couldn't believe why he decided to land on such a small and filthy island.

Someone bumped into him.

Furiously he turned to face that someone, finding himself with a young girl, with strait black hair, light brown skin, wearing a white t-shirt and pink skirt.

She started to yell at him in a staccato like language. She waved her arms around wildly pointing at Loki and at herself.

"Do you know who I am?" Loki demanded, his spit flying toward the girl.

She cringed as some of the drops landed on her face, and then angrily she started to walk away from his, still spouting out the same upbeat language that had too many vowels in it.

He laughed loudly. "Oh your ignorance is so strong! If I had my powers, you and all your people would be bowing down to me this instance. But no, my father had to strip them from me, and all the other worlds have stronger resistance against me besides this one, the weak one. You, and all your puny little filth would be serving me as your master!"

He didn't expect the next thing that happened. Because as soon as he finished his sentence, there was a hard cracking sound as the girl's palm flew toward him, and smacked his face so hard, that Loki was sent sprawling toward the wall.

The girl stood her ground, an angry look in her eyes as her hand started to tingle from the pain.

Bewildered, Loki put his hand against his reddening cheek, as he stared in shock at the form before him.

"I understand English, uto." She said. "And I don't like when people speak like that about my people!"

She then turned and walked away, chin held high, never looking back.

Confused and furiously, Loki made his way out of the dirt roads.

He had to dodge a thousand strange vehicles that required a man using a bike which was attached to a small carriage, or buses that were so crowded, that some of them had to hang off the edge.

It was strange, because he was never on this part of Midgard before. He didn't understand the language, or know where he was. He adapted the basic language of Midgard, and of course he understood a few other languages, but being somewhere that was totally alien, and without his powers, it confused him, and made his so angry at everything.

He made his way out of the roads and into a clear area. It seemed much darker, the alley he stood in.

It was so hot! He could see the sweat coming off his tunic as he leaned against the wall and fell down to his ankles. His head between his hands.

He wasn't sure how long he was sitting there. He was between two buildings, so the sun was not shining directly on him. But he did notice a figure before him, standing for god knows how long. He ignored the shadow, brooding on if it was another person to scold him in their native tongue.

"So this is where you end up?" said a woman's voice. "Loki, God of Mischief, reduced to this rubble of human filth."

Loki lifted his head.

He saw a woman, pale and beautiful. Her blond hair flowed down her shoulders that even the sun could not match its bright color. She had round cheeks, rosy lips and eyes that showed much mischief and deceit. She wore clothes that did not belong to this world. A green dress, which had a slip right above her upper thigh revealing the straps of her sandals that wrapped around her ankle to her upper knee. She had green gloves, showing her fingers, but extended to her elbows, where golden bracelets encircled on her forearm.

Next to her was a huge man. He had a rough face, his eyes hard and uncaring, his jaw set into a firm grasp. His hair, if it looked like he had any for the fact, looked as if someone shaved the middle and left it with in two thin strips. Unlike the woman, this man could not possibly walk down any street without getting stopped and stared at by millions of people. His clothes seemed to expand and contract, showing the fine large muscles hidden beneath. He wore a large breast plate, imprinted on it was a dark blue, almost black, double bladed ax. All in all, his outfit formed a type of pseudo-medieval clothing. Strapped on his back was a magical looking, huge double sided ax. This man looked like a giant, so muscled and large that his shadow covered a quarter of the building.

Loki knew exactly who the two of them were, and in that moment, he wasn't sure either to be glad, or to glare at them.

"Enchantress," He snarled. He got up on his feet, brushing the dirt away from his filthy clothes. "And her little pet. What a pleasant surprise."

"Don't smirk at me, Loki." She said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "It doesn't suit you."

Behind her the man grunted in response, folding his arms against his chest.

"Oh?" He acted surprised. "Then what exactly suits me?"

Her lips curled into a smile. "I have a proposition for you. From your father." She added.

He growled. "My father was the one who sent me down here!" He took a threatening step toward her, and in that moment, the giant man stepped in front of her and then just glared at Loki through his piercing eyes.

"Remove your dog, Enchantress." He said, "I couldn't hurt you even if I tried."

She placed a gentle hand on the man's shoulder, though it seemed like a claw gently pulling him away. "Now, now Skurge," She cooed, "We're just here to talk to him."

Loki slid back down onto his back. "I wouldn't help you especially if my father ordered you to."

"Oh, but he doesn't know that I'm making this proposition for you. He gave me a job."

"The last time I saw you, my father banished you out of Asgard." He explained. "Why should he give you a job?"

She turned her back, seeming to walk away from him. "I don't know." She said. "Probably because he's worried about your brother, Thor."

"I wouldn't help him or my brother for the matter. Now, unless you have some other news, your proposition is not an interest of me."

"Oh but it is." She turned dramatically. "You want to inflict pain on your brother, yes? Extract revenge? You also need leverage to Asgard, which I'm guessing you also want revenge on?"

She noted the changing expression on Loki's eyes to interest. "You're father's request; do you still wish you hear it?"

"Tell me then, and I will be the judge of your proposition."

Enchantress's smile widened. "Your father's request," She started. "Is to kill Jane Foster."

Author's note: Hey guys, so some of you may have noticed that a small part of this story was changed, and I will gladly point it out to you if you have any questions: the part that changed was the Filipina woman yelling at Loki in tagalog. I had a few comments say that what this woman said made absolutely no sense what so ever in tagalog, so I changed it to her just waving her hands dramatically.

If you want to know what I originally posted, I'll put a small glimpse: Agent grant Ward and Agent Sky are actually real SHIELD agents that I did research on their main abilities. Now this chapter. yes, I don't really know how to end a chapter with out a cliff hanger. I mean if I didn't end with one, I would be done with the story right? Sorry for that again. (I would like to point out that Grant Ward and Sky were characters I found online before the TV show aired, so yeah...)

Anyway guys, please review and I'll see you next time!

Next Chapter: The blind man can see