Late summer in New York had always been one of his favorite times of the year, it was just the right mix of warm that you could wear pants outside and not overheat but also not be too cold in a light shirt. Steve felt his eyes wander around the small café, watching the patrons and their interactions with great interest. It served as one of the few practices he engaged in that kept him sane in the mess that his life had become. It served to keep him grounded in some semblance of reality, that this was all real, and not just some fantasy his mind had concocted in the last moments of his life. To see normal, everyday people, interacting and living their lives was something he didn't take lightly, it also allowed him to play out his own deepest fantasies, that he could be one of those normal individuals, worrying not about the next crisis or war, but of what he was having for dinner, or who was courting who. It was his greatest guilty pleasure.
As he watched a pair of rather animated young men, quite good friends from their interactions, he couldn't escape the small pang in his own heart as he was once again reminded of the brother he had lost, his best friend, comrade, his family. He missed Bucky truly and deeply, but he knew that it would do his memory no service for Steve to dwell on past regrets, if nothing else, his friend would have wanted him to move on with his life, to live for those who no longer were, Steve knew he could do Bucky that service at least. And he truly was trying, he had even made something of a friend with Agent Jackson, or Percy as the young man insisted he be called.
Steve frowned as he thought on his new ally; he didn't truly know Percy well enough to call him a friend he supposed. The man was genuine though, a truly honest and thoughtful individual if Steve had ever met one. Percy had been spending the past several weeks attempting to help Steve acclimate to the strange new world he suddenly found himself in. Percy had shown tremendous patience and thoughtfulness as he helped Steve, never once snapping at a question that was likely obvious or asinine to the young man and Steve immensely appreciated the effort Percy was going through to help him. He knew that his little stunt in Steve's wake-up room had cost Percy and that he'd had to deal with a rather thorough chewing out by his superiors but the young man just took it in stride, threw an arm over Steve's shoulder and told him that Steve was going to be stuck with Percy for a while longer.
A thought occurred to Steve as he took a sip from his coffee, he had been so thoroughly lost looking at the menu at the café that when the waitress finally just suggested he get a black coffee he was pretty sure his relief must have been palpable. But as he sipped he realized that despite the innumerable amount of time he'd spent with Percy, he still knew nothing about the man. He frowned slightly and crossed his arms over his chest as he concentrated, it wasn't that Percy had ever lied about something, Steve was good at reading people, but he was also aware enough to know that Percy purposefully evaded any question that got too personal. He would be in the middle of telling Steve one amusing anecdote or another and when he reached a part of his story that he suddenly realized was treading too carefully on personal grounds he would dramatically shift or obviously tread around the topic.
It was easier to note what Steve actually knew about the young man than what he didn't, he knew he had a mother whom he loved thoroughly, something Steve immensely approved of, thoughts of his own mother always prevalent in his mind. He knew his father wasn't around, "lost at sea" while it hadn't been a lie, there was definitely more to it there, but he knew better than to pry. Steve had also looked into the young man briefly after their initial meeting and had been shocked to see that he had been a fugitive when he was a child. When Steve confronted Percy about he closed up tighter than a porthole and said that the charges were dropped and said nothing more.
A voice rang out before Steve could reflect any more, "There you are!" speak of the devil and he shall be sure to appear. Steve barely hid his mild surprise as the familiar tall form of Percy Jackson sauntered into view, "This seat taken?" he asked, smiling underneath his dark sunglasses his light, black jacket blowing slightly in the wind. Steve simply shook his head and nodded at the aforementioned chair and Percy plopped down across from him, smiling like a goon.
"How the heck did you find me Percy?"
Percy laughed, "Finding people is kinda my job Steve, and I'll have you know I'm very good at my job." At Steve's raised eyebrow, Percy sighed before responding, "Alright I stopped by your apartment complex and when you didn't answer I asked your neighbor, you know Ms. Shelly in 3C, she's really nice and she even offered me fresh baked scones, dude, Steve I've never had scones before and I can tell you honestly that-"
"Percy" Steve said, snapping the man out of his rant on baked goods, Percy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit Steve noticed.
"Right, sorry, anyways so I asked her when you left and she said that you left about an hour ago."
"That only gives you a timeframe though Percy"
"If you would stop interrupting me I'll get to it!" Steve raised his hands off the table in a gesture of surrender, "Anyway, there was a hotdog stand on the corner, I bought a water and he told me that you were heading off this way, after that it was just a matter of logic really, you weren't likely to be in any of the shopping boutiques or business centers and you were probably looking for something kind of familiar, and that's when I noticed the café, it was the only logical place within walking distance."
Steve was rather impressed but hid it well, resourcefulness like that was a valuable trait to have. "Observant" he said passively, drawing a pleased smile out of Percy, a look that was not all that dissimilar to a child being praised from his teacher and he sat down, slouching with one arm on the back of his chair.
"So" Percy started, "What's wrong?"
Steve was thrown off by the sudden question, "Nothing…why do you ask?"
Percy just shrugged and paused for a moment before answering, casually calling over the waitress and asking for a glass of water, no ice. He waited until the glass was in front of him before speaking.
"You're not sleeping, are you" it was more of a statement of fact rather than a question, nevertheless, Percy didn't wait for a reply, "It's the noise isn't it? That's what it was for me man, the noise of the city, of people just being people and living their lives as if nothing was wrong. And that's the problem right? There's uncertainty there, we don't know what it is, cause that's not what we have been trained for. Over there, we know what the noises are, what they mean and there's safety there, but here, where we're "safe" in our "home" there's more uncertainty than ever and it's terrifying. Information saves lives, but more than that it's a safety valve, if we know what we're hearing we can qualify it, can't do that here, there's too much going on, too much noise."
He paused and Steve found himself holding his breath, Percy finally looked away from the water he had been staring at so intently, and looked Steve in the eye. For the first time since he'd met the man there was darkness in Percy's gaze and it was palpable, even more startling was the power that seemed to be radiating from the man as his sea green eyes seemed to glow iridescently in the mid-morning light.
"I won't pretend to understand your position or what you went through but I know exactly how and what you're feeling and let me tell you Steve that you will be able to overcome it. It doesn't get easier, hell it doesn't get better, but it gets manageable and you don't need to do it alone."
Percy paused again and the glow faded from his eyes and the same cheerful, lackadaisical grin he was familiar with. "I don't expect or even want you to open yourself up here and now, you need time to think and probably someone more qualified to talk to than myself, so instead you're going to finish your drink, pay your bill, tip the cute waitress who has been making eyes at you since you sat." Steve's cheeks brightened and a clang sounded out as the waitress in question abruptly dropped what she was holding in embarrassment. Percy only grinned and continued,
"And then you're going to follow. We're going to the gym."
BREAK
Percy noted with no small amusement that Mac, the gyms owner and manager, likely wouldn't be too pleased when he came back in on Monday to find he was about six punching bags down. Percy casually leaned out of the way as the space his head had previously inhabited was suddenly filled with a seventh bag. Steve hadn't said anything since they'd arrived, and probably for the better, it was all too soon for him to begin venting his frustrations to Percy. He was pleased to notice, however, that the tension in Steve's shoulders had most certainly loosened, and certainly seemed much more loosely wound than when Percy found him. The pair was drawn away from their thoughts and musings as the sound of footsteps permeated the small gym.
"Trouble sleeping?" asked Fury, striding over to where Percy was standing, Percy tried to not smirk as he saw Steve's brow twitch slightly before he responded sharply, striking the newly replaced bag as he did so.
"I've slept for seventy years sir. I think I've had my fill."
Fury took a step forward as he spoke, and Percy noticed for the first time the file tucked under his arm.
"Then you should be out celebrating, seeing the world."
Steve shot Percy a slightly incredulous look, before he stopped his mad punching and walked over to a small bench, sitting down as he took the tape off of his hands.
"I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, and they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." Steve shot, a little bitterly.
"We've made some mistakes-" Fury started but Percy cut him off,
"You here with a mission sir?" he asked with a pointed look that said to drop it, Fury nodded.
"I am"
"Trying to get me back into the world?" asked Steve as he pulled the last of the tape off of his fingers.
"Trying to save it" and Fury handed the file to Steve, before pulling a secondary out from his coat and handed it to Percy, all the while still focusing his attention on Steve.
Percy grabbed it deftly and opened the file. He let loose a low whistle from his lips as he took in what he read. He was so ensnared in his readings he almost missed Steve when he murmured,
"Hydra's secret weapon."
Fury nodded, "Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."
"Who took it from you?"
"He's called Loki"
Percy rounded on him, sure that he had misheard the man.
"What did you say?" he demanded
"I said" said Fury calmly, seemingly oblivious to the rage mounting in the man next to him, "That he is called Loki"
It was silent for a moment as Steve looked between the two. In the weeks he had known Percy he had never seen such a look of pure unadulterated anger on his face, as though Fury had personally insulted him in some way.
Percy closed his eyes and slowly felt out for the water in the air, hoping it would calm him down enough before he said something he regretted. His temper had always been a hindrance, he was quick to fly off the handle and go into a rage if truly angered, and even with temperament and emotional training he still had difficulties masking his anger.
Once the storm had subsided somewhat, he managed to ground out through clenched teeth, "And why the hell, is this the first I've been hearing about this, Director." He added as an afterthought.
Fury regarded him for a moment before walking away slowly towards the boxing ring in the middle of the gym. "Because Agent Jackson there factors that we were not yet sure of and we didn't want to present you or your people." He said, emphasizing the last bit, " this information without being certain of the facts at hand." He turned around and raised both of his hands up in a stupefied manner, "Hell we still aren't entirely sure what we're dealing with but we are certain of one thing and that is his powers are the real deal."
Percy was breathing heavily now, and his heart was thumping against his chest so hard that he had a passing thought that it might leap out of his chest. As clenched and unclenched his fist in frustration he growled, "Do we need to be concerned about any familial involvement?"
"The brother is…a possibility we have considered " Fury admitted, and it looked as though it pained him considerably to do so. Likely because he knew exactly what the response to the statement would be.
"You say that like you've already made contact with one of them before." Percy said, his voice now a low quiet rumble, when Fury didn't respond he asked, "You already made contact." It was a statement of fact, not a question. "When?"
"New Mexico, two months ago, Agents Coulson and Barton contacted and engaged the Brother in a small town that nearly destroyed it."
If Percy had been angry before, he furious, livid, and level of rage not quantifiable by mere words.
"Then why the hell was I not informed!" He roared, and Steve could have sworn that the ground shook with the cry of rage. However, it seemed as though Fury was not dismayed in the least by the demonstration.
"We were unsure as to the severity of the situation, additionally they left almost as soon as they arrived, the situation was handled and we felt that unless it happened again there was no reason to inform you."
"Well clearly that didn't pan out not did it" Percy shot back, "We had a deal Fury, I've kept up my end of the bargain but I sure as hell expect to be kept in the loop if I'm going to continue and be a part of your merry band of misfits." Fury remained silent, and Percy took that as his answer, turning on his heel and marching out of the building. He was just about at the door when Fury called,
"They have Agent Barton"
Percy stopped dead, unsure whether he heard or not. He turned around, fixing Fury with his coldest glare.
"Explain" he said slowly,
"We aren't sure exactly what he did but Loki has taken control of the minds of several high ranking individuals including Agent Barton. We know that he is using them and there knowledge for something the problem is we don't know what."
Percy let out a long breath. "That's playing dirty Fury."
"In this business, we can't afford to play clean."
Percy nodded wearily, and brought his hands up to rub at his face, suddenly appearing much older and more tired than a man his age ought to. He then shuffled over to the bench by Steve, and collapsed into it. Fury was right, he knew it, besides he couldn't walk out on something like this. If Loki was truly a god then he was positive that they would soon be dealing with the entire damn Pantheon before too long. With a start, he realized that this was what the Fates had been warning him about, rivals thought gone were coming back. Percy clenched his teeth, and nodded at Fury, letting him know that he wouldn't interrupt again. Though he knew that the look he sent to Fury conveyed the message that they would be talking about this again.
Percy was far from pleased that Fury had held something like this back, it went against the deal they had made, the deal that Percy had fought so hard to get for humanity, and dammit Fury had withheld this potentially astronomical discovery from him. It wasn't that he expected to be clued in to every secret SHIELD uncovered, but when it was directly related to him and his singular field of expertise he expected to be brought into the conversation. He folded his arms across his chest and squeezed his fest shut. He needed to relax a little, think through this rationally. He barely caught what Fury was saying to Steve,
"There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."
"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve retorted and looked over at Percy when he snorted in derision,
"Ten bucks says you're wrong"
"There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment." Fury cut in before Steve could reply. Steve merely nodded before exchanging a brief, wordless exchange with Percy, and he picked up his bag and the pair began walking out of the gym. "Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asked as they were almost out of sight.
"You should have left it in the ocean." Steve said sharply, and they left
BREAK
Percy watched over Steve's shoulder as the small tablet in his hand played footage from a few years ago, the day when the Hulk had attacked the army at Culver University. They were on a new prototype transport troop carrier, something Stark industries had nicknamed the Quinjet, for whatever reason, Percy didn't know. It was quiet though, the engines barely audible over the sound speaking of the pilot, who was addressing Coulson,
"We're about forty minutes out from base, sir." The pilot said, Coulson merely nodded and tapped him lightly on the shoulder before striding back to where Percy and Steve were standing. Steve looked up from the footage, a frown on his face,
"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?"
Coulson looked slightly pained, "A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."
They turn back to the footage as the Hulk roars with fury and he slams a jeep apart. "Didn't really go his way, did it?" laughed Percy,
Coulson didn't even flinch, instead he continued addressing Steve, "Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking." Percy kept laughing at Steve's expression, as he clearly was unsure as to who Stephen Hawking was,
"He's smart, smarter than everyone on this jet combined probably." Nobody had a rebuttal for that, and Steve offered a Percy a thankful smile. Coulson, however, kept talking,
"I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve looked incredulous and Percy choked on his own spit as he completely failed to stop himself from laughing. Steve, unsure of how to respond, stood up and walked over to behind the pilots, and watched out the cockpit. Coulson tried valiantly to explain himself,
I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board." Percy smiled; it was a weird but nice change of pace to be able to see his seemingly imperturbable commanding officer turn into a blubbering schoolboy. It helped that Steve was taking in stride, though he was clearly uncomfortable with the attention,
"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." Steve said softly, Percy was going to say something, but Coulson beat him to the punch and he decided that he'd just let Coulson have this,
"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." Steve finally turned to face him,
The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?"
"Pot meet kettle" Coulson shot Percy a withering glare and Steve rolled his eyes but his lips curved up a little at the corners. Coulson persevered though,
"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned." They fell quiet then, each falling into their own thoughts.
They flew in silence for the remainder of the trip. Although, Percy couldn't help the large smile that spread on his face when he laid eyes on the large aircraft carrier, that was their likely destination. Some time at sea was exactly what would help him clear his head and mentally prepare himself for what was likely to come. Coulson saw the smile, but didn't comment, instead a knowing smirk latched onto his lips, and his eyes gained a mischievous twinkle, that went completely unnoticed by either man. Steve, for his part, was equally enthralled but for entirely different reasons. As he laid eyes on the ship a wave of familiarity and nostalgia, and allowed an equally content smile to grace his lips.
They had only just disembarked when they were approached by a familiar women with shoulder-length red hair
"Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers." Coulson introduced, She nodded at Steve, and smirked at Percy, who responded in kind before addressing Coulson,
"They need you on the bridge. Face time." Coulson nodded sharply, his demeanor shifting slightly,
"See you there." And with that he strode off. As he left Natasha gave Steve an appraising look up and down, and looked at Percy who nodded still smiling. She began waling toward the edge of the ship, addressing the Captain as she did so,
There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"
"Trading cards?" Steve asked, incredulous, Percy laughed a deep belly laugh, Steve and Natasha turned and for the first time since knowing him, the man looked truly relaxed.
"They're vintage" he said laughing,
"He's very proud." Finished Natasha with a smile.
Steve looked between the two, eyebrow raised,
"I take it you two know each other then?" They shared a conspiratorial smile but refused to comment but that was answer enough for Steve who merely shook his head. They were about halfway across the deck when they caught sight of an anxious looking man in a ratty tan suit and slippers stumbling around trying to remain innocuous and failing miserably. Steve and Percy shared a look and Steve approached the man, hand outstretched in greeting,
" Doctor Banner," The doctor looked startled but visibly relieved to have someone to talk to,
"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming."
"Word is you can find the cube."
"Is that the only word on me?" He looked immediately on edge again, rubbing his hands together and tensing like he would need to begin running at a moments notice.
"Only word I care about." Banner paused, taking in the sentiment and then smiled slightly, before someone behind them cleared their throat, and Percy stepped up his own hand outstretched and a relaxed, crookedly easy grin on his face.
"Doctor, it's an honor. Agent Percy Jackson at your service. Don't worry," he raised his free hand as though surrendering as his other grasped onto Banner's, "No seven year olds drawing you away this time."
"A pleasure agent," he said uncertainly, a shaky grin on his face, "And thank you, I'd hate to get upset and break something." It was meant as a joke but only Percy laughed. Drastically searching for a change of subject with the one person who seemed as out of place as he was, he addressed Steve once more, "Must be strange for you, all of this." He gestured around the modern carrier vaguely, as a group of soldiers jogged by. Steve watched them go with a wistful smile on his face,
"Well, this is actually kind of familiar."
Natasha interrupted the discussion as she walked up to stand next to Percy,
"Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath."
Just as she said this the ship began to shake and Steve and Percy exchanged a look, but the expression on Percy's face said that he had no idea what was going on either, they walked closer to the edge of the carrier until they were nearly looking over the water below,
"Is this is a submarine?" Asked Steve, slightly incredulous,
"Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" said Banner sarcastically, and as he said it enormous turbines rose out of the water and began spinning. In unison both Percy and Banner shouted, because they wind was now drowning out any additional noise
"OH, NO. THIS IS MUCH WORSE."
BREAK
As the doors to the bridge opened the small party was welcomed with the sight of dozens of agents buzzing around view screens and dials in a flurry of activity. As the door to the bridge slid closed behind them with a sharp, causing Doctor Banner to jump slightly, a stern looking woman standing next to Fury shouted one final announcement to leave the area. Agent Maria Hill turned to address the commander,
"We're at lock, sir."
"Good," he said, "Let's vanish." Looking out a pair of view ports on the port starboard side Percy and Steve watched as parts of the carrier seemingly vanished. The three, Percy Banner and Steve, walked slightly forward, mouths agape in silent awe, absently Steve reaches into his pocket, and slaps a crisp ten dollar bill into Percy's chest, who just nodded dumbly.
"Gentlemen" Fury acknowledged but they didn't seem to be paying attention, he rolled his eye and approached Banner, his hand outstretched in greeting, who looks at it, slightly shocked, before reluctantly grasping hold of it.
"Doctor, thank you for coming."
"Thanks for asking nicely." Banner shifted uncomfortably, "So, uh... how long am I staying?"
"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear." Bruce looked happy to suddenly have something to think about that wasn't remotely military in topic,
"Where are you with that?" he asked, and Fury gestured for Coulson to fill him, as Coulson approached Natasha and Percy looked over a monitor in the corner with a picture of Agent Barton, pensive but determined looks on their faces.
"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."
"That's still not going to find them in time" said Natasha, Percy just nodded and crossed his arms over chest. In situations like this he found it best to simply sit back and let the people who knew what they were doing deal with the tracking and locating. He could wait patiently for his chance to play to his strengths, namely hitting things. Very hard. Repeatedly.
"You have to narrow the field." Stated Banner, striding over to a computer terminal, "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"
"How many are there?" asked Fury,
As Banner responded he began rolling up his sleeves, suddenly looking much more confident, the prospect of solving a puzzle was clearly helping him get through the stress of the situation,
"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"
Percy and Steve shared a look, bemused but more than happy to stay out of the way, for his part Percy was certainly glad to have someone else to help experience the helplessness involved in letting the tech jocks do their thing.
"Agent Romanoff," ordered Fury, "Would you show to his laboratory, please."
Natasha nodded, smiling softly, "You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."
As they left and as Steve wandered off to get a better look at the surrounding area, Percy decided to take his chance and approached Fury, tapping him on the shoulder and gesturing with his head out the door, Fury looked slightly agitated but nodded barking out to Hill as he did,
"Hill, take the Bridge, Jackson and I will be right back." And with that he motioned for Percy to follow him, the left out through a door on the port side and walked until they approached a small out cove and moved in until both were situated against the bulkhead,
"What do you want to know" Fury asked his eye boring into Percy,
"Everything" he responded, his voice taking on a hard edge to it. Fury sighed but nodded in resignation, reaching into an inside pocket of his trench coat he withdrew a manila envelope and handed it to Percy. Opening it, he found it was a personnel file, the picture on top was of a handsome man with a long mane of shaggy blonde hair, and angular features.
"He calls himself Thor" Fury started, drawing Percy's attention, two months ago he appeared in the desert of New Mexico, not long after the appearance of the this," he reached over and pulled back several pages of the file until another picture emerged, this of a large war hammer, beautifully crafted and instantly recognizable. Percy's sharp intake of breath was enough for Fury to continue,
"As you can see, it's legit, at least as far as we know, he appeared, beat the crap out of several of our best agents before we could take him down and that was only because he didn't have his powers anymore. With them, he managed to take down a three story tall death machine and leveled a small town. He left almost immediately afterward but you can see why this is something we need to approach with serious caution."
Percy summed it up as eloquently as only he can,
"Crap"
"Yup" responded Fury curtly, "If this Loki guy turns out to be for real then I will bet my good eye that we'll be seeing him" he pointed at the picture of Thor, "Way too soon."
Percy only nodded, rubbing a tired hand over his face.
"My people are not going to take this well"
"No shit" Fury deadpanned, "Why the hell do you think I waited until now to tell you. How long can you put off a meeting?"
Percy thought about it briefly then met Fury's gaze,
"Long enough. This won't be an issue." The unsaid I hope dropped into the air like a lead weight, but Fury didn't seem to care. He merely nodded and motioned for Percy to follow him back onto the bridge. When they re-entered Percy caught sight of Steve and Coulson talking to one another, or rather Coulson was talking at Steve, and Steve was politely listening. Knowing what it was about Percy allowed the smirk to grow on his face, completely unbidden.
He caught part of the conversation as he approached,
"I mean, if it's not too much trouble."
"No, no. It's fine."
It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but…"
Percy almost laughed but composed himself, instead he merely cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Steve, raising the file in his hand up a little,
"Cap" he said, using his official rank in order to show that this was not a social call, "I want to go over some mission details with you before we get going." Steve looked relieved and nodded enthusiastically and the pair took off quickly to the other side of the room,
"Thank you" Steve muttered under his breath "I respect the man and everything but…" Percy laughed good naturedly, "It's fine Steve, it's nice to see him like this, it's something of a rarity to see the person instead of the agent, it's good-" whatever Percy was about to say was cut off as an Agent, a bald tan-skinned man in a sharp suit, at one of the monitors in the corner suddenly shouted,
"We got a hit. Sixty-seven percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy-nine percent."
"Location?" demanded Coulson as he flew to the man's side,
"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." Fury turned to Percy and Steve,
"Jackson, Captain, you're up." They nodded, and bolted out of the room.
BREAK
Percy tried, and failed, for not the first time to smother the laugh bubbling up as he caught sight of Cap, the man looked ridiculous,
"What?" he asked, sounding rather annoyed as the jet rocked slightly from a sudden pocket of turbulence,
"Nothing" said Percy quickly but Steve's eyebrow quirked upward and he folded his arms across his chest,
"You've been giggling to yourself ever since we left, go on and just say it. Get it out of your system."
"You look like a crappy kid's action figure" he blurted before he could stop himself, and the plan dipped suddenly and the pair looked forward to see Natasha's shoulders shaking slightly with poorly concealed laughter.
"Sorry," she said over her shoulder, "Had to dodge some migrating geese."
Percy snorted and Steve just shook his head and sighed,
"I liked my old uniform better, but Coulson was so excited about it," he sighed again "It is what it is." Before Percy could retort however Natasha spoke again, this time all business,
"We're coming up on the LZ, there's too many civilians for me to touch down so you're going to have to jump." Percy smiled, that was fine by him. As one, he and Steve unstrapped their harnesses and walked toward the exit ramp. As they approached a blinking red light came on. Percy smacked a switch on the nearest bulkhead and the rear ramp began to descend, and the lights of the city shown brightly below. They each grabbed hold of a handrail on either side of the jet as it began turn. Just as the jet was finishing its turn the blinking red light suddenly changed to bright green and the pair dove out the jet.
They were launched out of the jet, some forty feet in the air before coming down in a crowd of people, Steve landing directly in front of an elderly gentleman just as bright blast from a scepter in the hands of what had to be Loki, shot out. The blast deflected off of his shield and reflect right back into Loki, collapsing him in a heap. He stood up from behind his shield and addressed the would-be god,
"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Loki managed to gather himself and rose to his feet. Looking speculatively at the Captain,
"The soldier." He mocked "A man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time." Taking that as his cue Percy called the water in his pack and willed two large tendrils to appear, by now the crowd of scared civilians had disappeared and he didn't have to worry about them getting in the way. At the same time Natasha brought the Quinjet down behind them and rolled up the large mounted chain gun on the jet's nose.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."
Quick as snake, Loki fires a bolt of blue energy that Natasha barely manages to evade, taking the initiative the Captain launches his shield which bounces off Loki's chest, momentarily stunning him. Percy, seizing the opportunity, lashes out with his tendrils, slamming them powerfully into the man's side, but it was an illusion. Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, Percy ducks, just as the scepter stabs into the air where his chest just was.
Percy kicked out, taking advantage of Loki's vulnerable position, and caught him in the shin, dropping him to one knee, as this was happening Percy felt a hand on his back and felt, rather than saw, the Captain use his back as a spring board to launch a vicious kick into Loki's midsection. Loki toppled, falling to the ground but Percy didn't give him a moment to breath, instead, he pounced, throwing a heavy haymaker to where Loki's head was just a moment before. His fist met concrete instead, and he felt the ground crack and crumble under the weight of his punch.
From his vulnerable position he felt the butt end of the scepter on the back of his head,
"Kneel" hissed Loki, Only to be kicked away a moment later by the Captain who responded,
"Not today."
The two squared up with one another as Loki righted himself again. They heard as the Quinjet pulled back around and situated itself directly above and behind them, However the moment was quickly interrupted as the loudspeakers from the Quinjet roared into the life, and AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill began blaring through the night. Percy, Cap, and Loki all turned and looked up as a form streaked through the night sky, before a ray slammed into Loki throwing him to the ground for the umpteenth time that evening an the object landed with a heavy thud next to the pair.
Iron Man stood up, his left hand glowing with the shot of a repulse ray, ready to fire and the right locked and ready to unload with a myriad of ballistic weaponry.
"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Stark's voice came through his suits speakers.
Slowly and from his position on the ground, Loki raised his hands over his head and his armor, scepter, and headwear all disappeared. Seemingly dissolving into nothing.
"Good move." Said Iron Man, lowering his own weapons.
"Mr. Stark" Said the Captain, acknowledging the new presence,
"Captain" he said back before looking at the third party and doing a double take, his visor sliding up with a metal clang, his face a look of pure incredulity,
"Agent High School?" he said disbelieving,
Percy waved nonchalantly in response, "Bout time you showed up." He let his easiest grin on his face,
"Thought you were gonna leave me to do all the work again."
AN: SUP! Yo, sorry I'm back but up until recently I had hit a rather serious wall and was struggling to do much of anything. Add that into work tiring me out and my birthday, Fourth of July and a family reunion I haven't had much time to breathe let alone write. Anyhoo, You didn't come here for excuses, what do ya'll think? We're finally here! I'm super pumped and can't wait to show you guys what I have planned coming up; we're just getting started here people! Let me know what you think. Love ya! And have an awesome day!