Ch. VI
Disclaimer: I own nothing save for my creativity.
Warning: Maybe slight spoiler for The Winter Soldier, though nothing major.
It was night in Stuttgart, therefore making the shadow travel easier on Nico. Nevertheless, I had to steady him as we stumbled out into a dark alley across from a towering marble building, around which a number of well-dressed people were milling about.
"Ok, so where to now?" I asked, looking around. As if on cue, a cacophony of screams broke out, and a wave of men and women in fine clothes streamed out of the said building.
"Put this on!" Nico yelled, pulling a blue hoodie from seemingly nowhere and shoving it at me. He somehow had his black one already on, the hood casting suspiciously thick shadows across his face, shielding all but his eyes from view. It was an altogether eerie look.
I quickly did as instructed, and after casting a veil of mist over my face that would distort its appearance to mortals dashed in pursuit of my cousin, weaving through the stampede of panicked party-fleers.
We reached the other side of the street just as the last few fleeing mortals darted past, and advanced towards the tacky-helmet wearing, gold and green armored, staff-wielding madman-er, god- known as Loki. He swaggered along in possibly the most garish costume I had ever seen, and let me tell you, that's saying a lot. I couldn't help it when I burst out laughing. Not the brightest act on my part, I'll admit. But I had a reputation for rubbing gods' hair the wrong way that I had to live up to.
"You dare mock me with your pathetic laughter, petty mortal?" Loki stopped and wheeled to face me, blue eyes burning with anger and scorn, and brandished his staff so that the tip was leveled at my chest.
At least I had gotten him to stop pursuing the mortals, who although most had cleared the area by now, a few still loitered about in the shadows some several hundred yards away. Sirens drew near, and a few police cars drew near. Loki didn't even bat an eye as he blasted them with his scepter. I felt Nico cringe, and winced inwardly myself. I didn't let my thoughts linger however, and turned my full focus back on the Liesmith.
"Not at all, I just see something I find hilarious, cocky god." I shot back before I could stop myself, anger entering my voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nico grip his sword tighter and shift his stance. I felt myself do the same as the god's eyes burned with fury. He grinned maliciously and swaggered towards us. With a flicker, three clones popped up around us, boxing us in, then stopped about 10 feet away. I frowned, and felt Nico's back inches from mine. I tensed and I felt him do the same in anticipation of the fight to come.
"Kneel!" he commanded, as if expecting us to obey.
I blinked in confusion. This guy was insane. "What the Had-Heck?" I asked.
Loki drew himself up taller as if to appear more intimidating, his clones following in suit. More calmly, yet laced with menace, he once more commanded, "I said, Kneel! It is only natural for you, after all. It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation…" For once, I was thankful that my ADHD brain stopped following his tyrannical speech. I watched him with narrowed eyes, calculating, and…. "Now!" I yelled, drawing Riptide I lunged forward and slashed through the Loki that had been speaking, only to have his image waver, smiling cruelly. "Too rash. You'll never touch me, mortal." The Loki clone popped away and I wheeled, feeling a presence behind me. I barely rolled out of the way before a scepter pierced the air where my head had been seconds before.
"The real him isn't even here!" Nico's voice registered in my ears briefly. I nodded in understanding.
"Then where is he?" I grunted, countering a swipe of a scepter from faux god #3.
"Inside!" he paused. "Wait, no, look out!" I felt rather than saw the energy beam, shot from the real-deal scepter, barreling towards small of my back. Time slowed down. "This is it." Riptide felt like lead in my hands, and for the first time since the curse of Achilles was bestowed upon me, I felt vulnerable. I couln't turn fast enough. Then, "WHAM!"
Something metallic shot past my back, deflecting the beam. Immediately I surged forward and over, executing a shoulder roll and popped back up so I was facing the real Loki. He was no longer paying me any mind. Instead, I followed his gaze to where a man spangle-clad man with holding a matching circular shield stood tall. "You know, the last time I was in Germany, I saw a man standing above everyone else."
"The soldier." Loki chuckled, "The man out of time."
"I'm not the one who's out of time." Captain America, or better known to me as Capsicle through Tony, replied.
A jet of some sorts flew overhead and began to hover. The authorities were here now. Glancing at Nico, I attempted to send a message through my eyes explaining that we should take the first opportunity to make a break for it.
"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." A woman's voice emanated across the square. Loki, who by now had diverted his attention almost entirely from us (I was sure that he hadn't pushed us completely to the back of his mind) shot a blast from his scepter at the ship, which the pilot narrowly avoided. Captain America lunged in and picked up from where Nico and I had left off, though this time he was facing the solo god himself.
The Son of Hades and I watched anxiously, both of us half driven to assist yet unwilling as it was dishonorable to fight two against one. Yet that wouldn't stop Loki, a little voice grumbled in my head. I knew it was right, and I owed the Good Captain one for his timely interference. When Loki managed to disarm the Cap and knock him back, holding the scepter at the base of his neck, I knew it was time to act. I lunged forward and rammed into the god with my shoulder, knocking him off balance. Dropping low, I kicked his legs out from under him and he stumbled and quickly caught himself, bringing the scepter up to counter Riptide. It all came naturally from there. Step, parry, lunge, twist, fake, slash, [insert ninja-like move here]. He was a decent fighter, but I could tell that he did not rely on his brawn. I decided to step it up. Forget about appearing to be a highly trained mortal. Let's add some water to the mix.
Not too far from my right, I felt a fountain. With the usual tug in my gut, I sent a fist of water slamming into Loki's side. His eyes widened as he clearly hadn't expected it. I advanced on the drenched god, who was staring at me now with a calculating look in his eye. I didn't like it.
"So don't you fool around,
I'm gonna pull it pull it
Pull the trigger"
The night was shattered as ACDC began blasting from gods' know where. I groaned. Of course my uncle would show up. A blast of his repulsor beams, and Loki was launched back about thirty feet.
"Make your move, reindeer games." Tony clad in his suit and Captain America approached the fallen god, who relinquished the illusion of his armor and –thank the gods- his helmet. Don't ask me why but I had a serious problem with overly extravagant armor. He held his hands up in surrender, and with the two avengers distracted, I signaled Nico that it was time to make our escape.
*** This is going to be a longer-than-average chapter!***
"What the Hades is this?!" Annabeth, wielding a newspaper in hand, shouted through the Iris message at me. Nico had wisely disappeared into the kitchen to "help my mom with breakfast" as soon as the message had popped up. What a lie. The kid couldn't cook for the death of him. "Err, well, Nico got a lead on Loki so we decided to go investigate…"
"Without telling me?!"
"It kind of came up out of the blue. I tried but.."
"That doesn't cut it! Gods, do you know how worried I've been? I thought you were kidnapped by monsters, or maybe some God decided to play a cruel joke!"
I raised an eyebrow. "'kidnapped my monsters?' Really?"
She sighed, losing some of her initial steam. "I'm just glad you're safe." Her eyes hardened. "But Percy, this is serious. Mortals aren't ready to find out about demigods yet, but here you are prancing around showing off you sword and water/shadow powers. In front of government. And not just any government. SHIELD. They make it their business to know everything about everybody, and since you and Nico showed up you can count on them to attempt to track you down."
I frowned. "Ok. I'll keep my head down for a bit." She smiled. "How did you know about SHIELD?"
Annabeth's eyes sparkled. "Daedalus' laptop is unparalleled by any mortal technology, although your uncles' may come close. It really wasn't that hard to hack the Government main frame without leaving a trace." I grinned. Tony was going to love her. "Come visit soon, Wise Girl."
"Love you, Seaweed Brain."
"Love you too."
I swiped my hand through the mist just as my mom chased Nico and a cloud of black smoke out of the kitchen.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Jackson! I don't know how it happened! I blinked and then BAM! The eggs were up in flames!"
"For the last time, call me Sally." My mom sighed. "Just go take a shower and get changed- you can borrow some of Percy's clothes- you smell like a barbeque gone wrong!" I chuckled.
"Oh, Percy! Tony called! He asked if you wanted a tour of the 'Helicarrier.'"
I gulped. It would look suspicious if I didn't go, but from what I'd heard it was a flying machine. Zeus would throw a fit."
"Err…"
I was interrupted by a knock at the door. "I'll get it." I rushed out of the room, glad for the excuse. I opened the door and was met by "Dad?" I asked.
Poseidon gave me a grin. "Hey Percy."
"Uh, come in!" I stepped aside and he strode past me. My mom paled slightly when she saw him.
"Sally." He smiled at her. "Let's sit down for a bit, shall we?"
My mom and I took a seat on the couch across from him.
"That was quite a stunt by you last night Percy. I must say I'm proud."
"Errm, thanks?" I asked, blushing slightly.
His gaze hardened. "But you need to be careful. It is not smart to fool around with SHEILD."
I nodded. "Annabeth said something along those lines too."
"Smart girl." My dad looked at me studying, before he blatantly stated, "There was a council meeting last night. We decided that you should go undercover on the Helicarrier for a while. I believe your uncle extended you an invitation?" At my nod he continued. "Zeus has agreed to allow you passage in his domain throughout the duration of this 'quest.' For a while now, we have been suspecting that not all is right within SHIELD, but we don't have the insight to say what. Good luck, my son." With that my father dissolved into a sea breeze and blew out the window.
"Did I miss anything?" Nico, rubbing his hair furiously with a towel walked into the room then.
"Yup."
No one really paid me much mind when I arrived on the Helicarrier. Tony gave me a brief rundown about the working of the ship as we walked to where the Avengers were assembled, before introducing me to the "team". Honestly, I'd seen children of Hermes and Demeter get along better. However, they were all curious to meet the alleged nephew of Tony Stark, but apparently I wasn't as interesting as the two vigilantes, dubbed "Current and Shadow" who had appeared last night during the fight with Loki. I sat in the corner, trying to look as though I was interested in a normal mortal sort of way. I seemed to be succeeding. Until Tony asked, "So, mini-stark," -I'm not sure if I like that nickname. It implies too much.- "What are your thoughts?" I paled, then tried to look caught off guard and innocent.
"Um, well, I thought that the guy with the blue hoodie had a really cool sword. And I thought he fought pretty well too." Okay, I admit. A little self-appreciative there. But hey, when lying and nervous, I learned that keeping some truth to the story could go a long way in convincing people of your honesty. And my sword really was pretty cool if I said so myself.
The Avengers, minus Natasha Steve and Fury, chuckled. And Bruce just smiled. So in reality it was just Tony expressing his humor at my awkwardness. "Well well well, look's like someone has a crush." My jaw dropped at Tony's forward assumption. Then I reminded myself of who I was talking to. Of course my uncle would go there. I collected myself up, but not before he started cackling again. the others face palmed.
"I have a girlfriend, remember? I just thought that sword fighting looked like it could be cool"
"Would you look at that, my littlest nephew is finally expressing his interest in weapons! Sorry kiddo but you're a little late. I'm focused on clean energy now, remember?" I smirked. "I didn't think you made swords per say."
Tony looked affronted, then delighted. "So you did your reading! I'm proud. At this rate I truly will let you inherit the company."
Finally, we were off the topic of Stuttgart and Loki. I gave a relieved sigh. No one seemed suspicious at all. "Well, my girlfriend informed me. With Dislexia and ADHD, it's all I can do to sit still. Forget about reading."
"If that's the case, I will let her inherit the company instead. You can be her PA." I laughed distractedly.
GUYS! That was an incredibly long chapter for me! WHOOP WHOOP! I went to see the Winter Soldier yesterday, and it was pretty good, though I found myself questioning some of the things that happened. But as my Latin teacher always says, "You can't question Ovid's poems. Just pretend they work." Let's just say I applied that to TWS. Also, to any of you guys who watched it. Anyway, thanks for reading! Please, if you feel inspired, or even if you don't, leave a review! I will love you forever. Thanks!
Ok, just so you know- A lot of you have been asking when Tony is going to find out that Percy is a demigod, or when Thor will recognize him. I want to see that happen too, just not yet. In due time, I promise. I just think that Percy needs to lay low for a while. This story is, after all, trying not to be to cliché. Thanks for reading! Oh, by the way- I've been harboring some thoughts about having the Stolls join in. Yay or nay?
To those of you who may have gotten an alert today- I had to edit something to make the plot accurate, So now Percy will witness the attack on the Helicarrier.
-TPJ