Rising Tides

Chapter Eleven – Penelope

Percy Jackson

"Fury? The guy who literally moved heaven and earth to bring you back?" he asked as they both stepped off of the platform and onto the Helicarrier's flight deck.

"Yep. That's the one." Coulson answered. "He's was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. before he passed that job on to me."

They were both now silently crossing the flight deck to the large blast door that was part of the air traffic control tower. As they passed the middle of the upper deck, Percy saw numerous aircraft being moved into position onto the Helicarrier.

Quinjets were being stored near the edges of the deck and on the deck below, Percy could see the lower deck being loaded with F-35s stealth fighter jets. When they both finally crossed the massive flight deck, Phil tapped a screen near the door and the door opened with a hiss.

Both of them walked into the airlock and the large blast door sealed behind them. Moments later, the airlock door in front of them opened to reveal a long corridor. Coulson led them both alone, occasionally encountering agents who greeted the director.

When they finally reached the an elevator at the end of the hallway, Coulson entered and Percy followed. The director hit a button on the large touchscreen in the elevator panel labelled 'Bridge & Operations Level'. The elevator doors closed and within seconds opened once more revealing a different level from the one they came from.

"How big is this thing?" Percy asked.

"It's almost 450 metres long and weighs over 100 000 tonnes. It's original capacity for troops was 2500, but I requested that we bring that down, so we can have more room." Coulson told him. "It's honestly so big that I haven't even seen all of it yet."

"Huh." Percy huffed. "I bet the U.S. Navy would love to get their hands on one of these."

"Yep." Coulson answered going down a long corridor. Finally, Percy could see the end of these seemingly endless halls. This one had translucent glass doors at the end. As they approached, the doors swung open on their own revealing the most advanced bridge Percy had ever seen.

"Holy Hera." Percy gaped. This place made Zephyr One look like a dump. As they walked in, Percy could see a tall, imposing black man wearing a black leather trench coat at what he assumed was the helm of this boat.

They went down a few stairs, past a large table, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the floor to the man. As they approached the man turned around, revealing that he wore an eyepatch.

"Coulson, you got yourself a new recruit there." Fury remarked. "You wanna tell me what he's doing in a restricted facility?"

"Nick, nice to see you too." Phil said sarcastically. Fury didn't look amused.

"Okay, Percy, this is Colonel Nicholas Fury, United States Army veteran, ex-CIA and the previous Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." Coulson introduced. "Nick, this is Percy Jackson—he's the demigod. The Son of Poseidon and now Level 8 Specialist."

The ex-director of S.H.I.E.L.D. surveyed him for a moment. The man's gaze seemed to always be set in a glare, but that didn't faze him. He dealt with gods, surely he could deal with Nick Fury.

"He doesn't look like much." Fury commented after a while.

"And respectfully, sir, you don't look dead." Percy replied calmly. Coulson just stared at Percy in shock. It would seem that everyone, including the current Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. knew not to disrespect Fury.

"Never mind, Coulson." Fury said after a while. "I like this one."

There was a long silence before the director began speaking again. "Do we know how far along the retrofit is?" Coulson asked Fury.

"Everything should be done within the next two weeks." Fury told Coulson. "Hill gave me her report. The power plant has been completely replaced, the engines repaired and the superstructure has been redesigned for lifeboats. Those are being assembled and loaded as we speak."

"What about the crew? Did we manage to get them all back?" Coulson asked.

"We did manage to track down some more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. We don't have the complete original crew." Fury said with a shake of his head. "There was a lot of Hydra in the ranks. We should have a crew of about 1500 though, more than enough to do every job on this boat."

"Good thing a lot of the agents were doing redundant positions then." Coulson replied.

"Why exactly are you hiding this, Phil?" Percy asked the question that he had been holding on to.

It was Fury who answered. "The reason why Theta Protocol isn't public is because the Avengers don't know about Project T.A.H.I.T.I. Informing the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. about this Helicarrier means that the chance of an information leak increases."

Percy was about to speak up when Phil interrupted him. "Trust me, Percy. The Avengers not knowing is in their best interest right now—which means that S.H.I.E.L.D. not knowing is in everyone's best interest right now. It's not going to be like this forever, just for now."

"Alright, I understand. Just know that I don't like it." Percy conceded. "I guess you can take me back to the Playground now, Phil."

"Not exactly." Fury told him.

"What do you mean, sir?" Percy asked in confusion.

"I'll let you handle this. I'll be in my office." Fury told Coulson before leaving. Percy immediately turned back to face Phil.

"What Fury meant by that was that I'm reassigning you to Theta Protocol." Coulson revealed. "I talked to Fury before we came here and told him that you already knew about the Helicarrier. He told me that given you were a powered individual, you would be an asset to Theta Protocol."

"What exactly do you want me to do here, Phil? I haven't exactly been trained to work on an aircraft carrier." Percy told the director.

"I'm assigning you here because this Helicarrier is going to be filled with some of the best that S.H.I.E.L.D. has to offer. You are part of that group." Coulson told him. "I saw how you worked in Russia, how you acted in the Playground and how you used your abilities when we rescued May."

"Phil, working here looks awesome, but I like S.H.I.E.L.D." Percy told the man. "I'm not giving it up to become an Avenger."

"I'm not asking you to become an Avenger. In fact, I think that its best that you continue being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent." Coulson explained. "I'm just asking you to work with the Avengers and Fury, instead of at the Playground."

The look on Coulson's face was sympathetic, but there was an undertone of finality in it. That meant that the decision had already been made. He would be working here, not at the Playground.

"Alright. Where do I go then?" Percy sighed.


Turns out, he needed to meet with Fury. Coulson told him that his assignment to Theta Protocol would not be official until two weeks later. In the meantime, he had been ordered to meet with Nick Fury to give a mission report on his actions in London. Phil would meet him back on the flight deck when he was done with his meeting. After being directed to a room, Percy knocked on the metal door.

The door swung open on its own to reveal a large office where Fury sat at a metal table. The table itself was some kind of computer panel and the metal walls around the room were filled with screens showing different feeds.

"You know, I used to hate this room." Fury told him as he walked in. "It used to be where the World Security Council would nag me. Luckily Coulson thought it best to make it into my office."

"How nice of him." Percy said dryly.

"Sit, Agent Jackson." Fury commanded. He did as asked and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, across from the former director.

"So, tell me about your assignment in London." the man ordered.

"Well, two days ago, I was given the assignment to dispose of Elena Chambers quietly. I flew to London on a flight that S.H.I.E.L.D. booked and went to a S.H.I.E.L.D. property. At the apartment, I found gear and thought that I might as well get surveillance on her before I would act."

"But you acted on the same day?" Fury questioned.

"Yes. I infiltrated HMBC Tower using my cover and I was able to gain access to her office. When she was away, I decrypted her computer and dumped the data on S.H.I.E.L.D. servers." he told the colonel. "I got back the apartment and reviewed the files. I decided that I needed to act as soon as possible, so that night, I snuck into her building and went up to her penthouse. She was swimming when I got there and I used my powers to drown her."

"And then what?" the colonel asked.

"Then, I went to her home computer and I broke into its hard drive. I recovered all of her files and went straight to the airport. I knew from the information at HMBC that there was something else going on, so I thought that S.H.I.E.L.D. should know." Percy answered.

There was a long silence after this with Fury just studying him. "Alright. Tell me about the information you found on her computer." Fury said.

"I found information about Hydra looking for a missing Helicarrier—which I assume is this one—as well as information on a sceptre of some kind." he told the man.

Fury's expression changed drastically. "Sceptre? Loki's Sceptre?" the colonel asked.

"I don't know." Percy replied. "All I know is that there were files detailing that a sceptre was in the Fortress of Novi Grad, in Sokovia."

At this, the man's eyes widened before Fury got his face back into a neutral mask. That meant that it was more than likely that the sceptre Percy read about was actually Loki's Sceptre from the Chitauri Invasion.

"You are to report here in two weeks, Agent Jackson. You might want to consider bringing a bag of clothes, both civilian and official as well as having your equipment moved here." Fury told him.

"Yes sir." he replied getting up. "I just have one question. What exactly do I call you? You are no longer the director."

"Either Fury or Colonel Fury." the man replied in a tone that meant goodbye. So Percy decided to get out of there and leave the man to himself.


When he was back topside, he saw Phil waiting at the edge of the Helicarrier near the movable platform that stood near the edge. He quickly made his way across the upper flight deck and went on the platform. The platform began moving back to the quinjet bays soon after.

"So, how was your meeting with Fury?" Phil asked.

"He asked about the mission. Specifically about Loki's Sceptre." he replied.

Phil nodded. "That's something that is a top priority for S.H.I.E.L.D. We can't have alien technology sitting in the hands of humanity again. Even Fury agreed with me." Coulson revealed.

"Are you going to assign a mission to recover it, given that its apparently in Sokovia?" Percy asked.

"No." the director said shaking his head. "S.H.I.E.L.D., or at least the vast majority of it, will stay as far away as possible. When this Helicarrier is deployed in two weeks, I'll have Hill tell the Avengers to handle it."

"The Avengers? Aren't they all separated?" Percy asked.

"No. They've been back together for more than a month now. I started giving Hill some intel to feed them. They've been working on taking out Hydra, just like us." Coulson revealed.

The platform had finally gotten back to the quinjet bays. They both stepped off and boarded the quinjet. As they both strapped in, the quinjet took off and left the facility. They would be arriving at the Playground in two hours where Percy would get his stuff in order. He would be deployed in two weeks to an assignment.

"What exactly will the team be told when I'm gone?" Percy asked Phil breaking the silence.

"For now, its that you're going on another black-op. One classified at Level 9—nobody at the base except for me has clearance for those missions so nobody will be asking questions. Besides, we're too busy at the moment for them to read too much into it." Coulson informed him.

"Daisy and Hive." Percy stated. "Are you sure you don't want my help? With Daisy compromised and Hive on the loose, won't you need a specialist or a demigod?"

Coulson sighed. "Percy, your assignment is at the Helicarrier. I know that you're worried about us, but we've gone through worse—we'll figure this one out too."


Two hours later, Percy was looking out the front of the quinjet to see them descend into the Playground's hangar. As soon as the plane touched down, the rear doors opened which led to Phil and Percy getting up from their seats.

As soon as they exited the quinjet, they were met with the face of Melinda May who didn't look happy. The trip there and back had taken four hours, so she was probably pissed about the fact that they dropped off the grid for that time.

"Where the hell were you two?!" Melinda asked angrily.

"I was getting Agent Jackson here acquainted with his newest assignment." Phil answered cooly.

"We're gonna have a discussion about that later." the woman promised the director. "For now, you have to deal with what happened when you were unreachable."

"What exactly happened?" Phil asked as he went to his office. Both Percy and Melinda followed the director as he walked the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"We tracked down a lead that Simmons gave us. It didn't pan out. The guy we're looking for was kidnapped by Daisy." Melinda told them.

"What?!" Percy asked, shocked.

"Yeah. She graduated from destroying S.H.I.E.L.D. bases to kidnapping scientists in Romania." Melinda told him.

"Is that all?" Coulson asked. "Because I have a feeling it gets worse."

By now, they were all in the director's office and Phil was sitting down at his desk. Percy and Melinda just stood on the other side of his desk.

"Kree reapers came down to earth." Melinda told them. "They're Kree assassins that hunt down the Inhumans—the Kree's failed experiments." She explained when she was Percy's confused look.

"And where are those reapers now?" Coulson asked in a serious tone.

"Dead. She killed one and Mack was forced to kill the other. They want to use the Kree's blood to infect people with Inhuman DNA." she explained.

"Is there anything else?" Percy asked. It seemed like Daisy was dangerously unhinged if she was kidnapping people and now supporting genetic experimentation.

"Daisy attacked Mack… He's in the infirmary. He won't be fit for duty for a while." she told them sombrely.

"Shit." Percy cursed. "What are we gonna do?"

The director seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Nothing. We don't know much else, I assume, so there isn't a plan for this." Coulson told him. "We will gather more intel and then we'll see what we should do."

Coulson turned to Percy. "You, on the other hand are not assigned to this op. I assigned you to Theta Protocol—you will report to your assignment in two weeks."

"Yes, sir." Percy sighed. Sometimes, he really hated the fact that he had to listen to the director. He knew that it was probably for the best, but it brought back some bad memories of being a slave to the will of the Olympians.

"Hold it." May interrupted. "Theta Protocol? S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols are alphanumeric, not named."

"Theta Protocol is classified Level 9, May. Percy is assigned to the op, but you know that both he and I can't divulge anything." Phil told her.

"Level 9?" she asked looking at Percy. "Percy is has a Clearance Level of 8. He isn't authorized to even see Level 9 mission briefings, never mind actually participating on a Level 9 op."

Melinda's stare was starting to make him anxious. He didn't want to lie to her—she was one of the few people he really trusted at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"His clearance is being raised for this mission only." Phil told her. "The board and a few consultants agree that Percy is best suited for the mission and will be part of Theta Protocol. The board didn't contest my decision to grant Percy authorization to Theta Protocol."

"So this is a secret mission again?" she asked rhetorically.

Phil didn't answer and neither did Percy. "Why do I even bother?" May complained.

"Both of you are dismissed." the director told them before going to the paperwork on his desk. Percy and May just walked out of his office and headed to the lounge.


"Phil's been assigning you a lot of secret missions lately." Melinda commented as they arrived at the lounge.

"Yeah, I guess." Percy replied sitting down on the couch.

"You wanna tell me what Theta Protocol actually is?" Melinda asked. "Because I don't think that it exists."

Percy turned to her. "Trust me, it exists." he told her remembering the massive Helicarrier at the facility.

"I'm guessing that you'll be keeping this secret from me as well." she said.

"May…" he started. "You know I don't want to keep secrets. You know that I don't like doing things like this, but this one, it's a secret that's needed."

"Fine." the woman sighed. There was a long silence between them as they both struggled with their own thoughts.

"So, how's your mom?" Melinda asked, changing the conversation.

"She's great. She's gonna give birth to my sister soon." Percy told Melinda. "I've been thinking about going to visit her, now that I don't have S.H.I.E.L.D. after me and I don't have my stupid demigod scent."

"That's a good idea—to visit your mother. She probably misses you." Melinda commented.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about going so to New York before my assignment to Theta Protocol is official." he told Melinda.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "It's just an op, right?"

Percy knew what she was doing. "Melinda… Phil already told you all that you can know about Theta Protocol. Stop fishing." he told her.

"Alright." she sighed.

After that, both of them stayed quiet and decided to watch TV. It had been a while since any one of the two had watched any TV. It wasn't exactly easy for them to do normal things when the world seemed to fall apart at the seams. After this, Percy had decided to go to bed while Melinda went to the lab to check up on FitzSimmons.


The next day, Percy woke up and decided that he would see the director for a favour. After having showered, brushed his teeth and eaten, he headed to the director's office. The door was wide open—something that occurred a lot recently due to all the stuff that had been happening. He entered and found the director at his desk and for once, his office wasn't full of agents running missions or delivering briefings.

"Hey." Percy greeted. The director looked up from his tablet and motioned for him to sit.

"Hello." Coulson told him. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Coulson asked.

"Well… its been almost five months since I've been at S.H.I.E.L.D. and its been that long since I've been home." Percy said. "I've been hoping that you might give me some time off so that I could go see my family."

"Of course." Coulson responded. "I can give you a week of leave. I would give you more, but Theta Protocol is a priority."

"Thanks." Percy told the director. "I understand."

"Alright then," Phil told him. "You can go to the hangar anytime you want today and a quinjet will be there to take you to New York. From there, a Stark Industries car will come to pick you up and drive you to where you need to go."

"Thank you, sir. It means a lot to me that I can go see my parents for a bit." Percy thanked.

"What kind of director would I be if I didn't allow my agents to go see their families?" Coulson joked.

He was walking out when he realized something. He stopped and turned back to the director. "I might need help with something else though." he told Phil. "When I first came to S.H.I.E.L.D., I told my parents that I was recruited by the FBI. I kind of need a cover."

"Go see Fitz. He can give you a badge and sidearm." Coulson told him. "You might want to dress differently though. Here at S.H.I.E.L.D., we might not care that you walk around in tactical gear, but I'm pretty sure that FBI Agents prefer suits."


Percy had immediately gone down to the lab and had sought out Fitz. The engineer was currently working with Jemma on trying to figure out a vaccine for Inhumans so that they could be shielded from Hive's control.

"Fitz." Percy called. "Coulson told me to come and see you about a badge and a sidearm."

The engineer turned from his lab bench and walked over to a black storage crate. "FBI Badge, right?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah. And a standard issue sidearm too." Percy told him.

The engineer walked to him with a badge and ID in one hand and a Glock 17 in the other. He knew that while S.H.I.E.L.D. preferred to use compact handguns, federal agents were issued larger Glock 17s instead ever since the switch the feds made from the Glock 22.

"The badge is real and if someone goes looking, it will pull up a file for an Agent Jackson." Fitz told him. "As for the gun, it's loaded with lethal rounds, not the S.H.I.E.L.D. I.C.E.R. rounds."

The engineer gave him the gun and badge before leaving to go back to his station and going back to his research.

"Thanks, Fitz." he called as he left the lab.

He headed straight for his quarters and got changed into one of the suits that Melinda had ordered him from his stay in Vancouver. He made sure to pack a suitcase with clothes for a week and packed two other suits just in case he needed to impersonate an FBI Agent. Soon after, he dropped by the lounge where Melinda was eating.

"I'm going to New York, to see my parents." he told her. "I'll be gone for the week."

"That's great, Percy." she said warmly. "I hope that you'll get to be there when your sister is born."

She got up from her seat and gave him a hug before going back to her place. "Don't worry about us here, we'll be fine." she assured.

He nodded and went back to his room to pick up his suitcase, badge and sidearm. He had picked up a holster from the armoury and had attached the holster at his waist. Percy headed straight for the hanger where, just like Phil promised, a quinjet was waiting for him.


The flight to New York had lasted three hours and the quinjet touched down on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in Queens. It was now four or five in the evening on the East Coast. He carried his suitcase with him down to the ground where he was met by a face that he hadn't seen in almost half a year.

It was the woman who was with Melinda when she had interrogated him. A woman who he now knew to be Maria Hill—Assistant Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.


"Assistant Director Hill." Percy said as he went up to her car.

"Agent Jackson." she greeted. "Nice to see that you chose to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Well, I had to make a choice and I think I made a pretty good one." he replied as he stowed his bag in the trunk of the black SUV. He got into the car's rear seats and Maria sat next to him.

"58 West 9th Street. Greenwich Village." Maria called to the driver of the car.

"Yes ma'am." the driver responded. The car started and the driver drove them around Queens. They soon turned onto Queens Boulevard and Percy could see the Queensboro Bridge get closer as they drove.

"I've been made aware by Colonel Fury that you will be a part of Theta Protocol, Agent Jackson." Maria stated.

"That's right." he replied. "Is there a reason that Coulson is so insistent that I be assigned there?"

The woman gave him a strange look before understanding came on her face. "I keep on forgetting that you haven't been at S.H.I.E.L.D. long enough to know about what happened on Helicarrier 64." she told him.

"What happened on that carrier?" Percy asked the woman. Theoretically, there shouldn't be much that he didn't have access to at S.H.I.E.L.D., but its not like he had the time to actively search S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archives.

"Back before the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., that Helicarrier was used as a mobile base to look for Loki. Loki used his powers to attack the ship and he nearly sent it crashing into the earth." Maria told him. "The carrier may be heavily armed and manned by capable agents, but it is vulnerable to people who have powers—people like you."

"So, what? I'm insurance?" he asked frowning.

"No." the woman replied. "You're the security detail to the over 1000 souls who work on that carrier."

That made him quiet. He thought that it had been irrational that Coulson feared something so much that he assigned Percy to be a guard dog. Now, with Hill telling him the events before the Battle of New York, he saw things differently. He understood why it Coulson would be worried. There were so many bad people who had access to immense power—with a flick of a thumb, many of them could murder hundreds.


"We're here, ma'am." the driver told Maria. The Assistant Director opened the door and got out of the car. Percy followed using the other door. The trunk was open and he picked up his suitcase.

"Good luck, Agent Jackson. The toughest and worse lies are the ones we tell to those we love." Maria advised before getting back in the car and presumably driving to Stark Tower.

He just stood at the curb looking at where his parents lived now. This was Greenwich Village, one of the most sought after places on earth to live. S.H.I.E.L.D. had made coming with them worth it. Paul and his mom could live in comfort and every expense they had was being paid off by S.H.I.E.L.D. As he walked to the door, he told himself his cover in his head.

I am an FBI Agent, I work for the FBI's National Security Branch.

Maria was right though, the hardest lies would be the ones he told to his family. They would take the most effort and would have the worse toll on him.

He knocked on the door and moments later, Paul's surprised expression greeted him. His stepfather darted out and pulled him into a hug. He let go of his bag and gave Paul a hug. He hadn't seen his stepfather in almost five months and it was good to be back with his family, even if it was only for a week.

When Paul finally let go of him, his stepfather had tears in his eyes and looked at him up and down. "You've grown, Percy." his stepfather told him. "And you look better than before—stronger too."

Percy smiled. He smiled his actual honest smile. Not the fake one he learned from his day with Sharon in Vancouver. "It's Quantico. They made sure that I was as fit as possible before they let me have a badge." he told Paul. Sure, it was a lie, but seeing his stepfather's face change from the worry that it had been when he'd last seen him was worth it.

Even if he managed to call every once in a while, the calls got shorter and farther apart as he stayed at S.H.I.E.L.D. It wasn't his mom's fault or even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s. It was just that he was busy with training and going on missions.

"Come in." Paul told him. Paul even pulled in his suitcase while he was busy thinking. He stepped into the townhouse and was greeted by luxurious foyer. In the middle of the room was a small, round table with a vase of flowers on it. Pictures were also on the table and some paintings were on the wall.

While he knew that the pictures were his mom's work, the paintings must have been part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s decoration. He assumed that because it was supposed to be a home inhabited by the rich, it needed to look the part.

He could see a staircase leading upstairs and Paul left his bag near the stairs and gestured for him to follow. Percy followed Paul into a hallway that led past the spacious living room and dining room and into the kitchen. From where he was, he could see his mother sitting back on a lounge chair in the home's small backyard. She was reading on her tablet and didn't seem to notice that Paul let him in.

Paul opened the door leading outside and Percy followed his stepfather through it. His mom looked up and saw him. She broke into tears and put down her tablet on the table next to her.

Percy made it to her before she got up and gave her a hug. His mother held him tight and cried. He could see that his mother was about to give birth soon. Her belly which had only been a bit round before had now become much more pronounced and if he was right with his math, it was nearing the nine month mark of her pregnancy.

"You're back." she stated once she let go.

"I'm back." he repeated. He smiled at his mother as she wiped her tears away. "I asked my boss for some time off. He agreed to let me come for a week."

"Only for a week?" Paul questioned.

"Yeah, only for a week. I already graduated from Quantico and they have me on assignments. One week was all the time I could get." he told his family.

"Well, let's not let that keep us down." his mom told him. "We can make the most of this week."

"Definitely." he replied.


An hour later, Percy was in his new room as he unpacked his stuff. He decided to leave his gun on his nightstand and only took his badge with him. He knew that his mother would probably ask to see it. As he surveyed the room, he could see the amount of effort that his mother had put into decorating.

She was an author, but since her pregnancy, she had taken time off in order to relax. From what Percy heard in his conversations with her, he book series had been doing well and she was even featured on the New York Times Bestsellers List. He figured that for his parents to be moving into such an expensive house would be justified to the outside world as her books having done well.

The walls were painted a royal blue and the furniture was made of a dark wood and there was a large picture, printed on canvas, of Montauk. It was one taken when he had last gone there with his family, before his kidnapping by Hera.

At the foot of the bed was a long, soft rug and there was an armchair with a small table next to it near the window. From when he unpacked, he saw that his mother packed away his clothes in boxes. She knew that he would probably not be able to fit in them. He returned back to the bedroom.

He had taken off the suit jacket and was now in a shirt and dress pants. He went back downstairs where his mother was sitting in one of the stools that lined a side of the counters. Paul on the other hand had been cooking spaghetti and meatballs. While his mom was a culinary genius, both he and his stepfather could only cook basic foods.

He sat down at a seat next to her. She smiled at him. She looked a lot less worried now that he was here. He really wished that she would stop worrying about him so much. Both Paul and her worried too much sometimes. They forgot that he had dealt with worse and wanted to shield him from danger.

Unfortunately for them, Percy's fate had already been decided from the moment he was born. The Fates had already put him on a path, and Percy was sure that meeting S.H.I.E.L.D. had been orchestrated by the three immortals.

"I know that your room is kind of empty, but you were not here, so I thought that I would give you a chance to decorate it yourself." she told him, with a sad look.

"Hey," he told her softly. "Don't worry about that. I'm just glad that I can be here with you two."

"We're glad too, Percy." Paul said without turning back. "It's been weird not having you in the house—even though you were missing for more than a year."

"The house just isn't the same." his mother told him.

Percy gave them both a sheepish look. "I would be here if I could." he told them. "But, I made the right choice by going with Melanie. The FBI helped. It made dealing with things easier." he told them both.

"Besides," he started. "You'll be raising another kid in a little while. You'll have your hands full."

"It doesn't mean that we don't want you around, Percy." Paul told him having finished cooking. He was now setting the plates down for them to eat in the kitchen. Percy assumed that this was because his mom would have trouble getting seated in the dining room.

"You're still our kid." Paul continued. "You may not be biologically mine, but you're my son."

Percy nodded and smiled. "And you're family too, Paul." he told the man.


They all started eating after that. Paul's cooking, while not the same as his mom's, was pretty good. All through the dinner, they had talked about how everything was going. His family asked about how he had been doing, what assignments he was on and what he actually did at the FBI. He stopped short of telling them anything definitive, instead just repeating that he worked for the National Security Branch as tactical support.

"Can I see the badge?" Paul asked after they had all finished eating.

"Sure." Percy replied pulling it from his pocket. He passed the FBI badge that Fitz had given him to his stepdad and watched as the man studied it.

"Cool." Paul commented passing the badge to Percy's mom. She looked at the badge and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Is it really a good idea for you to be doing this, Percy?" his mom asked. "Is it safe?"

Percy sighed. Once more, they were worrying about him. "It's safe, mom. It's not too different from Camp." he told her. "I even made some friends. The woman who came to the apartment, Melanie, she's one of my friends there."

His mom sighed. "Alright, sweetheart. I just wanted to make sure that you made the right choice."

There was a moment of silence between them before Paul broke it. His stepdad had been putting the dishes into the dishwasher when he came back to see them both silent.

"Come on," Paul told them. "I think that its time for a movie."

Both Percy and his mom nodded and headed to the living room. When they got there, Paul had already set up a movie for them to watch. It was a nice comedy that made Percy laugh in his chair while his parents cuddled on the couch nearby. When the movie was over, they all said their goodnights and had gone back to their respective rooms.

As Percy walked into his new room, he closed the door behind him and changed out of his clothes and into a pair of boxer-briefs and a T-shirt. He bushed his teeth and climbed into bed but he didn't end up sleeping too well. He was constantly thinking back to what was happening at S.H.I.E.L.D. He thought of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a home now. His parents were going to one day accept the fact that he was growing up and that he needed to be on his own.


The restless night ended the next day close to five in the morning. He had gone exploring around the townhouse and found that there was a gym in the basement. He had changed into some sweats and pulled off his shirt before beginning to hit a punching bag he had found. Guess his parents hadn't gotten around to remove S.H.I.E.L.D.'s training equipment.

Percy didn't really keep track of time as he worked out. He was doing some thinking. He was both elated and worried about spending time with his family—that was a feeling that was well known to him. Back when he had his demigod scent, he worried that simply being around Paul and his mom would cause monsters to come and look for him. Luckily, ever since his talk with the Olympians, no monster had come close to him.

When Percy finally stopped abusing of the punching bag, he looked at a clock to realize that it was already seven in the morning. Knowing his parents, they were already up and about.

He decided that it was best if he showered and then went back upstairs. He didn't want to stink up the house with the smell of his sweat. Good thing that S.H.I.E.L.D. had a shower placed in the gym. After showering, he headed to his room and changed into a pair of tan khaki shorts and a blue short-sleeved shirt.

He brushed his teeth before going downstairs and found his mom and stepdad eating breakfast in the kitchen. He made himself a bowl of oatmeal using milk and grabbed a few berries from the fridge. From what he could see, his mom was drinking some kind of herbal tea and eating fruit slices while his stepdad was drinking a glass of orange juice and eating toast.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Paul asked him.

He shook his head no. He was too busy thinking about his life to have made any plans with his family.

"Well," his mom said. "I can't really doing anything too exiting. My due date is literally around the corner."

"How about a trip to Central Park?" Paul suggested. "We can go see the Zoo and its nice and relaxing."

"Sure." Percy agreed. "We can take the Prius so that mom can get there easily."

"Alright. Give us an hour to get ready." his mother told him, getting up from her seat.


One hour later, Percy was driving his parents from their townhouse to Central Park. As a native of New York, Percy knew which roads to take to get there and also knew that he would need to find a space on the streets around Central Park to put the car. The only problem about New York was that parking was actually not allowed in many places—especially in Manhattan.

His mom and Paul were seated in the back and Percy started the car and turned off 9th Street onto 6th Avenue. He drove on the road for perhaps five minutes before he found himself being diverted due to construction.

"Take a right on 23rd." Paul suggested. "There shouldn't be any construction there."

Percy did as his stepfather ordered and he turned onto 23rd Street. Park Avenue would be the fastest way to Central Park, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to turn on it. There were so many restrictions on the roads in Manhattan—including one which wouldn't allow him direct access to Park Avenue.

He had to go a bit farther, and turned left on 3rd Avenue and then turned left again onto 33rd Street before finally making it to Park Avenue. When he finally was able to, he made a right turn onto Park Avenue and he could see Grand Central Terminal and Stark Tower the background.

Traffic was dense and by now Percy had stopped at a red light located at 39th Street. From this vantage point, Percy could see the extensive work done on Stark Tower. Originally, the base of the building had been the lower section of the MetLife Building, but Percy could see that the MetLife Building had being completely deconstructed to make way for Stark Tower's reconstruction.

While the building's exterior was once a dull concrete, somewhat similar to the design used on the MetLife Building, the new Stark Tower was a glass and steel structure. He couldn't help but think that if Annabeth was here, she would explain to him how buildings could be built like this—the top being usable while the base was rebuilt completely.

Percy would have admired the marvel of engineering more if the light hadn't turned green. He eased off he brake and drove down Park Avenue until 60th Street where he turned left. From there, it was a mission of its own to find parking in Manhattan, but luckily, Percy managed to do so pretty quickly.

He stopped the car and went out to pay for parking while Paul helped his mom out of the car. After he locked the car, the three headed into Central Park and made their way to the zoo.


His day in Central Park had been pretty great. He had fun spending time with his parents after not seeing them in months. The zoo was actually pretty fun. He saw snow leopards, penguins and seals.

The seals had noticed him and began to clamour for his attention. He hadn't been able to resist and he spent a few minutes playing with them when they approached the barrier that separated them. After that, they had gotten lunch and walked around the park before eventually going back home.

The days that followed had been great as well. He just enjoyed spending time with them and he had even gone out on his own and bought his baby sister some gifts—now that he had a paycheque.

The days went by fast and soon, it was already halfway through his week. His routine stayed the same—work out, shower, brush his teeth, eat breakfast and then spend time with his family. To some, this might have been boring, but given that he was always off saving the world and all, he thought that it was good to have some boring.

What he definitely wasn't expecting that day was to find out that his mother was going into labour. He had been going outside in their backyard when Paul ran back inside with a shocked and scared expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked. His stepfather looked very rattled.

"Get the car started." Paul told him. "You're mom's in labour. We need to get to Bellevue Hospital."

Percy quickly got the car keys and went to the living room where he found his mother's maternity bag. He picked up the bag and grabbed his phone and called the hospital.

"Hello, New York City Health + Hospitals - Bellevue. How may I help you?" a man spoke on the line.

"Hi. My mom's going into labour. I'm gonna be driving her to the hospital now. Have someone ready to look at her." he told the person before hanging up. He muted his phone, effectively making sure that the hospital would have no other choice than to be ready.

By now, Paul and his mom were waiting in the car. He locked the door behind him and put his mother's maternity bag in the passenger side seat before getting in to drive. He sped the entire way there and got there in record time. Luckily, he had experience in this sort of thing and he got there safely. Besides, the FBI badge would make people reconsider asking him too many questions.

When he got there, there were nurses and doctors waiting at the hospital doors to get his mom into a room. Paul went along and signed papers as Percy found a space to park the car. When he got back into the hospital, he sat in a waiting area near his mom's room. Not even five minutes later, someone from the hospital came up to him.

"Anyone here for a Sally Jackson-Blois?" a woman asked.

"Me. I'm her son." he said quickly getting up. The woman looked up from her clipboard and came up to him.

"Sir, you realize that you cannot simply call a hospital and show up looking for care?" the woman asked. "You are supposed to call an ambu—"

She was continuing her rant when Percy interrupted her. "It's Special Agent Jackson, FBI." he interrupted pulling out his badge.

The woman immediately shut up. "My apologies, Agent Jackson. I didn't realize that your mother was an FBI agent's mother. I'll have someone come and update you momentarily." the woman replied in a quiet voice. No sooner than she came, she disappeared leaving him to wait as his sister was born.


He ended up waiting for hours. He had nothing to do so he just paced around the room to the point that a nurse at a station nearby had come to talk to him. The man had asked him if he was okay and Percy had to reassure the nurse that he was fine and just nervous.

Six hours later was when Percy saw the doctor finally get out of the room. She came up to him and updated him on his mother.

"You're mother is alright." the doctor told him with a smile. "She gave birth to a healthy baby girl and your stepdad is in there with her. You can go in if you'd like."

"Thank you, Dr. Yang." he told the woman after reading her name badge.

He quickly went to his mom's room and found her cradling a baby to her chest with Paul leaning next to her to coo at his sister. His little sister was a cute baby—she had a little tuft of brown hair on her head and looked so small, wrapped in a pale green blanket.

"Percy, meet your little sister—Penelope." his mom told him as he went in the room.

Percy realized that he probably had the widest grin ever on his face and he couldn't really help it. His parents had another kid and it was wonderful. While Percy had been raised by his mom alone, Penelope would have a brother, a mother and a father.

"You can hold her if you want, Percy." Paul told him.

"That's okay." Percy said quickly. He was happy, yes—but he was also scared. What if he dropped her, what if he wasn't a good older brother.

"It's okay, Percy. Nothing's gonna happen." Paul soothed.

Percy sighed and went closer to his mother's bed. He reached out and grabbed the baby that was offered to him and let Paul position his hand so that he was supporting his baby sister's body properly.

From this angle, she looked so precious, untouched by the harsh world. As he held her, she opened her eyes and looked at him with big blue eyes. She reached out her tiny hand and grasped onto his shirt and tugged softly.

She squirmed a bit before giggling. She started to use her tiny fists to poke him in the chest and was smiling as she did so. In that moment, all the bad stuff in his life faded away. He felt as if the death and carnage that he had seen were nonexistent.

I didn't even notice Paul and my mom in the room to be honest. I was so focused on Penelope that I didn't see Paul grab the car keys that I had placed on the night stand and go back home for some things.

Half an hour later, I handed my sister back to my mom and left the room as she fed the baby. I was amazed at the fact that such a tiny being already could do so much stuff. She started breastfeeding and she could giggle and grab on to me.

I don't remember much after that, but I know that I stayed in the waiting room until it was already the next day and my mom was allowed to leave the hospital. I was waiting in the car when my mom down in a wheelchair, as hospital policy mandated, and Paul clipped the car seat into the car. In the rearview mirror, I could see the top of Penny's head and he saw as his mom and Paul got in the car.

For the ride home, he drove especially carefully. He probably looked tense, but he wouldn't be comfortable until Penny was at home, where it was safe for her. When they finally got there, Percy had to pry his hands from the steering wheel and helped Paul carry in their things.

When that was done, Percy helped his mother out as Paul brought Penny inside. He locked the car and led his mom to her room, where Paul was putting his sister in her crib. After making sure that his parents would be alright, Percy decided to catch up on some sleep in his room. As he reached his bed, he dropped straight on it, no longer feeling up to changing.


The next few days were probably some of the best of Percy's life. Sure, he had to help change diapers but he had a whole family for once. It made him sad that days later, he would be flying out of New York.

He remembered when he had shown his sister a large stuffed seal. She wouldn't be able to play with it for a while, but her face lit up when she saw it and to Percy, that meant everything.

When the day finally came to get back to S.H.I.E.L.D., he was disappointed. Given the work he did, he probably wouldn't be seeing his family for a while. He would have been sadder, but when Penny had seen his expression, she tried her hardest to make him smile, even if that just involved punching him with her tiny fists.

"We'll see each other eventually." Percy told them with a sad smile. "I won't be gone forever."

"Just be safe." his mom told him and kissed his cheek.

Percy nodded and gave Paul a hug and kissed Penny on her head before turning to Maria who was waiting in the car. He loaded up his things and climbed in as they drove in silence to Queens. Twenty minutes later, Percy was in a quinjet en-route to the Theta Protocol Facility, still thinking about his family.