A/N: As much as I wish I didn't have to do this, I'm going to have to start limiting my updates to once a week—probably on Sundays. It's because school is starting soon, and I just don't have the time to write as much as I used to. So I'll have to stick to Sundays. I'm sorry! Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of abandoning this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Any of them. *sobs quietly*
Chapter Eleven
"Nice to see you, too, Annabeth," I said, grinning. "Oh, and yes, I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking."
"Shut up, Percy," Annabeth laughed.
"What. . ." I heard behind me. I turned to look and saw the team staring in obvious shock at the Iris Message. I thought that maybe I should explain to them what was happening and who this stranger was.
"Guys, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend," I introduced. "She's a daughter of Athena. Annabeth, this is Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Thor," I said, pointing each of them out in turn.
"It's nice to meet you," Steve said as he shook himself out a daze.
"Pleasure's all mine." Annabeth smiled.
"What is that?" Tony asked with his mouth still slightly open.
"Iris Message. If you make a mist and it hits the light just right, it will make a rainbow," Annabeth explained. "You make an offering to the rainbow goddess after that with a golden drachma, and she lets you see and talk to whomever you want. It's called Iris Messaging, or IM-ing."
"That's amazing," Bruce breathed.
"Not to mention handy since we don't use phones," I pointed out. Then I realized that Annabeth had said that she had news. "What did you find?" I asked her expectantly.
"Okay, so in these notes and readings, I managed to get a few ideas of who it could be." She was suddenly very serious and started sifting through some notes. "These readings were powerful. Like, really powerful."
I winced. Not good so far. "Like how powerful? On a scale of Big Three gods to Gaea?"
She sighed. "Definitely in the titan range. But that's not counting this other thing I got."
"Wait, there're two ultra powerful beings out there that are out there?" I asked, frustrated. We could only barely deal with one at full steam, let alone two. "Are you freaking kidding me? What could possibly still be up and running right now?"
"I don't know." Annabeth impatiently brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. "Whatever it was stayed neutral for the First and Second War. Who knows why they just wanted to rebel now." She shook her head. "But I'm not talking about the powerful Greek thing."
"What do you mean powerful Greek thing?" A sense of dread started growing larger within me. "The other thing isn't Greek?"
"Definitely a no," she confirmed. "It doesn't even live here on Earth. It's from somewhere else."
"It's an alien," I groaned. "Great. That's exactly what we need. Something we don't know how to deal with, let alone what it actually is."
"I believe I might know of this otherworldly thing you speak of," Thor said, interrupting the Avengers' silence on me and Annabeth's discussion. "He controlled Loki, and you can definitely count on his immense strength."
"Alright, what is he?" I asked.
"He is known as Thanos. He is very, very strong." Thor shook his head. "It will be very difficult to defeat him."
I sighed. "Well, at least we have a name." I looked Annabeth. "I'll keep you updated on what we find out. Maybe I'll do some research."
Annabeth smirked. "You? Do research? I'd like to see you sit still enough to type on a computer, let alone be able to unscramble it with your dyslexia."
"I was thinking doing some field work," I said defensively. "Like, see a monster, question it."
"Let me know how that works out for you. I'll do some research to on this Thanos guy. And see if I can find anything on that titan." She smiled, her grey eyes shining. "It was nice meeting you guys," she told the team. She turned back to me. "The others are going to be so jealous."
"I can imagine Leo's face right now," I chuckled. "Oh, gods, he isn't going to shut up about not getting to see them himself." An idea suddenly popped up in my brain, and I grinned. I turned back to the Avengers. "You guys game for meeting some of my friends back at camp through IM this weekend? They're dying to see you."
"Sounds fine by me," Bruce said. The others nodded along with him.
"Can't wait to see Leo freak out." Annabeth looked like she was imagining what it would be like already.
"Sorry in advance for what Leo might do. There's no telling with that guy." I shook my head, snickering.
The conch horn sounded in the distance through the IM. Annabeth frowned. "I have to go now. That's the dinner horn. I'll talk to you guys later. Stay in touch," she said to me, then waved her hand through the connection.
"Oh my gosh." Tony was grinning like no tomorrow. "That was amazing."
"It is pretty cool," I agreed, nodding my head. "Could you explain to me some more about who Thanos is, Thor? Or, maybe who Loki is?"
That sobered everyone up pretty quickly. It must have been a touchy subject. "Thanos is a very dangerous being," Thor began hesitantly. "I do not know much about him aside from the fact that he has an army of immense numbers. And that he has made a weapon that can make others his own to command," Thor said uncomfortably, glancing at Clint unconsciously .
"Basically, it's a mind control thing," Tony clarified. "All it takes is a touch of the scepter to the heart and suddenly, you aren't yourself anymore."
An awkward silence filled the room. I tried to think of something, anything, to break it. My mind remained stubbornly blank. Clint finally looked up from where he was staring at nothing on the wall opposite him. He opened his mouth to say something several times, then shut it almost immediately after. I knew that he probably had to say something important, and I had a sinking feeling of what it was. I suddenly knew what to say.
"I was possessed before, you know," I said almost conversationally. "By a thing called an eidolon. It was a pretty weird experience. I could only remember things pretty vaguely." I thought back to what happened. "It made me attack my friend, who was actually possessed, too. We ended up almost killing each other. We both got knocked out, and our friend Piper dealt with them after. She forced them to swear to never come back." I smiled softly at the memory.
"That must have been terrible," Steve said, glancing at Clint out of the corner of his eye.
"Something really bad probably happened when you were, you know, controlled, Clint," I said, hoping he wouldn't snap on me. "Just know that there's no possible way you could have stopped yourself from doing whatever. Trust me, I get that." I bit my lip.
Natasha chuckled. "I knew you were smarter than Fury made you out to be," she said warmly.
"Uh, yeah, don't look at my school grades. Those are not good," I laughed and the tension in the room dispersed.
"Thanks, Percy," Clint said quietly. I smiled and nodded my head. Nothing else really needed to be said.
Tony clapped his hands together loudly. "Now, Loki. Loki is literally the god of mischief. He's slippery, and you definitely have to watch out for him. He's pretty powerful and knows how to do magic. From what I could get from when I hacked SHIELD files," Tony said smirking, "he's the highest level they got. Anytime someone sees him, we're immediately called."
"He tried to take over the world," Bruce threw in. "He's like a bag of cats—you can smell crazy on him."
"My brother is indeed delusional," Thor said sadly. "And he has strayed from the path of righteousness. I can only pray that he can find his way back home."
"It's fine, Thor. You know, a god once told me that you should never give up on family," I said as the thunder boomed outside. But for once, I could have sworn it wasn't in a threatening way. "So he worked for Thanos?" I asked.
"He worked with him, yes. Although, I don't believe he's in touch with him any longer." Thor had a hopeful glint in his eyes. "I believe he is still in an Asgardian cell."
"That's all we know, really," Steve informed me. He shook his head. "It can't be good if this guy Loki was working for is trying to take control of the world again."
"Tell me about it," I muttered.
Clint sighed. "Should we tell Fury about this?"
Tony groaned at the thought. "Jarvis, compose a message to Fury that has the summary of everything to do with our conversation. And tell him we won't be taking any calls until tomorrow before the conference," he added firmly.
"The message has been sent," Jarvis said.
"Thanks, J." Tony reached over and plucked the remote out of Steve's hand. "Who wants to watch a movie?"
"I'll get the popcorn," Bruce said.
Tony frowned. "We don't have any left."
Bruce smirked. "Not that you know of." He walked out of the room to the kitchen.
"I thought we were Science Bros, Brucie!" Tony yelled after him. "Science Bros don't keep secrets!"
Natasha threw a well-aimed pillow at his head to shut him up. I sighed. It was good to have a second family, I thought, smiling.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
One movie later, we were calling goodnight to each other as we sleepily walked off to our rooms. Halfway through the movie, Clint and Tony had started a popcorn war, which somehow included pelting everyone in the room with tons of popcorn, and Natasha had finished it. It wasn't very pretty, but they somehow managed to keep her from smothering them with a pillow.
I took a quick shower and climbed into bed, yawning widely. My eyes shut slowly, and I fell asleep almost immediately.
I wasn't sure when I slipped into the dream, but I did know it wasn't my usual nightmare. This actually felt real.
I surveyed my surroundings with trepidation. I was in a large, tan colored room. There wasn't any furniture except for the one simple chair in front of me. I frowned.
"Hello, little demigod," a deep voice said. I spun around quickly, but there was no one else in the room. "You must be wondering who I am. I'm afraid that should be kept a secret from you." The voice didn't really sound hostile, but it still gave me chills for some reason. The voice felt wrong.
The voice interrupted my musings with a chuckle. "I'm sure we will meet each other soon. You should know that I am not your enemy."
"What do you want?" I asked it.
"It would be appreciated if you would not alert your friends when I come to visit you tomorrow."
"Wait, you're going to what now?" I asked unintelligently. This guy was probably pretty powerful, and I knew I wouldn't be able to fight him if things went south.
"I await our meeting, Perseus Jackson. You and I have much to talk about." The voice chuckled again, and suddenly I was back in bed, staring at the ceiling. I sat up and glanced at the clock. 5:04. I sighed and got up. It wasn't very late, but I knew it was as good as I was going to get.
I threw on some clothes and quickly brushed my teeth. I didn't bother taming my hair and instead walked down to the kitchen to grab something to eat.
I rummaged through the cabinets, seeing if there was anything good. I found some cinnamon flavored poptarts and decided that was good enough. I dropped my poptarts into the toaster. I grabbed an apple from a bowl sitting on the counter and started munching on it. I had finished half of my apple by the time the toaster dinged. I took a plate out and dropped my poptarts onto it. I sat down at the table and kicked my feet up on the chair next to me.
Steve came into the kitchen when I was starting on my second poptart. He said good morning and walked over to the refrigerator to take out some orange juice. He picked out a banana from the bowl of fruit and took a seat across from me.
"Sleep good?" he asked.
"Better than usual," I answered truthfully.
He nodded and took a bite out of his banana. "That's good."
"What are you doing up so early?" I asked, curious.
"I was in the military, you know. That tends to make you wake up early even though you aren't a soldier anymore," he said wryly. "And I've never been a late sleeper, anyway."
"We don't usually sleep very late at camp, either," I said.
"You guys probably have a lot of stuff to do during the day, don't you?"
"Yeah. We train and learn Greek, but we do fun stuff, too. Like we have a campfire every night," I said, smiling.
Bruce walked in right after I said that, rubbing at his eyes groggily. "What about fire?"
Steve rolled his eyes. "Campfire, not fire. I swear Tony's rubbing off on you."
"Tony rubs off on everyone, eventually. He's like a disease," Bruce yawned, turning the coffee pot on.
Clint stumbled in next. "I heard voices. Someone better be making breakfast."
"Make your own breakfast," Bruce shot back. The coffee pot beeped, and Bruce poured himself a cup. He sat down on my right.
Clint grumbled something about putting a trip wire up in the lab and got out the eggs from the refrigerator. He grabbed a skillet and turned on the stove, starting to crack eggs into it.
Natasha gracefully walked in after the smell was strong enough to waft down the hall and into the rooms, I guess. She sat down at the table next to Steve and said, "Make that a double order, Clint."
Clint sighed. "What else do I have to live for?"
"Shut up, Katniss," Tony said grumpily as he sprawled out in a chair on the left of me. "And make that three orders."
"I hate all of you," Clint muttered.
"Do I smell eggs?" Thor asked.
Clint groaned and cracked more eggs into the pan. "Sit down, Thor, I'll get your freaking eggs."
Thor frowned. "I do not understand. Why is Clint frustrated?"
"He's not a morning person," Tony mumbled.
Thor shook his head and said something about never understanding Midgardians. I smiled. They were worse than some of the Ares cabin at camp.
Once Clint was done, he doled out the servings to Natasha, Tony, and Thor. Bruce adjusted his glasses. "When do we have to be there for the meeting, Jarvis?"
"Director Fury would like you to be there at twelve o' clock," Jarvis replied.
"Crap, Fury, come on," Tony complained. "Give us a break."
"What time is the conference?" I asked.
"It begins at one o' clock, sir," Jarvis answered.
"So why's he making you get there that early?" I furrowed my brow.
"To talk about you," Natasha said bluntly. "He's so obvious. He couldn't have done it a little more subtly?"
"Guess not," Steve said.
"What are we to do until we must get ready? It is only seven o'clock," Thor pointed out.
Tony snapped his fingers. "Hey Point Break, why don't you spar with Ariel here? Percy looks like he could take you."
"I don't know about that," I started to say.
"It would be an honor to spar with you, young friend," Thor said beaming. "I promise I will not strike you with lightning as hard as my enemies."
I was tempted to turn it down as politely as I could manage because hello, god of thunder here, but then I imagined the look Thor would give me. Like I had just kicked his puppy or something. "As long as you go easy on me," I decided on saying. "Thalia's fried me good a few times, and I don't really want a repeat."
"Of course. I will push you as hard as you push me," Thor said.
I thought back to a few times Tyson clapped me on the shoulder and ended up making my knees buckle. I figured Thor would be just like that. He wouldn't mean to squish you to death, but he just forgets he's so strong and that we puny mortals definitely aren't.
"To the gym we go!" Tony said cheerfully.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Okay, so are there any particular rules?" We were in the middle of a humongous gym that looked like it took up the whole floor except for the bathroom, which had showers and a hot tub.
Thor shook his head. "All powers are acceptable. I would not recommend either of us using them to our full extent."
"Agreed. And let's not maim each other, please. You know, beyond the typical bruising that is." I winced. I knew I was going to have my butt handed to me on a silver platter. This was a terrible idea.
"Sounds good to me," Tony said. "Have fun with Point Break, Perce. He's pretty rough." I smiled evilly at me. "And I was in my suit."
My eyes widened. Definitely not a good idea. Did I have a death wish? I wondered if it was too late to back out now.
"You'll be fine, Percy," Bruce assured me. "He's only going to play you as hard as you play him."
That wasn't as comforting as it should be. I nodded. "Let's just hurry up and do this before I change my mind."
"Alright, you guys ready?" Clint asked from the rafters. I wasn't entirely sure how he got up there, but I had a sneaking suspicion it was from the vents.
Thor and I spread out about ten feet between us. I saw him get in a ready stance with his famous hammer, and I took out Riptide and tried not to look scared. Come on, Percy, I told myself. You've fought Kronos and Gaea, man up.
Clint yelled go from the rafters, and Thor instantly shot a low-energy bolt of lightning at me. I dodged quickly and felt for the water in the bathroom. Time to do some damage.
Thor leapt at me, swinging his hammer, and I brought Riptide up to parry. He feinted to the left and went for a blow at my midsection from the right. I was expecting it, though. I dropped to the floor and felt Mjölnir swoosh over me. I swept Thor's feet out from under him and quickly bounced back as I turned my water into blunt icicles and hurled them at him. He raised his hammer and called down lightning to fry them.
He grinned at me. "It seems I will have to try harder against you, young hero!" he called.
I opened my mouth to tell him that no, he really didn't have to do that when I felt the hairs on my arm stand up. I plastered myself to the floor as lightning made a swooping arch over me and made a black spot on the wall. Some of it must have managed to graze me though because I felt the familiar buzz and smelled burning hair. Thor rushed me again, trying to get me while I was down. I rolled over and felt the hammer smash the floor where I had been a few moments ago. I stood up and brought my sword up to block the strike Thor had sent at my head.
We became a whirlwind of blocks, strikes, and power. Thor was really, really good. We went on fighting for what seemed like ages. I felt my arms getting tired, and I knew the fight was drawing to a close. In a moment of weakness, Thor knocked my sword out of my hand and smiled. The air started to smell like ozone, and I knew what was coming. I got an idea suddenly, and I quickly gathered all the water I could and held it in a ball in front of me. I slowly backed up a few paces.
Thor laughed. "Water and electricity do not mix well."
I sent the water at him at the highest speed I could and watched as he flicked the water up to the ceiling.
He raised his hammer, and I felt the air start to crackle. "You missed."
I smiled. "I wasn't aiming for you." I looked up to the light fixture on the ceiling at the same time Thor saw it come crashing down on top of him. It crumbled into a heap on top of him. I used my powers to make sure it didn't electrocute him or anyone else in the room but left the getting untangled part to him. I wasn't going anywhere near that electrical stuff.
I had mostly caught my breath by the time Thor got out of all the wires. He smiled widely at me and held out his hand for me to shake. I took it warily. He shook it warmly. "Well done, Perseus. It was quite a challenge fighting you. I have not had a challenge as such in quite some time. It was very enjoyable."
"Not to mention completely freaking awesome to watch," Tony said, his eyes wide. "Kid, you're really good."
I felt my face redden. "Thanks. I hoped that whole light fixture thing would work." I rubbed the back of my neck. "Otherwise, I was going to become charred fish."
They all laughed. Thor clapped me on the shoulder heartily and I felt my knees give out just a fraction. "I would not object to doing that again sometime."
"Yeah, I'll wait a while though," I said. "I'm pretty sure my elbows are going to be permanently bruised from having to hit the deck so many times."
"Sir," Jarvis interrupted. "I would like to inform you that you are expected to be with Fury in one hour."
Wow, it was already eleven? Time had gone by so fast. I guess we had taken our time setting up for the fight. We hadn't even gone to the gym until thirty minutes after Tony said to.
"We need to go get dressed," Natasha sighed. We all walked to the elevator. Natasha let me have the honor of pushing the button since I had "earned it."
We separated at our rooms to get dressed, or in my case, to take a shower. I probably stunk pretty badly. I still smelled that burnt-hair smell on me. Gross.
I took my time in the shower. When I got out, it was 11:20. I got dressed and went to the kitchen. The others were already there eating lunch before they had to go.
"We made you a ham sandwich," Clint said with one of his cheeks bulging, pointing at the sandwich on the table.
"You mean Bruce made him a sandwich," Natasha corrected, staring disapprovingly at how full Clint's mouth was.
"Thanks." I sat down and dug in. I was starving; sparring with a god was hard work.
"We should be back at around 3:30," Tony said. "That's if Fury doesn't want to talk to us again."
I shrugged. "It's fine. I'll probably just watch a movie or something. Or maybe explore the tower a little."
Steve glanced at his watch and hurriedly finished the rest of his sandwich. "We have to go, guys. It takes thirty minutes to get over there. Fury will kill us if we're late to talk to him."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Fury can take that talk and shove it right up his—"
"We'll see you later, Percy," Bruce interrupted, shooting a glare at Tony.
Tony groaned as he dragged himself out with the others. "I would rather go to a board meeting than do this."
The others' retorts were swallowed by the elevator doors closing. I decided that watching a movie would be good. I was feeling a little tired, anyway. I grabbed my remaining ice cream and made my way over to the couch. I flopped onto it and reached for the remote. I was just making a decision between the movies The Hobbit and Clash of the Titans (I was just curious to see what it was like, okay?) when I noticed a god-like presence that was in the room. I was about to make some comment about it being rude to sneak up on people when I froze.
That presence was not my dad or any other god that would come to visit.
I sprang up off the couch and held Riptide out in front of me. The intruder had black hair and green eyes that stood out against his pale skin. He was wearing this fancy armor that vaguely resembled Thor's, except it was green and black and not as bulky. He was wearing a smug smirk.
"Who the Hades are you, and what do you want?" I growled, trying to sound threatening.
The intruder smiled. "Have you forgotten me so soon?" His voice sounded really familiar, for some reason. Almost like I had heard it before. "I assumed your little friends would have told you all about me."
He walked around the couch leisurely and stopped a few feet from me, ignoring my sword. He smiled at me, I knew immediately that I should not trust this guy.
"My name is Loki, god of mischief," he said. "I told you I was coming."
A/N: Ah, yet another cliffie. I'm starting to understand why trolls like Rick enjoy doing this. It makes you feel very powerful to know that you just ruined someone's day. Haha, no, just kidding. So, anyway, leave me a review and tell me what you thought about the fight scene. Stupid? Good? Weird? If you thought it was bad, please tell me how I could get better. Thanks! Until Chapter Twelve on Sunday, lads.