Steve should've guessed that Tony inviting him to dinner was just a front. Tony had phoned him earlier in the door claiming that Thor wanted to 'share a feast with his fellow warriors'. Of course Steve had promised to come, after all, all that waited for him at home was a full sketch book and empty rooms. So he dressed in a nice white shirt and slacks (expecting something fancy) and arrived at Stark Tower a little earlier than planned.
Steve made a mental note not to believe what Tony said so easily. After all, Steve didn't find the man overall enjoyable, but he was bearable. He was the son of Howard Stark, so that had to count for something, right?
As it turns out Tony had apparently forgotten he had to do a presentation for some SHIELD agents. So while Bruce and Tony set themselves up in the massive space age lab, Steve walked the halls with a newly arrived Thor. Thor was actually quiet enjoyable, contrary to Steve's first thoughts. Though large and intimidating he had great sense of humour and shared Steve's deep sense of loyalty.
They had passed Natasha and Clint in the halls. Apparently they were the SHIELD agents assigned to the presentation. Neither looked impressed. Though it was hard to tell with two master assassins. Steve did notice that Natasha seemed a bit snappier then their previous meeting, as if she was worrying about something.
"-and that is how Lady Sif triumphed over her first male opponent-" Thor said proudly, his strangely accented voice lifting with pride for his fellow warrior.
They were just passing the elevator, and Steve turned towards it as the doors slid opened to reveal someone he had become newly acquainted with, Percy Jackson. The man was dressed in riding jeans, a grey shirt and a basic SHIELD jacket. Resting against his hip was his helmet, while a pair of gloves could be seen poking out from within his jeans pocket. It seemed sweat had plastered the man's raven hair to his forehead, and stained the collar of his shirt.
He looked like anyone but a SHIELD agent.
"Agent Jackson," Steve nodded his welcome, "are you here for the presentation?"
"Yeah," the man walked out of the elevator and it seemed Steve wasn't the only one who caught the agents slight wince.
"Are you injured, Perseus?" Thor questioned with furrowed eyebrows.
Steve became thoroughly confused by the name. Perseus? Steve knew that could be shortened to Percy, but how on earth did Thor know the agents name? Maybe Agent Jackson has dealt with Thor in the past, Steve thought.
"Nothing major," the agent flashed them an award winning smile, "so, what are you doing here?"
"We're going to feast after Starks presentation," Thor nodded his head, "it would be great if you could join us. We could share battle stories."
"Sorry, Thor," Percy stepped into the hall and tried to sidestep the pair but in the process a little nook near the visor of his helmet caught on the intricate metal of Thor's helmet. It was ripped from his hands, revealing the large, dark growing blood stain soaking through the material of his jeans.
"That looks major," Steve said with raised eyebrows. He hardly knew the man, but Steve had always been one to look after others- or at least look out for them.
"Just popped a couple of stitches in my preliminary," Agent Jackson was obviously trying to remain cool, "it doesn't much."
He bent down to pick up his helmet and Thor's keen ears could make out the thin hiss that escaped from the man's mouth. A man's troubles were his own though. If the wound was grievous, Thor was confident enough that Perseus would seek help if it was needed.
"Thanks for the concern, but I've got to get to the lab," Percy began walking at a rather average speed down the hall.
Steve and Thor followed a moment later. They wanted to know what had drawn SHIELD's attention as well. Inside the lab Natasha and Clint were already waiting, talking quietly among themselves. Tony was looking at something through a microscope while Bruce was tapping away at a tablet.
"Percy," Natasha looked towards the agent, "I take it you passed the preliminaries?"
"Yeah," Percy leant up against the counter with a slightly visible wince.
"You're bleeding," Clint's sharp eyes had instantly been drawn in to the blood, "Stark, you got a medical kit?"
"Dum-E, get Bird Brain the kit," Tony said without looking away from the microscope, trusting his robot to get the requested thing. The one armed robot let out a happy little whirring nose before zooming over to the cupboards, returning with a large medical box.
"It's fine, Clint," Percy pressed the point that he didn't need medical assistance.
"No, it's not," Clint opened the box, "pull the waist band down."
"Really-"
"Do it, Percy," Natasha's voice left no room for arguing.
Percy looked around the room for a moment. Thor was being entertained by the one armed robot who was seemingly trying to show some of its skills, Steve was trying to look like he wasn't eavesdropping, Tony was too engrossed in his work to pay attention. Bruce though was looking up from behind his glasses- - obviously interested.
The son of Poseidon removed his jacket and pulled down his waistband. During his preliminaries he had popped some stitches, but between that, a talk to Fury and being ordered to get to Stark Towers he had no time to look after it. It stung more than ached, and Percy couldn't help but wince whenever he moved his hip awkwardly.
"You've ruined your stitches," Clint said as he examined the wound.
"Who's ready to see a breakthrough in science?" Tony called, oblivious to the agents own problems.
"It's not a break through if someone did it first," Natasha said stoically.
"You go and watch, Agent Barton, we wouldn't want you getting into trouble with Fury," Bruce had worked his way over.
"It's fine, Doc," Percy grunted as Clint pressed against the inflamed area.
"No offence, but I think I have more medical expertise then Agent Barton," Bruce said with a timid smile.
"Okay," Clint straightened up and wandered over to the work desk.
Bruce took up Clint's prior position and examined the wound. He frowned slightly before straightening.
"I'll just sew it back up," Bruce picked some tweezers out of the box.
Percy wasn't happy about his current predicament. He wanted to tell Bruce that he could care for it himself, but Fury's words from not long ago ran through his head. This isn't a one man show, Jackson. You need to let others at least attempt to help.
"We found out that the people have five tiny Nano bots planted strategically around the body," Bruce said in an attempt to distract Percy as he picked out his stitches, "one in the heart, two under the arm pits, one in the groin and a final one of the brain stem. The one on the brain stem is the one that seems to affect the brains function—it seems to give the person on the other end the ability to control somebody. The other four though-" Bruce threaded a needle skilfully, "- are made of adamantium, one of the-"
"-hardest metals on earth," Percy recited, wanting to show the doctor he did indeed understand, "it came from a meteorite that crashed around the nineties."
"Yes," Bruce began doing neat stitches along Percy's hip, "and because the metal is so strong it can store an extremely potent acid without corroding. When the person is done with, the acid is released into the blood stream."
"How do you know if a person has these Nanos in their body?" Percy questioned as he bit his lip slightly.
"From what we can tell they'd have trace amounts of adamantium in their blood along with a hint of hydrochloric acid," Bruce muttered as he neatly ended the stitches and wiped over the wound with an antibacterial wipe, cleaning away the blood, "you really shouldn't be allowed into the field with that."
"I'll be fine," Percy glanced down at his ruined pants, "I've had worse."
It seemed Tony had finished whatever his demonstration was. Steve had a rather hard set look on his face while his eyes showed disgust, Natasha and Clint both had schooled expressions, while Thor was looking puzzled and shocked at the same time.
"That's horrible," Steve said, "who would do that to people?"
"AIM," Tony pulled away from the work bench, "Advanced Idea Mechanics."
"AIM hasn't been active for year," Natasha crossed her arms over her chest, "not since the Twin Towers."
"What is AIM?" Steve questioned with confusion.
"It started out as a scientific research division in World War II, part of Hydra," Clint recited, "but after you ganked the Red Skull, they went underground. They've popped up occasionally, trying to overthrow all governments by technological means."
"Why these people?" Thor gestured to the pictures of the known AIM suspects that where lined up on a different screen.
"They have a certain skill set," Percy gazed at Thor.
"They are of your kind?" Thor raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Percy grunted out in response.
"You mean SHIELD agents?" Steve asked in concern.
"Agent Jackson was trained at a specialist facility before joining SHIELD," Clint supplied, "AIM probably tracked it down and has been abducting people from there."
There was a slight silence around the room.
"On that happy note, dinner time," Tony rubbed his hands together, "I know this great steak house."
"We have plans," Clint said as he casually pulled out his phone.
"No you don't," Tony corrected, "we're going to have a nice little family bonding sessions-"
"Did Pepper put you up to this?" Natasha questioned, eyebrow quirked in amusement.
"Possibly- but that's beside the point," Tony said, "follow me to Richards Steak Lobby down on 29th. Try and dress fancy. That includes you, Lancelot."
"I have more important things to do," Percy deadpanned
"To bad. I want to know about this training camp of yours. You don't come I hunt you down." Tony walked out of the lab without even glancing back.
Percy, Natasha and Clint escaped the tower quickly.
"You shouldn't have passed the preliminaries," Natasha said with a shake of her head.
"You let Clint fight an alien race when he had a concussion," Percy pointed out, "I'll be fine."
"I'll see you at the steak house then," Natasha opened the door of her car.
"You're going?" Percy asked in surprise.
"Free meat," Clint flashed him a smile, "you say no to that, then something has to be wrong with you."
"You're coming as well, we need to discuss the case," Natasha added, "you bail and Stark won't be the only one hunting you down."
So Percy found himself roped into a dinner with the Avengers. In a sort of haze he made it back to his apartment and managed to get changed before Nico returned from wherever he had been.
"I'm going out for dinner," Percy said as he picked his keys up from the table, "I don't know when I'll be back."
"Can I come? I'm starved," Nico slung his jacket back on over his black shirt.
"It's an important-"
"Me being hungry takes precedent over everything," Nico grabbed Percy's arm, "where to?"
Knowing this was a battle he couldn't win he said, "Richards Steak Lobby on 29th."
Engulfed in the twisted shadows it only took a moment to reach the street. The place looked large and fancy, nothing Percy was used to. Sending his cousin a wry smile he walked up closer and opened the door. He knew as soon as he entered he was being judged and mentally mocked. A white dress shirt and jeans certainly didn't seem like enough for this place. Nico was in a worse predicament, wearing an aviators jacket and ripped jeans.
"Can I help you?" The man at the front counter was staring down his nose at him.
"I'm here with Mr Stark," Percy was used to being looked down on, "if you could tell him Agent-" he stressed the word "-Jackson is here, it'd be much appreciated."
The word Agent seemed to jar the man a little as he picked up his phone and punched in a single diget.
"Yes, sorry to be of bother, Mr Stark, but we have an Agent Jackson at the front desk," He glanced at Nico, "and he seems to have company."
There was brief silence for a moment.
"Yes, of course Mr Stark,"
The man instantly lead them towards the back of the restaurant. Percy couldn't help but think it would have to be the damn fanciest steak house in the world. With crystal chandeliers, expensive art work and prim and proper looking waiters it looked like something out of a movie.
"Here you are, Agent Jackson," the attendant opened a set of heavy oak doors to reveal a private dining room filled with a single large round table. Many of the seats were already filled by other avengers who seemed to be enjoying various drinks.
"Did I say you could bring a friend?" Tony asked from his section of the table, "I don't recall saying that."
Percy sat down, waving away the attendant who tried to pull his chair out for him and lay a napkin across his legs. Nico scoffed and sat down next to Percy, looking prepare to glare daggers at the billionaire.
"He's family," Percy supplied as he flashed a smile and a wink to Natasha.
"Nico Di Angelo," Nico offered a wave to everyone at the table.
"A pleasure to meet you," Thor boomed from his end of the table.
"I can see why he's the god of thunder," Nico muttered as he rubbed his ears, "what's a good drink around here?"
"Are you even legal?" Steve couldn't help but question.
"I am if you want me to be," Nico asked with a smirk, making Steve do a double take,
"I like him," Tony raised his glass of scotch in Nico's direction, "oi, you, get this kid a glass of scotch."
"Right away," the waiter nodded and scurried away.
There settled a slightly awkward silence around the table. That was until Nico ungracefully leant back in his chair and said without any second thought:
"You're pretty spry for an older fella," the commented was directed towards Steve who looked more than surprised.
"Nico," Percy hissed at his cousin.
"You're the one who tells me to be talkative," Nico deadpanned.
Luckily the waiter came out with a glass of scotch for Nico. Percy ordered his own drink of Vodka and tried not to think about the numerous things he wanted to call his cousin at the moment. His thoughts were slightly distracted though at the sudden heat that ran through his body. It wasn't like a fever heat, nor like one you would get from laying out in the sun, but rather a scorching – almost electric current like flash of heat.
At the same time the three agents phones buzzed. They glanced at each other before pulling them out (they were in sync- creepily so.) Percy squinted hard at the message, taking longer to read it then the others. He could feel their stares boring into him though and once Percy finished the message he knew why.
We found Adamantium and dilute hydrochloric acid in Agent Jacksons blood work. Get to base now.
Percy raised his gaze to meet that of his friends. Doctor Banners words from previous flashed through his mind. The victims had that in their blood. Was he infected? Was he just like some doll waiting to be turned on? Natasha's gaze was one of badly hidden fear- one that had only been seen when she was in the presence of the Hulk. Clint was rather cool, though his eyes betrayed his emotion of wariness
"We best be going-"
Natasha never got to finish her sentence though. The room suddenly exploded. Filling with debris, yells, dust and plaster. Percy was flung against an expensive looking marble statue, hitting his head so hard that his vision turned black and he knew no more.