A/N: Alright, so I'll start out by saying that this is the chapter that a lot of you have been waiting for. Something happens. But no spoilers! I shan't say what! And I would like to dedicate this chapter to my friend and partner in crime, Maggie, whose birthday was yesterday. Happy fourteenth, Margaret! This one's to you.

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own them. I'll get them eventually, though.

Chapter Fourteen

"Here."

Okay, so by the time I had gotten back to the tower, it was ten minutes past twelve, the original time for the meeting. The trip up the elevator felt like it had taken forever. When I finally found the right room thanks to Jarvis, my nerves were so frazzled that I instantly said "here" like I was late for class. If this was a different situation, and I wasn't the one it was happening to, I would've been laughing at the poor schmuck who was embarrassing himself in front of people who could definitely mess his life up. But that guy was me and I definitely wasn't laughing.

But back to the present.

The first thing I noticed was that there was only one real person in the room, and that was Fury. I was surrounded by huge screens with a different person on each screen. There were four of them, but something told me that there were more than just those four. There were two women and men. They didn't look anything alike, and the only thing that was similar between them was that they were all looking at me in a very disapproving manner. I gulped. So far, not good whatsoever.

"You're late," Fury said, scowling. His eyes roamed over my appearance, taking in my disheveled clothes and the blood on me. I shifted, self-conscious. Who knows what they thought of me.

I blushed a fierce red and tried to not sound like I was out of breath from turning a thirty minute jog into a fifteen minute all-out sprint. "I had a little problem."

"What kind of problem?" Fury's eyes held a hint of warning in them.

"It's a long story," I said hesitantly, not really wanting to tell him right now. "I dealt with it, though."

"You can give him the details later, but we need to start this meeting now," the man all the way to the right said. He had a serious face and wouldn't even look in my direction when he was talking to me. "We're running behind since you showed up late."

I bit back the defensive retort that was about to come back nodded instead. "Okay, so what do you want me to tell you first?"

"What are you?" the lady next to the serious man asked bluntly. Her eyebrows scrunched up together.

I frowned at the somewhat offensive question. "I'm a demigod."

The other lady in the middle gave an almost imperceptible sigh. She had a pretty big nose, I noticed absently. ADHD, I thought to myself. Gotta love it. "Please go into more detail. Are you a mutant?"

"Um, I'm half god, half human," I said, uncomfortably. "I'm not sure if you want to count that as a mutant."

"We'll see," the only man who had spoken yet said. I knew instantly I wasn't going to like him. He had a nasty glint in his eyes that definitely did not make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

"I am human in most ways, though," I continued when their stares became too disconcerting. "The only thing that separates me from normal mortals is that I have powers. And that I can see beyond the Mist," I added as an afterthought.

"Please explain your powers as fully as you can," Scrunched-Up Eyebrows said. She leaned forward a little in the chair she was sitting in.

And so I did. I explained what all I could do, what the Mist was, monsters, and pretty much anything else I could think of that I thought they should know. The only interruptions I had were the few questions they bothered asking, but besides that, the Council mostly listened. At the end, Mr. Nasty Eyes spoke up.

"Now we have one more thing to talk about. Compromises." I saw the corners of his mouth go up a fraction, and I knew that whatever he was about to say was not going to be good. At all.

Fury finally spoke up. "I think I can just get him to fill out one of the standard forms we have on that after the meeting." He didn't seem very happy at the turn of events, and he even glanced my way for a short second, which was very out of character for him.

"No," the lady with the big nose said. "I believe he is capable of telling us himself."

I was pretty confused. Compromises? I was starting regret not listening to Annabeth too much when she got on one of her "people need to use more complex vocabulary" rants. "What do you mean by compromises?" I asked.

Fury's eye hardened as he glanced over the Council members. "They mean your weaknesses. What are the things that make you weak?"

"Are you asking for my fatal flaw?" I wasn't sure if that was quite what they were looking for, but it was probably close enough to what they wanted for them to be satisfied. Maybe they knew about fatal flaws? I wouldn't put it past them. They probably knew a lot of stuff or knew a lot of people who knew a lot of stuff. Maybe both.

"I think that should do. Do all demigods have fatal flaws?" the guy who had first spoken up said. So far, he was winning in the race of "who didn't make me mad and/or irritated."

"Yeah," I answered. "All heroes have a weakness. Like hubris, for example." I was pretty tempted to add on something about that not being anything like hummus, just to see their faces, but I decided I was already on their not-so-good list so I managed to keep that little sentence in. "My fatal flaw is personal loyalty."

"Explain," Mr. Nasty Face said curtly.

"Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war strategy, once told me 'to save a friend, you would destroy the world.' I guess that pretty much covers what it's mostly about," I told them.

"That seems pretty serious. Has this ever caused severe problems for you or led you to fail in a mission of yours?" the woman next to the serious guy asked. I really needed to learn their names, I thought absently.

"Well, the world hasn't fallen yet, so I suppose not," I said.

"Watch your tone," my least favorite guy snapped. "We took time to have a meeting with you, which you arrived at late, and we will not tolerate being disrespected."

I held my hands up in a placating manner. "I didn't mean disrespect. I meant that me and my friends have saved the world twice already. My fatal flaw didn't get in the way either time." Geez, this guy was touch-y.

The lady to the left actually scoffed a little when I said that. "A teenager and his no doubt delinquent friends saved the world?"

I swallowed. Keep a cool head, Perce. Don't let it get to you, I repeated internally. "Yes, we did," I said tightly.

"What if I were to say that I didn't believe you?" the man in the middle sneered.

"I would say it didn't matter if you believe me or not. I still have my abilities and that's probably all you care about," I said before I could stop myself.

The man narrowed his eyes at me. "And what if I were to tell you that you would not be welcome on the Avengers Initiative any longer?"

"I would say good luck convincing the team because they seemed to like me, last time I checked," I shot back. I really should have just let it go, but I couldn't. I was tired of dealing with this dude.

"The heroes on the Avengers Initiative are not in charge of who gets to be a part of their rag-tag family," the man said coldly. "That is up to the Council."

"Without those heroes on the team, New York would be in ruins, and we would have a new leader under the name of Loki," I snapped, my hands clenched at my sides so I wouldn't do something stupid like take out Riptide. "That ring a bell?"

"I will not be spoken to as if I am one of your uneducated 'friends' who know nothing besides which end of the sword to stab into an enemy," he almost snarled.

The room went dead silent, and I glared at the Council members. "My friends saved all of your ungrateful skins twice. In fact, I have quite a few who are about three quarters of the way to Tony Stark smart. If I hear you talk about them like that while I'm in the room again, bad things will happen. Remember Mount St. Helens exploding? That was me." I took a step forward and tried to rein in my anger a little. "You don't scare me. I've fried bigger fish than you, and I won't be intimidated by a small mortal like you." I put extra emphasis on the mortal part.

I took in a small breath. "I'm not going to ask that you like me. I ask that you respect me. Or else you might find yourself in a place you wish you weren't. You forget who my father is," I grinned, but not in a that-was-a-great-joke kind of way.

"I can make your life hell," the man spat.

"Already been there," I said nonchalantly. "Somehow I doubt you'll even scratch the surface of what's it's like in the deepest part of that place." I turned to Fury. "Are we done here?"

Fury sighed. I would bet five golden drachmas he knew this was going to happen. "Yes, Percy. You can go. I will talk with you later."

I spun around and strode out of the room quickly. I got into the elevator and quietly seethed over what had just happened.

Seriously? That dude was really not going to believe me? I rolled my eyes and tried not to think about it. I could just talk with the team. They'd know what to say with me.

By the time I had gotten off the elevator and stepped onto the Avengers' Floor, I had surprisingly calmed down a little, but not nearly enough. It was more like punch a hole in everything I could instead of punching a hole into that Council man's face. Which I could totally do, but wouldn't. Because there's the little complication of him being a mortal and me being about ten times stronger than him.

I hate complications.

I checked the living room for the Avengers first, and when I saw them just sitting there, I began to finally think over what I had just done.

Okay, so maybe ticking off people on the World Council wasn't the smartest thing to do. I frowned and entered the room. They all simultaneously turned to me.

"Rough day?" Bruce asked mildly.

I sat down hard on the couch. "You could say that."

"Alright, so spill," Tony said. "You look like you were used as a chew toy. Or a ragdoll."

I laughed a little. "That's not actually too far from the truth."

"Are you being deliberately vague?" Tony accused jokingly. "I believe you are."

I smiled. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. But before I do, go get me some water so I can deal with these scratches." The cut was being annoying, as cuts generally are, and I wanted to heal it right now before I got blood on this very nice looking grey-brown couch.

Once I had healed myself—Bruce and Tony wanted to run some tests on me, and Natasha swatted them both on the head for that—I got down to business. I told them about meeting Rose and that nasty hellhound and being late for the meeting, but I didn't have to tell them about the actual meeting though. They had watched that and already seen it.

"I really shouldn't have snapped at them," I said, "but they were really irritating. And I can't stand bullies either."

"Yeah, they're giant—" Tony proceeded to fill the space with exactly what he thought they were. "Not even Fury likes them."

"I just don't understand," I said frustrated. "They could've at least gotten ticked at me after I had done something to make them mad. It's like they were trying to be jerks."

Clint wrinkled his nose. "Listen, kid. The Council doesn't like anyone or anything. They're like that to everyone, so don't beat yourself up about it. They hit me pretty hard one time because of my past."

"I wouldn't have cared if they would've just been rude to me," I mumbled. "But they had to bring my friends into this." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "All I did by snapping at them was prove them right. I'm a loose cannon, and they just used my fatal flaw against me like it was nothing."

"Well, that's not the only thing," Natasha cut in. "You showed them that you'll fight for yourself. You aren't weak for sure. They might see that as an advantage you have."

I snorted. "Avengers might be minus one today, on the other hand."

"No," Steve said with unexpected vehemence. "I think you'll be staying here for a while. Council's decision or not."

"Indeed," Thor agreed heartily. "Who else would dine on popped tarts with me during breakfast?"

"Who else am I going to experiment on?" Tony asked. He grinned. "Face it, Ariel, you're stuck with us."

I smiled. "I think it's more the other way around. Just wait until I get bored." I smirked. "It's never a safe thing."

"Ever bedazzled Fury's eye patch?" Clint said, eyes glinting with mischief. "Me and Tony did that one time. I thought he was going to kill us, for real."

"I would have, too, if it wasn't for murder being illegal," a voice said from the doorway. Tony and Clint started guiltily and quickly turned around to face Fury. Fury held his hand up. "Don't even think about trying to explain." They both shut their mouths with an audible clop.

"I came to get the story of why Mr. Jackson showed up to one of the most important meetings in his short life looking like he just got dragged through a forest by a horse," Fury continued. I told him the shortened version to save time, and when I was done, he just sighed.

"Wrong day to have a meeting then," he said tiredly. "You said something about already seeing hell?"

"Do all people in power just automatically hate me whenever they see me?" I asked to no one in particular. "And yeah, I have. No, I'm not going to explain myself." He sighed at that but left it alone.

"Apparently, they don't hate you enough seeing as they're going to reluctantly let you stay on the team until further notice," he said, smiling slightly.

"Wow, really?" I asked in disbelief. "They aren't going to make me disappear permanently for my insolence or something like that?"

"Not today," Fury confirmed. He checked the watch on his wrist. "I have to be going. I have another meeting in twenty minutes. Let's hope this one goes better than the one before it, hm?" He raised his eyebrow, and I blushed. I mumbled something about wishing him luck and he left.

"Is it always so awkward talking to him?" I asked, exasperated. Because come on, if this is what the rest of my stay was going to have in it, then I needed to do something soon.

"No," Bruce said, "usually when you have a near-death experience under his command he comes around pretty quickly."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, that should be soon."

"What do you guys want to do? I'm so bored," Tony complained.

"Why do we not go to the gym and spar?" Thor suggested eagerly.

I thought for a moment, weighing the pros and cons. The pros being it would get my mind off things and let me blow off some steam. The cons being that I would be one giant bruise eventually. But the pros outweighed the cons definitely, so it was a go for me. "Sounds great. Meet you guys there in five. I need to change my shirt." I looked down at my ripped pants. "And jeans."

The rest of the day was spent sparring, practicing, and even messing around in the gym with the team. It was the most fun I'd had in a while, I was surprised to think. I was right in saying that Thor would make me a giant bruise, but I actually managed to beat him a few times. It was great practice, and just what I needed.

By the time we went back to our floor, it was five o' clock. So we decided we might as well go ahead and order some pizza for supper. The only things left on the table after we were done were fifteen empty pizza boxes and a stray cup. We all agreed to taking an early bath and then watching a movie after. Tony said it was "team bonding." Natasha told him to shut up and go take a shower because he stunk.

We met back in the living room at about seven. We argued on the movie choice for a while before deciding to just watch a couple Star Wars movies.

Three hours later and we were in the middle of the second one. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, I'll admit. I yawned for the twentieth time in five minutes and finally decided to just give up and let myself fall asleep. The team would wake me up when the movie was over. Besides, I wasn't the only one who was thinking about hitting the hay. Steve was dozing peacefully in the corner of the couch, and Bruce was snoring softly in the middle with his head tipped back. The others looked like they would be going down for the count soon, too. So I let my eyes fall shut and stay shut. I was just so tired.

That might be one of the reasons I couldn't wake up from my Level 10 on Percy's Nightmare Scale nightmare, or at least make it a bullet graze and not a direct bullet wound.

It must have been really, really bad because my brain had completely blocked out what had happened during it. I couldn't remember a thing. I just felt someone shaking me and multiple people trying to wake me up. My eyes shot open and I sat bolt upright with a gasp.

I had no way to prepare myself for the huge flashback headed my way.

I felt my limbs freeze up and the team's voices get farther and farther away as the darkness of the flashback consumed me.

You'll never beat me, a voice whispered. You're too weak. You and your little friends are too weak combined. The world as you know it will fall, and soon, the people will know that it was all because of you.

Suddenly, a giant pit was before me. I scrambled away from it as fast as I could because there was something wrong with that pit. It was Tartarus, I thought, horrified. I heard voices screaming everywhere at me, begging me, asking me why I didn't save them. Why did I fail them?

I saw my friends' lifeless eyes, and I watched Annabeth bleed out from a stab wound.

This is all your fault, Percy, the voice murmured. All your fault.

No, I muttered. I felt a blossoming pain in my temples, and I fell to my knees. The pain spread to my entire body, and I had to bite down on my knuckles to keep from screaming.

I saw flashes of Tartarus, and I saw monsters. I watched all of the people I loved die in a continuous loop, all in terribly creative ways, and I kept hearing voices calling out to me. After a while, they got stronger and stronger until suddenly, my mind cleared enough for me to realize what it was that was calling to me.

It was my friends. In the real world. Who were definitely still alive.

So I took the sounds and I pulled on them as hard as I could, and—

I felt hands on me, supporting me. The darkness was trying to get me to come back to it, but I forced myself away. These are the people that care, I reminded myself. They'll help me.

I blinked and my vision cleared, and I saw six pairs of frantic eyes looking at me. It was weird, I thought. It was almost like I was having an out-of-body experience I was so disconnected to myself.

It was terrible. It was lonely, and I couldn't seem to get my body to unfreeze itself, let alone to get my mouth to work to try and convince them that I was okay.

So instead I just let my body pitch forward and thunk my head against Steve's chest, letting out a gust of air shakily. I didn't realize I was crying soundlessly until I felt Natasha wipe away a few stray tears rolling down my cheeks with her thumb. I felt my body trembling like a leaf and realized that I didn't care. I closed my eyes and felt hands on my knee, on my shoulder, on my back rubbing soothingly.

And suddenly, I found myself tired. I was just so tired of being strong and of holding everything in. I was tired of being tired. I felt the exhaustion seep its way through my entire body, and I let myself go completely boneless against Steve. I sniffed, not even bothering to wipe the tears away because I was just done. I was done with all this leader crap. For the first time in my life, I was the soldier. Someone was going to take care of me instead of the other way around. Someone was going to be strong for me. And the only thing I had to do was accept it.

And I think that that was the best thing I had ever felt in my life. For the first time in a long time, I saw the grey clouds that were my life part just a little to let a sliver of sun shine through.

I heard Tony murmur, "It's gonna be okay, buddy. Things are gonna get better." And I felt my spirits lift a little at that because I knew that this time, things probably were going to be okay.

A/N: Before you ask, yes I did have that little moment and episode thought of before I even thought of writing this story. So, the important question is. . .was that okay? It wasn't too OOC I hope, right? I don't know. So, let me know what you thought! All reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome and greatly appreciated! Once again, Happy Birthday to my favorite best friend Margaret! I'll see you guys next week.