A/N: I'm actually not sure who hates it more when I can't write, you or me. Anyway, after the long wait, here we are! I really hope I don't disappoint. I was going to split it in half just to get you guys some of it, but I decided to do it all together. It flows better that way. Also, thank you for the many death threats and what-kind-of-monster-are-you's. They made my day. :)

In case you wanted to listen to the song that kind of inspired the title, it's Bloodflood, (both part 1 and 2) by Alt-J.

Disclaimer: Maybe in an alternate universe I own PJO and the Avengers, but it is mostly certainly not this one.

Blood Flood Part Two

"I know you don't want to talk about the mission," Fury said. Steve thought he looked haggard, like the world was on his shoulders. "I don't want to talk about this mission either. But I need you to."

There was complete silence. Steve wasn't even sure if the others had heard him. Everyone was staring at the table, refusing to look up at Fury. That is, until Clint spoke.

"You want to know what happened?" he asked, his voice flat. "I'll tell you what happened. It was a trap. A freaking trap from the beginning, and we walked right into it. And then Percy's neck got slit open by some Swahili psychopath," Clint's voice cracked, and Steve saw him swallow. "And then, to make it worse, the stupid psychopath took Percy's body. So that's what happened. And no, he didn't get any of your freaking government secrets. Percy managed to fry it before…" Clint shook his head and looked back down at the table.

Steve knew he should say something. He was the leader—he was supposed to lead. But he wasn't sure how he was supposed to lead when he was broken on the inside. Every time he thought of the mission, the jagged piece inside cut him open more, a wide gaping hole that all the stitches in the world couldn't sew up. Steve hadn't spoken in so long that he wasn't even sure if his voice still worked anymore or if that had gone with Percy, too.

Fury sighed. "I don't want to keep asking you this. But are you absolutely sure that Percy died? Are you completely sure that the disk is gone?" Fury seemed reluctant to keep asking them. Steve wanted nothing more than to go back to the tower and never think again.

Tony looked at Fury with dead eyes. "I'm pretty sure. I crushed the fried disk myself. And, well, we all saw what happened to Percy. He—he dropped the water."

Fury frowned. "What?"

Tony didn't answer.

"Percy fried the disk with water," Steve finally said when Tony didn't continue, his voice hoarse from the screaming he had done five hours earlier. "And when Moja…Percy dropped the water. It just—it dropped. It doesn't usually do that. I've seen him keep it up even when he wasn't conscious, even if it was only for half a minute, but this time it just…dropped."

"I'm afraid you'll have to be questioned more later," Fury said quietly, regretfully. "But I'll hold them off for now. Go home."

And suddenly, Steve didn't want to go home anymore. The tower would be too quiet, too empty without a boisterous demigod cracking jokes and making them all feel whole. Steve wasn't entirely sure the tower was the home he remembered it as anymore without Percy.

But the others had stood up and were already shuffling out the room, their shock and grief seeming to hang around them like a cloud. Steve was the last one to file out, but just as he was about to leave, Fury stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Percy Jackson was a good kid," Fury said, his face looking pinched. "We're going to miss him."

Steve nodded but didn't say anything.

"Are you sure?" Fury asked again, this time quieter.

Steve's eyes drifted to a point somewhere over Fury's shoulder. "It sure seems like it, Director. Excuse me."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Percy wasn't sure where he was. What's new, he thought to himself sarcastically.

He was tied to a chair in an empty white room, his hands and feet bound to the point where it was almost cutting off his circulation. It looked clean, too clean, like it might have once been a hospital room. Percy could feel Riptide in his pocket, but any relief he might have once had vanished when he realized the openings of the pockets on his jeans were both sewn and glued shut. He groaned and leaned his head back, which turned out to be a very bad idea when a sharp pain shot through his head at the sight of the bright white light on the ceiling of the room.

"Ugh, gods," Percy moaned, wincing. He'd forgotten that he had that nasty head wound from that psycho Swahili guy clubbing him with gods knew what. He'd almost passed out.

Things got a little fuzzy after that. He remembered being dragged somewhere high—the rooftop of the building, his mind supplied—and having something sharp held against his neck. He remembered staying very still so the sharp silver knife wouldn't cut his jugular and windpipe open. Mabaya Moja had demanded the disk then, but Percy knew he couldn't give it to him. So he had tossed it up and the water had crushed it and then there was a white sharp pain pain pain just at the base of his collarbones and everything had gone dark.

He glanced down to the place just below his neck and saw a crusty scab lying perfectly innocent on his skin. He had other bumps and bruises and scratches on his skin, but nothing dangerous. But it still seemed like he was forgetting something.

He absently wondered what the team was doing right now, if they were working on finding him or not.

And then he froze. Because the team probably wasn't looking for him. Or at least, not a living him.

Oh my gods, everyone thinks I'm dead. Percy wanted to bang his head repeatedly against a wall. They're looking for a body, not me!

Percy tried to calm himself. All he had to do was get himself out of this as soon as possible so they wouldn't be distraught for too long. Although, Percy wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to get out of what was probably a heavily guarded and highly secure area.

He tried to search out for water, opening his mind to all forms of it. This second he seemed to touch a pipeline, however, a searing pain went through his brain, seeming to short circuit everything for a moment. It left Percy breathing heavily and blinking rapidly, which was hard and painful to do with a swollen and blacked eye. He heard the door open and opened his eyes fully, trying to ignore the drum beat in his head.

Percy was less than satisfied to see Mabaya Moja.

"Ah, I see you've encountered your latest bump in the road," Moja said pleasantly, strolling forward the last few steps to Percy's position tied to the chair.

"What did you do to me?" Percy asked immediately. "If you were trying to slit my throat, you obviously failed."

"I assure you, if I wanted you dead, you would be," Moja said. "No, that was just for your team's benefit. Just at the time that I supposedly 'slit your throat,' I pinched a cluster of nerves near your neck that made you faint. It made quite the show to see them so…devastated. After you so callously destroyed the information, I quickly fabricated another plan that included you. I take pride in my versatile nature."

"Well, you're a terrible host," Percy informed him. "Quite frankly, this room isn't very comfortable, and I'm starving."

Moja smiled, something that was more of a baring of the teeth. "Of course, pardon me. I only wanted to keep you untainted for a bit longer so we could run some tests."

Percy swallowed. "Some tests?"

"You know, draw some blood, bone marrow samples, a few other samples." At seeing the dread start to spread over Percy's face, Moja tutted. "Come now, Percy Jackson, did you really suspect that we would let someone with as much power as you slip from our grasp when you were so ripe for the picking? In fact, I believe you'll be invaluable to the new program we have here." Percy felt chills run up his spine.

"And what kind of program would that be?" Percy asked, his hands clenched.

"A bio program where we make people just like you," Moja said, tapping Percy on the end of the nose. Percy's eyes crossed trying to follow it.

"If you think I'm going to just give everything to you, you've got another thing coming," Percy said, still eyeing Moja warily.

He laughed outright at this. "Oh, I wasn't going to ask you. I'm just going to take it." He snapped at someone behind him. "Bring in the 21-gauge hypodermic needle and the large one for the bone marrow." He considered Percy for another moment. "I'm feeling kind today," he announced. "You may give him a numbing agent for the bone marrow."

Percy felt the blood train from his face when he saw the big needle that was at least three-quarters the length of his hand. He swallowed reflexively as the nurse smiled at him predatorily and flicked the shot.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"All I'm saying is that we need to go find him," Tony said firmly. "Who knows what that whack job is doing to his body."

"And I don't disagree with that," Steve said. "But we need a plan. And we need to figure where he is."

"Couldn't we just ask his father?" Bruce asked, his face pinched and drawn. "He'd know, wouldn't he?"

"I don't know, but we need to find him soon," Natasha said. "The kids at Camp Half-Blood want to hold the ceremony when they can, and Annabeth and his mom deserve closure."

"We all do," Clint muttered.

Thor sighed. "I would recommend reviewing the recording on Tony's helmet camera, but I do not think that is wise for any of us. Perhaps we can allow someone from SHIELD to do it for us."

"I feel like we owe it to Percy to figure out ourselves," Tony said reluctantly. "But I agree with the fact that us watching it is not a good idea."

"Let's just wait a little longer and see if anything else comes out about it," Steve suggested. "For now I think we need to use tracking on that helicopter and on our other resources."

They fell into a weighted silence, and Steve thought back to when they had told Annabeth what had happened. Her face had gone a deathly ashen color, and her breaths quickened in a way that Steve knew wasn't good. The rest of the call had been a blur, something Steve couldn't really remember even if he had wanted to.

Tony shook his head and didn't move his eyes up from their lowered position on his lap. "What are we going to do?"

Steve sighed and covered his face with his hands. "I don't know."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"You are not getting near me with that," Percy said firmly.

"A small incision is to be made on his arm, which shall then be immediately treated with water," Moja said, completely ignoring Percy. "Attach him to the monitors."

With all of these wires sticking out of him, Percy felt like a proper lab rat. He felt almost violated at all of these tests. Pretty soon, the simple blood samples and healing tests would escalate, and Percy had to be gone by then.

"Ow," he muttered as the icy nurse made a three inch incision on his arm. She picked up a dropper from the cart next to her and carefully pressed the top of it five times, five drops of water appearing almost magically on Percy's skin. Percy tried not to let his smugness show when the water didn't heal him like they anticipated. He never said he and his water powers would cooperate.

Moja frowned at him like an unhappy father. "Stop that."

"I'm not doing anything," Percy said.

"Exactly. And neither am I currently. Would you like me to change that? Perhaps I'll run a few different tests on you."

"I'd actually like to leave here," Percy said. He hardened the water in the dropper and it exploded, fragments of plastic imbedding themselves in the wall, quivering slightly. "I'm tired of these tests." He felt a little better that his water was starting to respond to him now after three days of nothing—the days in between where he couldn't do anything frightened him more than he liked to imagine—but he still had a huge headache, courtesy of the concussion he'd received. A headache that was not helped by Moja grabbing his face and turning it roughly to look at him.

"I will break you eventually," Moja said, his eyes searching Percy's face for something. "No one is looking for you. They all think you're dead."

"They'll stop thinking that when I return to them," Percy shot back. "You won't be able to keep me here forever."

Moja shook his head and snapped his fingers. The same dangerous-looking nurse from before held his arm straight in his restraints with guards keeping him from squirming as Moja depressed a liquid something into him. He blinked slowly as his body began to feel heavy. They must have drugged him again. Moja patted his face. "We'll be back later for more information, mostly questioning. Maybe you'll be coherent and remember it. But probably not."

Percy wasn't sure how much time had passed before the lights brightened painfully and Moja walked in again, a notepad in his hand. He rolled a chair in and sat down gracefully.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, Percy," he said, his voice echoing slightly and disrupting the static noise in Percy's brain as he clicked his pen. "I'd like you to truthfully answer them." When Percy didn't answer, he continued.

"Now, what's your name?"

"Percy." His voice sounded terribly distant to him. That wasn't normal, was it?

"How old are you?"

"18."

"Who's your father?"

Percy paused on that one. He wasn't supposed to say anything about that. It was supposed to be a secret and things would be bad if he said anything about him being different. He shifted his gaze to one of the hanging lights above him and shrugged.

"What are your teammates' names?"

Percy frowned suspiciously. "'M not s'post to tell you that," he said stubbornly, his words slurring. "'S top secret." He blinked. Why was it called "top secret," anyway? Was the secret at the top of something?

"Come now, it isn't a big deal," Moja wheedled, his voice sounding forced and casual. Percy didn't like it. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you told me that."

The room was spinning and rolling and it was making Percy feel sick. "I don't know."

"Well, where did you live before you stayed with the Avengers?"

"I lived at a camp. It was really nice there." Percy shook his head. He hadn't meant to say that. What did they give me?, he wondered.

"What kind of camp?" Moja said. His eyes turned the color of fire and his face melted into something that looked like it had belonged in Tartarus, stretching grotesquely.

Percy squeezed his eyes tightly together. He didn't want to think about Tartarus right now. "It was a summer camp," he heard himself say.

"What did you do there?"

Percy was on the verge of saying learn how to fight monsters and go on quests before he remembered himself. "Nothing much," he said. The evil presence in the room seemed to pry words from his lips. "We canoed."

"Where there kids like you?"

"There were a few other people my age."

"But were they like you?"

Percy's tongue felt like it was stuck in his throat. "I dunno what you're talking 'bout."

"I think you do." Moja's form twisted into something larger, something terrible and Percy closed his eyes again. If he didn't look, it wasn't there.

"I don't know." He curled in on himself.

"Tell me," the evil man—no, monster—demanded.

"I don't know," Percy shook his head, his eyes still closed. "I don't know! Just leave me alone!"

He grabbed Percy's hair and yanked it up. Percy felt a white pain in his stomach as he was punched.

"Get off!" Percy yelled, and then the ground around him erupted and the pipes burst.

Dust obscured Percy's vision. He shook his head and tried to stand up before realizing he was still trapped in his restraints in the chair. He hurriedly ripped them off and stood up again, almost falling over as soon as he straightened. He blindly shuffled forward to where he thought the exit of the room was and shoved open the door. He looked back at the room and saw the evil monster lying on the floor. The room seemed to move up around him, trying to swallow him whole. Percy shuddered and slipped through door.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Part of an old school building had collapsed in on itself about twenty miles from Avengers Tower. Steve thought it was odd since it looked to be in relatively good shape. It had been bought earlier in the year for remodeling, something Steve figured they'd never gotten around to seeing as it still looked the exact same.

Tony raked a hand though his hair and sighed. "I'm just saying it's weird that a building that had no business even thinking about crumbling collapsed. It shouldn't have happened."

"What do you want to do, storm the building with Ak-47s and Navy Seals?" Natasha deadpanned dryly.

Tony didn't rise to the bait. "Maybe. I think we should check it out."

"If you can get a thumbs up from Fury on it, I'll be right next to you on it," Steve said, and Thor nodded next to him. "You're not the only one who thinks the building collapse is suspicious."

Bruce bit his lip. "I don't want to go stirring anything up just yet, but they did say it was because multiple pipes busted."

"And you think it could be Percy?" Clint asked skeptically. "I don't know Bruce."

"I think it could be a demigod," Bruce corrected. "But Percy is a possibility. If he's still alive." He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his shirt. "What do you guys think?"

No one answered, but they didn't need to. Their facial expressions showed it all.

Steve was tired of I don't know being his answer.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Percy really wished he hadn't lost one of his shoes a couple miles ago. It was awkward running with only one shoe, and he hated the hard pad his tennis shoe made that contrasted with the whisper of his sock against the concrete.

What Percy wanted more than anything in the world was to go to the pond he had passed a while ago, to feel the cold relief it would have on his skin, invigorating him with pure energy. But he didn't want to be found again. He had a strange feeling the people back at the lab were watching all the water sources like hawks.

He wanted to lay down for only one second and take a break, a small power nap. But he had to get back to the tower. He had to get back to the others so that they wouldn't be so devastated anymore.

He heard a growl behind him and turned around. His legs felt like jelly and his breath came in short, hard bursts. A mutt of a monster greeted him, and his head pounded. Was this another one of those things that he saw while they gave him that bad stuff that made him sick? Percy felt the swish of the air around him as the monster's claws just barely missed him. Not just an image then.

His hands went to his pockets only to realize they were still sewn shut. Percy felt his heart sink. He tripped back as the monster came back at him and tore hurriedly at the denim pocket in his jeans. He jumped back again and felt the rip as he finally got it open. He drew Riptide with a flourish and cut through the monster after only two parries and a thrust. He spun Riptide in his grip and recapped it. He turned back to the road and felt his entire body droop with exhaustion.

Percy remembered a poem he had read when he was younger. What was the line?

And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The news had been on the living room TV all day, and the team had been receiving calls that seemed to never stop coming in, from both SHIELD and from the media. Unfortunately, someone had leaked to the media that something had happened to the Avengers' other member, and the team hadn't gotten a break since the morning.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I have no comment," Steve said, feeling tired and irritated with all of the phone calls. He hung up.

"Listen, buddy, call here one more freaking time and see what happens," Tony said rudely before slamming his cell phone down on the coffee table. He rubbed a hand through his hair roughly. "They're all freaking vultures," he said disgustedly.

"Sir, you have an incoming call from Nick Fury," Jarvis said. Steve could have sworn that Tony's eye twitched.

"That's it, I'm done," Tony announced. "Jarvis, block all incoming calls on any device in this tower. And reboot yourself to clear up all the junk in your system. I need some peace and quiet for a while."

"Of course, sir," Jarvis said. The tower went quiet. The team all looked at each other as if to say, Now what?

Bruce rubbed his eyes. "I didn't like all the noise—and neither did the Other Guy—but I'm not sure if the silence is any better."

Steve agreed with Bruce. Silence, while much less irritating than the noise and having to tell reporters repeatedly no comment, please don't call again, was a dangerous thing these days. It gave you time to think about past events, and Steve wasn't sure if he was ready. Nothing had gotten easier. It seemed like he had just watched Percy die rather than five days ago. There was still a Percy-sized hole in his chest that festered and hurt more and more every day. Steve hadn't felt this since Bucky had died, and even then he had been in the middle of a war and couldn't linger on his thoughts so long.

The problem was that it didn't feel like Percy was really gone. Steve would turn to ask Percy a question only to find an empty space behind him. He would walk halfway to Percy's room before realizing that there wasn't anyone there anymore. Every morning he would expect to see the s'mores flavored pop tarts gone (Percy was the only one who ate them), and every morning they sat in the same part of the pantry, taunting him.

Steve wasn't sure how to fix this. He supposed it had something to do with the lack of closure he had. All he knew was that he needed to pull himself together. If a mission came up, he needed to be ready—they all needed to be ready. And the scary thing was that Steve didn't think they were even close to okay. Steve felt his eyes burn and breathed deeply.

The team hadn't really allowed themselves to grieve. They hadn't found Percy's body anywhere, and Fury wouldn't let them check the partially collapsed building because they didn't have a probable cause. Without Percy's body to have a real funeral, none of this seemed real. Steve still had hope that Percy had survived this.

He took a seat next to Bruce and leaned his head against the back of the sofa, closing his eyes. If he closed his eyes, then they wouldn't be able to trick him into thinking that the flash of color he thought he saw turning the corner was Percy. It was too bad he couldn't turn off all of his traitorous senses.

Maybe if he did he would finally stop seeing Percy everywhere.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Get up, get up, get up, Percy chanted in his mind from where he was sprawled out on the concrete after having tripped for the thousandth time. You're so so close. Just a little more.

The image of Avengers Tower was the sweetest thing Percy could have seen at that moment, even if it was a little hazy at the corners and swam alarmingly. Evening had fallen, something Percy was infinitely grateful for; the sun had beat down on him relentlessly for what seemed an eternity. He shook his head. Get up, he told himself again.

He dragged himself up with the help of the brick wall next to him and shuffled a few more steps. He received a few worried looks from passerby, but he ignored them. At this point, his only thoughts were home home tower team family so close so close.

He coughed, the sound like a dying car unable to start back up. Percy winced and pressed a hand to his chest. This might be a little harder than he first thought. Maybe he should have stayed on the ground and waited for someone to pick him up.

But no, he hadn't given up yet, and it would be ridiculous to give up now when he was so close to his goal that he could taste it.

He limped forward a few more steps. He caught his breath. He limped forward a few more. One step, breathe, one step, breathe, one step, breathe.

Percy fell against the entrance to the tower. He glanced around him once, thank the gods no one is here, and pulled the door open on his third try. The lobby was empty, void of even a receptionist at the desk. He blinked and seemed to find himself inside the elevator. When did that happen? he wondered blearily. He slapped a hand against the button.

It was getting much harder to stand up. Just being in the tower made him feel warm and safe. Maybe he could lie down on the floor for just one moment and rest. His eyelids kept drooping anyway, and the team would find him here eventually. And then the doors opened. He stumbled out and walked into the living room in a daze. The team all had their heads down or were staring into space and didn't seem to hear him. The elevator made a pleasant ding behind him before closing. Tony sighed and stood up, not facing Percy.

"Listen, Fury, I told you to just give us the rest of the day off. We're just not feeling the best right now with the whole—" Tony turned around and froze. "—Percy thing," he finished, his voice catching. The team looked up to see what had caused Tony's strange tone and stiffened.

"Hi," Percy said. "Hope I'm more welcome than Fury." He swayed a little and realized he should probably sit down just as the world tilted alarmingly. Tony managed to catch him just before he crashed to the floor and set him down gently. Percy blinked up at the six faces in front of him. "Evil scientists suck," he informed them, and then finally allowed himself to close his eyes.

He was home.

A/N: So, I hope you liked it. There's gonna be a follow up to this chapter (because I can't fit all the closure in this chapter, it's already long enough) and then another cute little one-shot (featuring Thor's hammer, wink wink) before I have maybe one more wrap up chapter. And then that will be it! And we'll all be sad. But fear not! Because then I'll start writing the sequel to The Art of Finding Yourself (I still need to come up with a title…). Anyway, let me know what you thought! And thank you muchly for all the wonderful reviews last chapter. See you soon!