Disclaimer: We do not own the characters or concepts from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or MARVEL. Those rights go to JK Rowling, Rick Riordan, and MARVEL Studios respectively.
AN: Thanks to all of the reviewers! Also, this is a continuation of chapter seventeen. To make sure you guys see it (as it is key to the story), I am posting it as a separate chapter, but I will combine this chapter with the last in a few days.
Read and review! Hopefully, the next chapter is coming soon!
Bonus content (continuation of Chapter 17)
by shadowphoenix55
"I'm a monster." Barton said, his voice shaky as he stared at his bow in disgust, "I-the camera. It said I-I shot a teenage girl. And it sure as heck wasn't defense. I-we don't even know if either of them are hostiles. We just barged in there, guns blazing, at the word of Fury. She could be dead, Nat."
Natasha Romanoff stared blankly back.
"It is our job to take down enemies of SHIELD." She said, "They wiped our memories, stabbed you with an arrow, and resisted the government for no reason."
"Only because we looked like kidnappers." Clint replied.
"We came peacefully." Natasha said in a monotone.
"Yeah, right." Clint said, "I drew the first weapon. How could have I been so stupid?"
"You only drew your weapon when threatened. And they always have their weapons drawn. They have powers we don't understand. That makes them threats."
"Stop it!" Clint suddenly shouted, staring intensely at Natasha, "Stop cutting yourself off like this! I see it every time, Nat. We're in the wrong, and you know it. So stop reiterating the council's words and start thinking for yourself!"
Something flickered in Natasha's eyes.
"So maybe we are monsters." She said, "But these teens, or whatever they are - they're threats. They wiped our memories. And it's not as if we're going in to kill. There was no way you expected that arrow to majorly hurt her - I saw the footage too, Barton. You were aiming for his arm. Not to kill, not to maim, just to slow them down enough for us to capture them."
"Capture?" Barton spat, "What are we, HYDRA?"
"No." Natasha replied, her voice shaking a bit before she steadied it, "No. Part of our job is to capture potential threats and to interrogate them, Clint. Or have you forgotten at a bit of blood? Have you grown soft at the face of a seventeen year old? They could very well be murderers. We don't know, and that's why we need to figure it out. So maybe we make a mistake along the way. So maybe the girl turns and takes an arrow for her boyfriend. Even - even if all signs point to them being good, we need to neutralize the threat to the world at all costs. And maybe that makes us monsters. But it makes us the monsters who saved the world."
Clint leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
"They wiped our memories." He said slowly, "They stabbed me with my own arrow. They were ready to kill."
"They're warriors." Natasha replied, "I can see it in their eyes. You can't fake that."
"They're threats." Clint realized, "It doesn't matter what age they are. They could take out the whole of New York, for all we know."
"That's right." Came another voice. Clint flinched, a bit, whipping his head around, "What? I can still be sneaky in my old age."
Nick Fury stood there, looking more tired than he had in ages.
"It was the council's decision to go after the three of them like that." He admitted with a sigh, "They told me… and I followed them blindly. And you did the same to me. The thing is… the best agents get this feeling, you know. They go with their gut against orders. It's a really hard thing to do - but it's what keeps us human."
Fury's gaze was distant, as if he was in another time, another place.
Natasha and Clint nodded. Natasha's pale and her eyes wide, but she did it all the same.
"The council has ordered us to bring more agents in, to bring bigger guns, this time. They want the three here in twenty-four hours or dead."
He gave the two of them a look, before pulling out a pager.
Some orders we should follow. He typed, showing it to the two, Some, we should go with our gut.
But sometimes there isn't a definitive answer.
What does yours say?
"We're fighting a war, here." Fury said as he did so, "A war against evil. It's been going on for longer than SHIELD, and it's not going to end anytime soon."
"And what if innocents die?" Clint asked.
Fury put the pager away and stared out the window, his eye seeing something that wasn't there.
"Sometimes, Barton, there are casualties in war."
