That night, a scream cut through the usually quiet night in the Avenger's Compound. The scream was so painful and loud that it woke many of the light sleepers, and JARVIS told everyone else that Percy was having a nightmare.
"JARVIS, open the door!" Tony shouted. The door unlocked as Percy screamed again. He was thrashing in bed wildly
"Percy calm down! Whatever it is, it is not real. Wake up!" Steve shouted as he ran into the room.
"What's happening!" Peter asked. He was panicking at hearing Percy scream and thrash.
"Peter, go back to your room." Tony ordered as Bucky and Steve were struggling to restrain Percy so he didn't hurt himself. Of course, Peter didn't listen; he stayed in the doorway looking concerned.
"This seems to be a bad panic attack." Sam also tried to help hold Percy down, but was kicked off the bed.
"Sirs, Mr. grace says he can help." Jarvis stated as they were struggling to keep Percy on the bed.
"Alright, let him out" Steve ordered. A second later, Jason ran into the room, he jumped on the bed grabbing Percy shoulders.
"Percy, listen to me, you're not there anymore, you got out, you're safe, you got out." He spoke in a calming voice that also still sounded worried. When Percy didn't show any signs of waking, he continued "Percy you are alive!" Percy screamed again and continued to thrash kicking off Jason.
He cursed in Latin "Everyone, let go" he ordered. No one questioned it. Jason touched Percy's chest, sending a little bit of electricity into him - not enough to hurt Percy but just enough to shock him awake; Percy sat bolt upright, eyes wild, and breathing hard "You good?" Jason asked in Latin. After a couple of seconds, Percy got his breathing under control and nodded "Was it a flashback?" Jason asked. Percy looked at him, his eyes filled with pain.
"Yeah, I'm fine now." he practically croaked out. He didn't meet Jason's eyes. Everyone in the room looked worried because that seemed like a really bad dream - a lot worse than any of them usually get.
"Percy, do you need anything?" Jason asked in English. Percy grimaced.
"Water" he whispered as he looked down again.
"I'll get it!" Peter shouted as he ran to the kitchen. Percy didn't say anything. Then Peter came back into the room holding a glass of cold water. "Here this should make you feel better." Percy gave a small grateful smile and took the glass in a shaky hand. He downed the whole glass and sighed as he relaxed. His skin didn't look as pale and he stopped shaking.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked after a minute. Percy looked down again and shook his head, Jason's eyes narrowed.
"Percy you should talk to someone about it. It's been two months since you escaped, and you haven't said a word about it to anyone." Jason stated. Everyone looked even more worried and confused.
"I don't want to talk about it, Jason. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't give me that disapproving look." Percy growled, his eyes flashing dangerously.
Jason raised his hands in surrender "I am just trying to look out for you. If you are having a relapse, then we need to let Will know." Jason said, forgetting that the Avengers were still there and were listening to their conversation.
"I don't need to be hospitalized; I am fine. Jason, just drop it okay!" he snapped. Jason looked like he wanted to argue, but nodded and walked to the door.
"He needs to be left alone right now." He whispered. They filed out of the room, the door locking again when it closed.
"You know what is causing those panic attacks?" Bruce asked. Jason looked down. He was debating whether he should tell them or not. Eventually his worry for Percy outweighed his caution and he sighed.
"Two months ago, Percy was... captured by several of our enemies. As far as I know, he was... tortured... for two weeks straight." He stated quietly. Scott and Peter gasped out loud, and the others looked even more worried and shocked.
"The scars?" Rhodey asked. Jason nodded.
"He managed to fight his way out, but... he barely survived." Jason sighed again, looking at the door to Percy's room in worry.
"Jason, can you tell us more?" Steve pressed. Jason looked at the gathered group of heroes, his eyes narrowing. Steve held up his hands in surrender "This isn't about the Avengers Program; this is about Percy. We can try to help him"
Jason shook his head in refusal. He wasn't going to tell them that Percy had thought about letting himself be poisoned by Polybotes or how bad he looked when he was rescued. "Jason, do you guys have a physiatrist at your camp?" Bruce asked, now really concerned. Jason looked up in confusion.
"Physiatrists help with people's feelings." Peter explained. Now Jason's face looked guarded.
"Then no, we don't have one of those." He stated. Internally he thought. 'Unless the Aphrodite kids count.' With a pang, he wondered how Piper was feeling. He hadn't told her much before he flew off to rescue Percy. Now, he wished he had. She was probably frantic with worry. He hoped she didn't come; that the Blofis had told camp where they were and that they should not attempt rescue. Then again, she didn't have a Camp Jupiter tattoo, so the Avengers would be less suspicious of her; at least that's what he hoped.
"Do you know what happened to him while he was imprisoned? " Widow asked carefully. Jason shook his head and sighed for the third time as he turned to look at Percy's door.
"He won't talk about it. If someone asked, he shuts down, so everyone usually avoided the subject. It took him the full two months to recover physically, it probably would've taken a lot longer if his recovery time wasn't fast tracked and he hadn't had a healing ability." he sighed again. "He still hasn't recovered mentally" he muttered. He nearly added that the death of his girlfriend, one of two people who could possibly relate to his suffering, one had made his mental state take a turn for the worse. He wasn't moping in his cabin anymore, but he definitely still hurt. The Avengers wanted to ask why his recovery was fast-tracked, but they had other questions.
"When he got out… Percy hasn't really been the same, his eyes seem darker, he always seems to be on guard, and his sarcasm and jokes seem forced. I hate seeing what that place did to him."
"If it was two months ago, it is still pretty fresh. I am surprised that he is functioning as well as he is." Bruce sighed.
Jason flinched. "Yeah, we recover fast." was all he said before he walked back into his room, the door closing behind him.
Morning
Percy woke up not feeling rested at all from last night's nightmare. 'Way to go Seaweed Brain. Way to look tough in front of your superhuman capturers' he thought sarcastically. He sighed as he turned to look at the clock. It was 7:30, so maybe he could go for a swim this morning to calm his nerves. He got out of bed and got dressed in an outfit appropriate for the pool, then walked to the door. "Um, JARVIS, can you let me out?" Percy asked. He still felt a little awkward asking the wall for stuff, but honestly, that wasn't the weirdest thing in his life.
"Sorry Mr. Jackson, you are not permitted to exit." JARVIS robotic voice sounded apologetic. He wondered if no one else was up because of his nightmare last night. He was somewhat aware that all the Avengers had come to help try and calm him.
"Can you let me know when someone is up so I can leave?" Percy asked, walking to the bathroom to take a shower instead.
"You are not permitted to leave your room today." the wall said. Now Percy was confused. Did he already mess up so badly that he was a real prisoner now and wouldn't be able to leave this room?
"For how long?" Percy asked, dreading the answer.
"Until the Avengers return or when Mr. Parker arrives." JARVIS said. This just made Percy more confused.
"The Avengers aren't here? Where did they go?" Percy asked, looking at the ceiling.
"That is classified information."
"So Jason and I are the only ones in the compound?"
"No. SHIELD agents are here for security." Percy sighed. Of course, they wouldn't leave them unguarded.
"What about food?" Percy asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Food will be brought to your room. Should I send for it now?" JARVIS asked.
"Um, can you send it in about 30 minutes?" Percy requested.
"Of course." With that, Percy hopped into the shower. When he got out, now dressed and dry, there was knocking at the door.
"Umm, come in?" he answered. It felt a little weird to give someone permission to enter when he was a prisoner.
"Mr. Jackson, please stand on the far wall and I will open the door." He heard a voice order. Percy raised an eyebrow but did as instructed. As soon as he turned to face the door, it opened and two agents stood by the door. One had a gun pointed at him while the other walked in with a breakfast tray. Percy moved to take a step forward for his breakfast, and both agents tensed. The one with the gun raised it higher to his chest.
"Stay where you are until we exit and the door closes." The man with the gun ordered. Percy frowned but raised his hands in surrender and stepped back against the wall. 'I guess they still don't trust me.' Percy thought, which wasn't all that surprising, he and Jason had only been here three days, since today is Monday, he and Jason were brought here on Friday. That meant he had been in Avengers custody since Wednesday.
The agents left and closed the door with a firm snap. As soon as they left, he walked to the breakfast tray and frowned. He got cereal, milk already in it, and a glass of orange juice.
"Well, I guess this is prisoner food when the Avengers are away." Percy sighed to himself and ate. When he was finished, he put the tray by the door, figuring they would come and pick it up when they brought lunch. He was still hungry, but he wasn't about to ask for more.
He looked around the empty room. Only now was he wishing he had asked Tony for more stuff to keep him occupied, since he was stuck here with his ADHD. He reminded himself that he did spend a day and half in a glass cage. At least this room had furniture.
"JARVIS, is Jason up?" he asked, already knowing what the answer would be.
"Yes."
"Can I talk to him?" he asked.
"You are not permitted-"
"I know I can't leave the room" he cut the AI off, "but can't you hook up the two rooms speaker system so we can talk?" he asked. There were a few minutes of silence in which Percy was assuming JARVIS was asking for permission.
"I am afraid I am not permitted to do that." Jarvis stated, not sounding very sorry. Percy sighed. He figured that would be the answer; the SHIELD agents didn't want them talking because they were afraid that they would try to plan an escape.
Jason, a little earlier
Jason woke to the sunlight coming into the room. It was 6 in the morning, which meant that Steve and the others had not left for their morning run. He got up and got dressed to go running, but when he went to leave, JARVIS told the demigod that he wouldn't be allowed to leave today. After a couple of questions, he found out that the Avengers were out; probably on a mission or at a meeting. If it was only for today, the meeting made more sense. Jason sighed and chose to lay back down for a little while, since he didn't get much sleep anyway. The son of Jupiter woke again to a knock on his door. He sat up in bed and moved to the door.
"Mr. Grace, stand with your back to the opposite wall so we can open the door." He didn't recognize the voice, which wasn't that surprising since he didn't really get the chance to talk to any of the agents, seeing as he was either knocked out or fighting. Jason moved to the wall, wondering how they would know if he was away from the door or not; maybe JARVIS told them. The door opened and two agents walked in, one with his gun pointed to the floor, and the other with a tray. Jason knew better than to move. He just watched as the guard placed the tray on the nightstand while the other watched to see if Jason would make a move.. Jason just continued to watch both of them until they walked backwards out of the room, the door closing and locking. He ate the cereal slowly since he didn't really have anything better to do.
When he was finished with that, Jason looked at the black bag that Mrs. Blofis gave him. Now was a good time then any to unpack. Opening the bag again, he started to take out the clothes and add them to the clothes Tony Stark gave to him. He was glad that there were no Camp Half-Blood shirts or Camp Jupiter shirts, since those would have been difficult to explain, but it also made him feel a little sad. Even after a few days, he missed camp - all the people, the activities, and the freedom. Okay, maybe not so much freedom, he had plenty of responsibilities since before both Percy and he were captured they were working hard to straighten the camp after losing more than half of their overall forces. Even before the war, being a Praetor in the Legion, he was always being watched, had to always set an example. He shook his head. He probably shouldn't think about these things now. That was when something fell out of one of the jeans pockets. Looking down, he saw a cream-colored paper. Quickly, he dropped the pants onto the paper and picked up both. He walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and turning on the water, since there were no cameras in the bathroom.
The paper had something wrapped in it, so Jason carefully unwrapped the small package to see a drachma and a note written in Greek.
Jason και Percy, ελπίζουμε και οι δύο να είστε εντάξει. Παρακαλώ επικοινωνήστε μαζί μας αν χρειάζεστε κάτι και καλή τύχη.
-Κατασκήνωση
{Jason and Percy, we hope both of you are okay. Please contact us if you need anything, and good luck.
-Camp}
He read the note a couple of times and smiled to himself. He was glad that no one had forgotten or given up on them. He hated to admit that he had thought about that a couple of times. He could imagine Piper writing this note for him. He sighed. Jason missed Piper. He wondered what she was doing right now. I knew Mrs. Blofis probably told Camp about our situation. He wondered what was going on back at camp, if they were going to plan a rescue when they heard from them. He was tempted to contact Camp right away. He wanted to hear Piper's voice, to see her, to see everyone again, but he restrained himself. This was probably the only drachma they had, so he needed to talk to Percy about this and the dream he had last night. If only he and Percy could have some privacy without everyone watching them to talk.
Jason turned off the water and walked back out into the main room, looking around and wondering what he should do to keep himself busy, since he was going to be stuck in here for a while… Sometimes he hated having ADHD too.
With the Avengers
The Avengers were sitting in the Helicarrier's conference room, waiting for Fury to enter. All of them sat quietly and were patiently waiting, well except in Tony's case - he already looked bored and he was already on his third cup of coffee.
"So, what have you learned so far about our two mystery teens?" Fury asked as soon as he walked into the room.
"Well, Percy likes blue food." Scott supplied. Fury did not look impressed. Tony, Clint, and Sam smiled. The others just rolled their eyes.
"Any useful information?" Fury asked, already looking annoyed - and it was only 8 in the morning.
"At this 'Camp', the use of electronics is prohibited. They probably don't want the kids to know what is going on in the world so they can control the flow of information." Sam stated.
"Which I think is against human rights!" Tony shouted much louder than was necessary, everyone just rolled their eyes at his outburst.
"We also know that Percy knows what happened to his first step-father, but he won't say." Nat stated. They didn't really care about Gabe Uglino… "I think he might have killed him and hid the body somewhere." She added, the pleasant mood gone.
"If that is true, then he was capable of killing a full-grown man at age 10." Fury stated. The group frowned. It was hard to imagine a 10-year-old Percy Jackson killing someone, but so far that seemed likely.
"Well, we know that they were trained at this 'Camp', which is probably a code name for a base of operations." Rhodey stated, changing the subject since he didn't like the thought that Jason or Percy were capable of killing anyone.
"Or it could actually be a camp… where they learn to fight." Scott suggested. Steve shook his head.
"I think that is what they call it, but I am starting to think it is more like a military base or some sort of facility, and 'Camp' is something nice to call it that doesn't raise a lot of suspicion." Steve sighed.
"I have to agree. From what we heard about this camp, it is in no way a 'normal' summer camp." Sam stated, pouring himself another cup of coffee.
"Especially considering that both of them know many different fighting styles and have a good grasp on hand to hand combat and are able to fight with many different weapons." Nat added
"What else have you learned about this 'Camp'?" Fury asked.
"Well, at this 'Camp' they 'play' some dangerous war games." Clint stated, remembering the kids talking about it like it was no big deal, while Steve told Fury what the two teens told them about their war games.
"I hate thinking that what these kids think is fun is actually more fighting." He added, more as an afterthought.
"From the way Percy and Jason describe these 'games', it makes me wonder… I don't think they think these games are dangerous; they seem to separate their training with these war games, even though they are basically the same thing. Fighting and trying to survive." Bruce said, not liking that at all; he thought it was barbaric.
"These kids train with real weapons from a young age and pretty much train 4-5 to possibly all hours of the day, every day of the week they don't get much time to rest they did mention other camp duties as well but we don't know what that entails it could possibly be more conditioning or other forms of training. Training the body non-stop like that can't be good." Sam stated. Several other Avengers nodded.
"These kids are apparently taught to say things like 'either learn to fight or we die.' And 'if you are unprepared you die.' Percy and Jason also don't seem to care much about those sayings, like they find it normal."
"It is normal for them." Tony stated.
"During training they were pretty brutal - they went for killing and maiming blows when they were training with the robots, but when it came to hand to hand combat with us they showed restraint." Rhodey explained as Tony pulled up the videos from the gym, showing Fury the skill these kids were at. He watched them carefully. Percy and Jason didn't show any unnecessary movements even their moves were practiced and perfected. And when they fought together, they seemed to read each other's minds like they have been learning how to fight together their entire lives. The way they moved showed their trust in one another; and how they knew how to adjust their own fighting styles to accommodate each other. That skill only showed when two people have fought alongside each other in life and death situations on more than one occasion.
It was something that he wished the Avengers had as well as his agents - the precise practiced movements that these two teens had; they didn't have to communicate a plan, they just did it. This made Fury think about recruiting both these two teens into SHIELD.
"What about their powers?" He asked when he was done watching the weapons and hand to hand combat. He was surprised and a little worried at how easily the two took down Cap and Clint.
"Power wise, we still have no idea how they got their powers but I am leaning towards experiments." Bruce stated.
"I have to agree with that, but in Percy's case, I think he might have gotten his powers from his mysterious father." Tony stated, Fury raised an eyebrow at that but didn't say anything… yet.
"I actually think that they might be mutants…" Clint stated, some other Avengers nodded, agreeing with that idea.
"Do you know the full extent of their powers?" Fury asked.
"Well, according to Jason, he and Percy don't use their powers as often as some other people at this camp since they said their powers tend to be pretty Destructive." Clint explained as the screen in front of Fury came to life again.
"Percy has control of water. As far as we know, he can create hurricanes and only summon water from a nearby source. He can breathe underwater, heal himself with water as well as walk on water."
"Yep he is like water Jesus or something." Scott, but as a joke, not realizing how accurate that statement was.
"He can also turn water to ice and heat it up, but these two aspects seem newer to him, as if he discovered that ability recently and hasn't explored those possibilities." Nat continued, ignoring Scott's outburst.
"And Jason?" Fury asked.
"Jason was a little more surprising, since he seems to have the same powers as Thor, just minus the magic hammer." Sam stated as the screen showed Jason using his powers. Fury got more concerned at that. Thor was the most powerful member of the Avengers, and if this organization somehow found a way to replicate Thor's powers, that could mean trouble.
"We still don't know the full extent of their powers or if they are still hiding some from us." Rhodey sighed.
"And if that is true, then the question still stands. If these kids were still holding back when we tested their powers, then they are crazy strong - possibly stronger than Thor. If they are this strong, then why are they not trying to escape? They do everything we asked besides slight hesitation, but they don't fight us and they don't try to escape." Sam noticed. The group frowned.
"He has a point…" Tony stated, now on his seventh cup of coffee.
"Have they asked you any questions?" Fury asked as the videos stopped once again.
"Yes… wait you don't think?" Clint started to say, his eyes widening as he pieced together Fury's implication.
"Yes, that is the only thing I can think of." Fury sighed.
"Would someone include the rest of us?" Scott asked as he watched the emotions flash across the two spy's faces.
"Fury thinks that the kids are trying to find out as much information about us, so then when the time is right, they can escape and take it back to their bosses." Clint explained. That got everyone's attention and they all shared concerned looks with one another.
"But - but the questions they ask are innocent." Scott stammered not believing that the two teens were just playing them for information.
"Are they though... they are doing the same thing to us that we are doing to them, asking little questions here and there to get as much information as we can." Rhodey said, not wanting to believe it but it seemed to make sense.
"But we captured Percy and Jason - they tried to rescue him and got caught; they didn't even know who we were; they hadn't had contact with anyone outside so…" Tony tried to put the pieces together. The only contact they had was with Percy's family, and they were with them the entire time.
"There is a lot we don't know about the organization. They probably knew of us and pretended not to." Nat insisted.
"How would they know we were going to go after Percy?" Sam asked. Everyone was quite at that, not sure how to answer.
"I still think them not fighting us is a cry for help." Scott stated helpfully.
"Are we sure that Jackson's mother is not involved in this?" Fury asked.
"We are pretty positive. We have been watching the house for almost six mouths and we are still bugging the phones. They haven't had any strange or unusual calls coming or going. No people visiting out of the norm, nothing. They are clean."
"What is our goal here?" Steve asked. Everyone turned to him in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Fury asked.
"I mean, why are we holding these kids and trying to find out their whole life story?" He asked, getting a little more annoyed with the situation.
"You know the reason why-"
"No, I don't. At first it was because Percy Jackson was a suspected terrorist, and then we find out he and Jason Grace belong to a mysterious organization that is turning kids, kids mind you! into weapons, so I ask again, what is the goal in all of this?" No one spoke "Let's say that we find out where this organization's HQ is and we get the names of the leaders and that kind of information. What then? Are we going to storm the place guns blazing? Because I for one don't want that. We would probably be up against an army of kids as young as seven, maybe younger, who probably don't know who or what we are, and they will fight and I don't think any of you would be okay with killing or injuring a bunch of kids that are probably in this organization against their will and don't know anything else." Steve was to the point that he was almost shouting, he didn't like this from the beginning, but the more he found out the less he liked the idea of a possible cult out there using kids.
Everyone was quiet as they digested the information. Steve was right. They didn't have much of a plan. They were pretty much in the dark. All the information they got so far didn't really help in their understanding of what was going on. It only increased their worries for these kids and their hatred for the organization.
"I don't like the idea of an organization that has managed to stay hidden for who knows how long, that has unknown power and influence, also the fact that they are making superpowered weapons out of kids." Fury paused "I want as much information on this new possible threat, and I wanted it yesterday. Once we have sufficient information, we can decide the best course of action on taking it down." Fury finished, eyeing all the Avengers.
"Percy and Jason aren't going to give us names or locations, they are too well trained to slip up like that." Steve stated, everyone nodded, knowing full well if they didn't want to talk they weren't going to talk.
"No matter how well trained they are, they are still kids. I think you can get through to them. Plus everyone slips up eventually" Fury stated, also remembering how frustrating it was interrogating these kids.
"They did mention one name 'Will' could be their doctor" Scott stated helpfully either thought they could do much with that information
"And what will become of them when you are done getting all your information?" Steve asked, his eyes narrowing. "These kids have been through a lot - I don't know the details or the full extent, but I know they have been through enough, so I hope you are not going to toss them aside when you are done with them." His voice was hard and cold, making it clear what he thought.
"They could be useful in SHIELD or in the Avengers." Fury stated. He had no intention of letting the two teens go; they were too powerful and too well trained to watch go to waste or be unsupervised.
"'Could be useful' They are kids, not weapons!" Steve shouted, leaping to his feet.
"Steve, I think you need to calm down." Nat suggested in a calm but commanding voice.
"They are weapons. That is what they were molded to be. I don't think those two had much of a childhood if they had one at all" Clint stated sadly, remembering his own childhood which wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows either. He wondered if he was right, and this organization was going after kids in foster homes and runaways. He wondered if he would have been in this organization before he joined the circus, and if the organization was even around back then.
"Has anyone asked what they want?" Bruce asked, trying his best to keep his temper under control. He fully agreed with Steve, and whether he liked it or not, he liked Percy and Jason and he didn't want to see anything bad happen to them.
"That really isn't important." Fury said, his eye narrowing.
"I think it is. Steve is right, these kids have been through a lot. They are soldiers and I don't think either of them has made their own choices in a long time, if ever." Rhodey argued. Steve sat back down. glad that some of his team were on his side.
"I don't like the idea of kids getting into this line of work, and I don't think they would want to if given the choice of a normal life." Steve sighed.
"You were fine with Peter being Spiderman," Tony stated, a little defensive.
"I wasn't fine at first, and part of me will probably never be fine with it, but I knew he was stubborn enough that he wouldn't stop, so I thought it would be better if he trained under us and had the support" Steve muttered.
"Plus, Peter was Spiderman before Tony found him. He chose the hero life. The life Percy and Jason are in - I don't think they choose that." Scott argued "and even Percy stated that he didn't have a choice, it was either put his family in danger or join the camp."
"I also don't think those kids would fit into a normal life anyway. I mean, look at me. I had a pretty normal childhood, joined the army out of my own volition and then turned into a supersoldier. I am still having a hard time adjusting to the Avengers. If all these kids know is war and fighting, then it will be next to impossible for them to adjust to being normal teens." Bucky stated. Everyone looked at him in surprise. This was the most he had spoken in a while, and the first thing he had said during this meeting. Several of them actually forgot he was there.
"Look at Jackson for example. He has been kicked out of every school that he attended and I think it is his mom's attempts for him to be a normal teen, but he still can't seem to fit in." Bucky finished, ignoring the shocked face of Tony and Scott who were very surprised that he was in fact there and had talked.
"We don't know what his school life was like. All we know is that he gets expelled for disturbances that he was never charged for." Fury stated.
"I think we are getting a little off topic here." Sam spoke before Bucky could respond.
"I don't think this is off topic; we are trying to figure out what we are going to do with Percy and Jason." Steve shot back with a little more bite than was necessary.
"My point is, I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. We are still missing a large portion of information about this organization and about the two teens in our custody, and we are talking about what we are going to do with them once we take out the organization that turned them into weapons in the first place." Sam persisted, not liking the way Steve was acting at the moment. Steve sighed and leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Sam is right… Stark can you pull up footage of the teens now?" Clint asked. Tony pushed some buttons on his tablet then swiped up, making it so everyone could see the double screen. On one side was Jason doing push-ups on the carpet and the other showed Percy pacing the room before he flopped on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"Well, they are keeping themselves occupied." Fury deadpanned as they watched Percy get off the bed again and also start exercising.
"I have noticed both of them have ADHD. I don't know if that is a side effect of their powers or from all the training they do at… camp or natural. They both don't like sitting still Jason hides it better then Percy though." Bruce spoke as they continued to watch the two teens in constant motion.
"Okay, what exactly is the point of this?" Steve asked, gesturing to the screens. Clint just shrugged.
"If you can find out how they are targeting kids, what they look for as possible recruits, then we can try to cripple the organization by starving them out of soldiers." Fury suggested in the usual way he spoke when he was starting to play more than one angle, but no one seemed to notice that.
"Oh and what are we going to do with all the kids? Put them in witness protection? From what I have gathered from those two, is that they have an army, so we don't know how often they go out and collect kids and how no one notices that a whole bunch of kids go missing." Tony spoke in a sarcastic manner and rolled his eyes, but the last part made the Avengers frown again, not having thought of that.
"Well, Jason is a ghost, so I would assume all the other kids are like that. As for Jackson, we wouldn't have known about him if it wasn't for his first step-father or his school records. Whoever this organization is, they cover their tracks extremely well." Tony started, again becoming serious.
"The easiest targets they would go after would probably be foster kids and runaways." Clint suggested, thinking of his own experience as a run-away kid.
"But Percy is neither of those, he has a mom even though the dad is unknown, and Jason had a mom, but he disappeared when he was six. Two years later, his older sister disappears, and a year after that their mom is killed in a car wreck." Rhodey surmised, remembering the information Tony found when they first caught Jason.
"Well we know Percy's dad is a powerful man in this organization, it could be possible Jason's is too." Clint suggested but no one really seemed convinced of the legitimacy of that claim.
"They could be lying about that. Percy said his father was lost at sea when we first questioned him." Nat reminded them.
"But his mom said she only told him that when he was younger in an attempt to protect him and keep him out of this 'camp', but when Percy was found out Percy didn't have a choice but to join as I stated earlier." Scott argued.
"From her story and from Percy's file, I think the organization might have been the ones to kidnap Percy's mother, so he was forced to join their ranks to save her." Rhodey suggested.
"The feeling I am getting from the information we have on this organization is that it doesn't seem to fit their MO." Sam stated "They seem to really like working in the shadows since we didn't know anything about them until a couple of days ago. Wouldn't kidnapping Percy and his mother be an unnecessary risk? I mean it was televised."
"I still think we don't know anything." Scott muttered.
"But if his father is a part of the organization, and wanted Percy to go there and the only thing keeping him out of it was his mother, which sounds like she tried to hide Percy from the organization." Bucky stated, again putting in his two cents.
"As for Jason, we found out that his mother gave him up to pay off some debt to tell you the truth. I don't know how any mother could throw their children to the wolves like that." Sam added.
"Going off of what Sam mentioned and what we were talking about earlier, should we be worrying about this organization coming after us to get Percy and Jason back?" Scott asked. The whole room was silent obviously no one had thought much about that.
"I don't think the organization would risk coming out of the shadows for a rescue, since that didn't go too well when Jason tried to rescue Percy. They might be waiting to either contact them or for them to escape, or this was their plan all along to get information out of you." Fury sighed.
"Ugh this is so frustrating! Why are we even having this meeting now when we know next to nothing! We are just tossing around opinions and speculation!" Tony threw up his hand in exasperation "This is starting to give me a headache!" he groaned.
"Tony's right, we have been here for hours." Bruce spoke looking at the clock that read noon, meaning they had been there for four hours.
"I thought this meeting started off as briefing Fury on what we found so far?" Rhoadey stated, also now realizing how long they had been discussing Percy and Jason and was surprised that they managed to stay on topic for that long.
"If it was just to catch Fury up, then why didn't just Nat or Clint come. There is no reason for all of us being here." Tony groaned again and started rubbing his temples.
"On that note, keep me posted on any new information you manage to get. I also recommend you be very careful how you answer their questions because I have a feeling at this point they might know more about us then we know about them." Fury warned. The group nodded mutely.
"I thought that was what we were already doing? Trying to gain their trust? We can't exactly do that without giving them something in return." Scott sighed, also now feeling tired when he realized how long this meeting had been.
"This meeting is adjourned, the SHIELD agents will remain on guard duty for the rest of the day so maybe all of you should take the rest of the day to yourselves." And with that they dispersed.
After the meeting with the Avengers, Fury went back to his office. He sighed as he sat back in his chair. Two files lay open on his desk. Persues Jackson and Jason Grace, the causes of his current headache, he had been a spy for a long, long time. He thought he knew all the major players out there, even the minor ones. He prided himself on being one step ahead of everyone, knowing everything there was to know about his opponent before they even knew he was looking at them. But these two kids were a complete mystery and he hated it. The more he found out about these two, the more questions he had, and the more mysteries that needed to be solved. What really worried him wasn't the fact that these two kids were trained soldiers, it was the organization behind them… how could an organization of unknown size make an unknown number of super soldiers out of kids and had been around for at least three decades? There was an unknown threat level, unknown weakness, unknown strengths, unknown everything. Fury flipped through the annoyingly thin files; a page of speculation was longer than the page of the facts.
Peruses Jackson
Gender: male
Age: 17
Eye color: Sea Green
Hair: Jet Black
Height: 6'1"
Alias: Unknown N/A
Abilities: Water manipulation (unknown limit)
Breathing underwater (unknown limit)
Family
Father: Unknown
Mother: Sally Blofis ne Jackson
Step Father 1: Gabe Ugliano (Missing, presumed dead)
Stepfather 2: Paul Blofis (current)
Half Sister (mother): Estelle Blofis (infant)
Affiliation: Unknown ("Camp")
Residence: Manhattan New York City (mother)
Jason Grace
Gender: male
Age: 16
Eye color: Electric Blue
Hair: Blond
Height: 6'3"
Alias: Unknown N/A
Abilities: Wind manipulation (unknown limit)
Flight (unknown limit)
Lightning manipulation (unknown limit)
Family
Father: unknown
Mother: Beryl Grace (deceased)
Sister: Thalia Grace "older" (Missing, presumed dead)
Affiliation: unknown ("Camp")
Residence: Unknown ("Camp")
Then there was the spotty information the Avengers managed to get from the two teenagers, which wasn't much. Fury sighed again and rubbed his hand down his face. There was a knock at his office door.
"Enter" he called sitting up in his chair. Maria Hill walked in, followed by Phil Coulson, the two people he trusted the most in his organization.
"Director." Coulson said, giving a small smile to his old friend.
"I don't get to see you here much Coulson." Fury stated, knowing that after Agent Coulson's 'death', he has been on special assignment elsewhere.
"Well, it is not very often I am summoned to HQ." He spoke, his tone light.
"Has Hill filled you in?" Fury asked, dropping the pleasantries and going straight to business.
"Yes she has. Are those them?" Coulson asked, pointing to the two files on Fury's desk. Fury nodded and handed both files to the agent who scanned the information quickly, his brow furrowed. He looked up at his boss. "There isn't much here." He stated.
"the Avengers are continuing to try and get information out of them, but so far it isn't much." Hill explained.
"It is pretty surprising that these two teens were able to stonewall you and Widow." Coulson whistled, clearly impressed.
"Yes, they have both proven to be highly trained soldiers and are still complete mysteries. The organization that the two work for is so good at hiding that even I didn't know it existed before I met these two."
"Sir, if I may, what is the end goal for those two?" Hill asked.
Fury looked at the files still in Coulson's hands "I would like them to join SHIELD. We could really use more agents with that kind of skill and power, they both hold a lot of potential. I don't want to see them go to waste."
"Not that I don't agree that these 'kids' have a lot of potential as agents or even Avengers, but isn't… I don't know, wrong, to start recruiting kids, when you are condoning this 'Organization' for the same thing?" Coulsion asked.
"What I do is take people who have already been forced into this, not take random kids. Plus, the Avengers are working with Spiderman who is younger than these two. We can't just let them go to fall into the hands of groups like HYDRA, or back to this unknown organization." Fury explained.
"Have you any clue how they got their powers?" Coulson asked.
"No, but it is looking to be an experiment. Some of the Avengers are thinking they are mutants." Fury stated.
"If they are mutants, how could they slip past Charles Xavier's machine?" Maria Hill asked.
"Just add that to the list of questions we need to answer." Fury sighed.
"What would you like us to do?" Coulson asked.
"I want you to see if you can find this Organization, see what you can find out, and if you can find out what 'missions' these kids were on. I want to know why they were spotted in different countries and how we are just finding out about this."
"That is a lot of ground to cover, especially since I have next to nothing to work with." Coulson said.
"I know, and I want you both to keep this highly confidential. I don't want word to get back to this organization, and I don't want word of Percy or Jason's abilities to get out."
"Are you talking about HYDRA?" Agent Hill asked.
"That is one. I want this to stay close to home and only with people you trust. Is that understood?" Fury ordered. The two agents nodded and left.
Peter POV
"Don't you have a home to go to or something?" Peter looked up from his homework to see Percy standing there. Both demigods had been allowed to leave their rooms when Peter arrived.
"Oh, uh yeah. I live with my aunt, but she got an all-paid vacation with some of her friends. so, for the week, I am staying here" he answered
"Oh, and I am guessing you're doing homework?" He asked, sitting down opposite of him. Peter nodded.
"Why aren't you or Jason going to school? Aren't you supposed to still be in high school?" Percy flinched.
"Uhh yeah I guess" he mumbled looking away
"I actually never went to school" they both turned to see Jason coming into the common room.
"Wait really you've never been to school?!" Peter gasped. Jason just shrugged.
"Honestly, I would probably be the same way, but my mom insisted that I try to get a normal education. Of course, I keep getting kicked out and..." trailed off.
"And what?" Peter asked.
"I never finished my sophomore year. I had to take an...unexpected trip." Percy sighed. "honestly I don't think I am good for anything except fighting."
"That's not true you are pretty funny and..." he trailed off not knowing of anything to add.
"Peter, it's ok you don't know me all that well, so I don't expect you to try and cheer me up."
"But I know you, you are a good teacher, a friend and a leader, and you're also a good cook when it comes to making blue food." Jason added with a smile. Percy rolled his eyes but smiled.
"So, Jason, why did you never go to school?" Peter asked, turning his head to look at Jason.
"I was brought to camp before I really started, and honestly, I never really had a reason to go. Everything I needed to know about the world and life, I learned at camp." Except for his moral compass. That, he learned from experience and his mother's broken promise. Jason didn't say that part out loud.
"Oh. Well, I think you are pretty lucky not having to go to school." Peter said, turning back to his homework.
"I don't know. I've always wanted to try to see what it was like." Jason responded.
"For me, I wish I could get through one year without getting kicked out and have a bit of normalcy to my life, but one thing I hated about school was dealing with bullies."
"Bullies? don't tell me you got bullied!" Peter asked, shocked. He had assumed Percy was one of the popular kids considering he was pretty handsome and athletic.
"I personally didn't get bullied much, maybe when I was younger, but I was often caught in the middle when my friends were getting bullied."
"Oh, so you were there to defend them."
"Yeah, I didn't really care if my reputation took a dive because of the kids I hung out with." Percy shrugged.
"I think it would be cool if both of you went to my school, but you would probably hate the bullies." Peter stated, turning back to his homework with a sad smile on his face.
"Peter, do you get bullied?" Jason asked. Peter's head snapped up and he looked at his arms wondering if he had any bruises showing even though if he had any they would be healed by now.
"A little."
"That doesn't make any sense. I have seen you fight." Percy stated, frowning in concern for the younger boy.
"I don't fight them." He sighed "It's complicated. I wasn't able to defend myself before I got my powers, so I shouldn't be able to now."
"You are trying to hide the fact that you have powers?" Jason deduced. Peter nodded.
"But people change all the time, and anyone can learn how to fight." Percy stated.
Peter sighed "It's not just that. I can take the hits and I heal faster than other kids can, so it is better that they beat on me then the other kids at the school." Peter looked down; he didn't want to see the look of pity or anger in their eyes like the Avengers did when they found out. He waited for them to tell him that they would fight the bully for him. He waited for them to tell him that he shouldn't do that but none of that happened.
"You are a protector." Percy stated. Peter looked up in surprise seeing the look of understanding and… respect in those green eyes.
"I think that it is really noble that you want to protect your classmates from a bully by offering yourself to get beat on, but that is also self-sacrificing." Jason sighed, his eyes also held the same understanding but also a little bit of pain... and was that regret? Peter didn't know.
"Dude stop gaping like a fish." Percy ordered in a light hearted tone.
Peter shut his mouth "Sorry but you two are the first ones that understood why I do it and didn't get angry or give me pity." Peter spoke, still surprised. He wasn't used to this. Even his few friends at school that knew who he was didn't act like this. They wanted him to use his powers to teach Flash and his friends a lesson.
"You are noble and have a strong sense of morals. You're not all that different from us. You have seen things and experienced things that many don't in their lifetime. We understand." Jason explained. Peter's eyes widened again.
"How?"
"We see it in your eyes, we recognize it. You hide your fears and pain behind jokes and sarcasm. You hide it well but it still slips through." Percy stated and that was when Peter saw the look in those intense green eyes, the look that they had lost a lot of loved ones, the guilt about not being able to save them, and he understood what the two older teens were saying. He had lost friends and family too, and he felt the guilt of not being able to save them and feeling like he needed to be punished for that fact.
"Anyway, where are the Avengers?" Peter asked, wanting to change the subject before it got too painful.
"Don't know. We were locked in our rooms until you got here." Percy sighed and gave a quick glance at the agents.
"Me?" Peter asked.
"There has to be an Avenger or superhuman person to watch us, I guess" That was when Peter noticed that there were two SHIELD agents by every exit out of the room. He had forgotten that Percy and Jason were prisoners. It was hard to believe; they didn't seem like bad people and he felt comfortable around them. He felt like he didn't have to fight so hard to keep up an act that he was a nervous goofball.
"Oh" was all he could think to say. They had been locked up all day and they had to stay in the same room as him and a bunch of SHIELD agents because they had to be watched pretty much 24/7. he didn't know if he could act this relaxed and cool if he was being watched all the time and couldn't leave unless someone was with you. He thought it would be suffocating.
"If we are disturbing you, I guess we have to go back until the Avengers get here." Jason sighed clearly not liking the idea of being trapped in a single room for several more hours.
"No you don't have to go if you want I can show you what I am doing… of course that sounds pretty stupid, I can just do my homework later if you guys what to hang out or something?" Peter asked as he started rambling.
"You want to tutor us on your homework?" Percy asked.
"Umm it does seem like a bad idea. I mean you guys both look to be in your junior or senior years and I am only a freshman."
"Honestly I don't know what grade I am supposed to be in." Jason stated with a shrug.
"And for me I never really finished a whole year at high school, but to tell you the truth, even if we did go to school, you would be far above me in terms of brains." Percy chuckled.
"I think you are smart, there are many different types of smarts out there."
Jason laughed "Sarcastic smarts Percy has that down."
"Why thank you. Being sarcastic is one of my best qualities" Percy said giving a bow in his seat.
"It is also the quality that gets you into the most trouble." Jason retorted.
"What can I say? I have a knack for pissing people off." waving his hand dismissively.
Jason sat next to Peter and looked over his shoulder seeing his equations for Peter's precalculus class. "what even is this?" he asked, grabbing Peter's textbook and squinting at it.
"Jason, did you forget your glasses in your room?" Percy asked.
"I don't think not having my glasses have anything to do with it." He huffed and shoved the book in Percy's face "Does that look normal to you? What is this?" he asked again. Even Percy looked confused
"It is for my precalculus class." Peter stated.
"What is calculus?" Jason asked
"It is a form of math." Peter answered.
"For what?" Percy asked.
"Umm... It is used to create mathematical models in order to arrive at an optimal solution. For example, in physics, calculus is used in a lot of its concepts. Among the physical concepts that use concepts of calculus include motion, electricity, heat, light, harmonics, acoustics, astronomy, and dynamics" Peter explained.
"Okay we didn't need the definition of Calculus." Percy stated. Peter blushed.
"I am going to get my glasses." Jason stated he left the room followed by the two agents. He came back a little later with a pair of black glasses and a notepad in his hands
"Jason, I didn't know you wore glasses" Peter stated.
"They are really just for reading." Jason shrugged, and looked over Peter's shoulder again "Okay show me how to Calculus"
"Umm first off what level of math do you know?" Peter asked.
Jason frowned as he thought about it "umm I know addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and roman numerals and a little geometry."
"So just basic math?" Peter asked. Jason nodded "Well then this might be a little too advanced but if you want to learn I can try to teach you." Then Peter turned to Percy "What about you?"
"Don't worry about me, I am just content watching." Percy smiled. For him, this reminded him of Annabeth, which made his heart ache, but he was happy at the same time he wasn't listening to Peters lecture when he was showing Jason some basic equations.
The first Avengers back at the Compound were Steve and Bruce; they walked into the common room seeing Peter teaching Percy and Jason math, but it only looked like Jason was listening and talking notes. They stood there for a minute just listening, then Percy turned, noticing they were there. He gave a small smile and nodded.
"Sorry if we are interrupting." Bruce said as they walked into the room. Peter stopped talking and he and Jason turned to face the two Avengers.
"You weren't interrupting, in fact I would call it perfect timing, since it feels like my brain is going to explode." Jason stated with a smile as he put his notepad on the table and took off his glasses.
"And I wasn't listening." Percy said, also smiling.
"I take it they don't teach this in your camp?" Steve asked, gesturing to the board. In all honesty he didn't understand any of it either.
"Some people choose to learn it, but it's mostly optional." Percy said.
"Και η Νέα Ρώμη έχει πανεπιστήμιο, οπότε πιθανότατα περιλαμβάνεται εκεί Επίσης, πού μαθαίνουν οι αθλητές της Αθήνας στο Camp" [And New Rome has a university, so it's probably included there. Also, where do the Athena year-rounders learn at Camp?] Jason asked Percy. He spoke in Ancient Greek.
"I have no idea? They do have a library, so maybe there? I never asked." Percy said in English the Avengers and Peter looked confused, not knowing what Jason said.
"Percy, you have been to school, how was school for you?" Bruce asked, knowing better than to question their conversation.
"It was okay I guess. I was never really good in any of my classes, with maybe the exception of social studies, and I never stayed at a school long enough to really make anything out of it, from either being kicked out or having to leave for a mission." He sighed, his head resting on his hand.
"Is it because of your training - the reason you never fit in at school?" Steve asked. "And why is social studies your best subject?"
"They teach it at camp." Jason answered.
"Umm that was one reason I guess." Percy answered the first question.
"And what about the other?" Steve asked.
"There were times when my enemies would sneak into school or recognize me and they always caused a lot of problems that I ended up getting blamed for and then expelled." Percy explained.
"That is one of the reasons I have a secret identity." Peter muttered.
"This question is for both of you. What are your thoughts about going to school?" Bruce asked.
Percy and Jason's eyes widened a little at that - they weren't expecting the question "Why are you asking?" Jason asked.
"You both are still teens, so you should be in high school. We just wanted to know what your thoughts are." Steve said. Percy and Jason shared a look.
"Jason, you said you always wanted to try school. You both could come with me to Midtown but honestly, it isn't anything impressive." Peter suggested.
"We are still your prisoners, so what makes you think that we won't try to escape if you sent us to a normal school?" Percy asked, looking at the two adults.
"Would you try to escape?" Steve asked, his eyes narrowing Jason and Percy gave each other a glance and shrugged, so they didn't know if that was a yes or no.
"It is something to consider for later. For right now why don't you both leave Peter to do his homework and hang out with us?" Bruce asked, giving a smile at the two teens.
"Sure." Percy and Jason said. Jason stood.
"Thanks Peter it was fun."
"You mean boring?" Peter asked.
"Not at all. I thank you for teaching me, and sorry that we took you away from your studies. You are a great teacher" Jason said politely and his smile looked genuine.
Peter returned the smile he tutors a lot of people but not all of them seem to appreciate it. Jason seemed like the first. "Thanks, and anytime! Just happy to help!"
I hope you all liked this chapter! Some of your reviews have mentioned that Percy has played video games… I do remember about the arcade in the Lotus Hotel but for this story I am not really going to dive in to it. I will try to update as much as I can but I have school work and other stories I need to work on. Thank for you continued support for this story.