Percy sighed contentedly as he sprawled out on the concrete barrier. He still had about an hour before the written exam wrapped up, so he settled in for the wait. The sun was high in the sky, and the warm spring air was comfortable against his skin. The soft and soothing sea-faring melodies of Jimmy Buffet played through the headphones in his ears, and he allowed himself to relax.
His life had always been strange. Hard to have anything resembling a 'normal' life, when someone was a demigod, but even by divine standards, the last few months had been weird. Ripped out of time and space, jettisoned over two-hundred years into the future, and living life as a homeless, crime-fighting hobo while playing hide-and-go-seek with rabbit girls, a wannabe Groot, and a lady who could grow to the size of a skyscraper.
All things considered it could have been worse, he supposed. He was seeing a grief counselor to try and get him over the fact that literally every person he knew and loved was dead, so that was…fun. He wouldn't lie, the sessions were at least somewhat helpful, once he got over the shock that his grief counselor was a literal human dog, he had been making decent progress. He'd stopped having nightmares every night about his mother and Annabeth, and he had managed to gain back most of the weight he had lost during his time as a hobo.
Sure, he was going to be stuck going to school again, as he had no doubt that he would stomp this combat exam, but he was going to be going to school to be godsdamned superhero! Life was all about compromises. Give and take. He'd lost every single person he'd ever cared about, and was isolated and alone in what amounted to an alien world; but he got to live out a childhood fantasy of being a superhero.
So yeah…compromise.
Nezu and that Toshinori guy, who was one-hundred percent that All Might dude, had even been kind enough to set him up with an apartment and some spending money. He had been able to get some new clothes, a phone, and other necessities, under the guise of recompense for his time spent as a "prisoner", of the pre-quirk era.
He let out a relieved groan as he stretched out his limbs and was about to check his watch when a shadow suddenly blocked out the sun. Feeling the sudden lack heat from the glowing orb in the sky, he opened his eyes, and came found himself staring into a pair of the darkest shade of blue eyes he had ever seen before. Blinking slightly, the face of the, admittedly very pretty, girl was essentially nose to nose with him,
"Hello," he said, more than a little thrown off by the sudden invasion of personal space, "Can I help you?"
The girl, who had to be near about his age if only a year or so younger, beamed at him, "Hi there!" she said, very excitedly, "Who are you? How'd you get in the gate? You have really pretty eyes; do you wear contacts? What are you doing here? Are you a teacher? What are you listening to? Is it good? Can I listen too?"
Percy blinked, his mind still a little hazy from the half nap he had been taking, and was barely able to keep up with the girl as her questions tumbled out of her mouth at a mile a minute. There was a tickle against his cheek, as a few strands of periwinkle blue hair tickled against his skin.
That was a lot of blue.
"Huh," he said, "In order, I guess: I'm Percy Jackson, I was given an access card to the gate, thank you, no I don't, and you have pretty eyes too? I'm here for the hero exam, since I already graduated high school I didn't need to take the placement test so I'm waiting for the practical exam. No, I'm not a teacher, I'm listening to some very old music, and sure?" he answered to the best of his ability, pulling an ear bud out and handing it to the girl, who grabbed it excitedly and shoved the bud into her ear, humming happily as the soft and relaxing sounds played.
Then her eyes got wide as she seemingly registered everything he said, "Oh wow!" she exclaimed, somehow getting even closer without actually touching him, "You're the guy from the past? The one they found in the cryo-thingie! That's so cool! What was the past like? Where you from? Oh!" she exclaimed, closing her eyes as her body seemed to vibrate happily, "This is so relaxing, is your music from your time? Was all the music from the twenty-first century like this? Are you excited for your exam? What's your quirk? Are you strong? You look pretty strong-"
Percy couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up from his chest as the girl continued to rattle of question after question, "You're a little pixie, aren't you?" he asked, but before he could begin asking more questions, another voice rang out across the small courtyard Percy was waiting at,
"Nejire!" said the male voice, and the girl, that Percy assumed was Nejire, looked up and over at the source of the voice,
"Why don't you give the guy a little space huh?" the male voice laughed happily, and Nejire's mouth opened in an 'O' shape. Immediately, she backed out of Percy's personal space, his other earbud falling out of her ear.
Chuckling, Percy rose to his feet, and dusted off the back of his navy-blue shorts.
Nejire looked up at him her eyes wide as she took in his massive frame. Since he had been able to finally get on a proper diet again, he had managed to bulk back up to around two-hundred and thirty pounds. He wasn't as built as he had been before coming to the future, but he figured he would be able to get his weight back up again without too much trouble.
Nejire floated around Percy's frame, and Percy did a double-take. Percy realized that the blue-haired girl was looking at him on an even level. Looking down, he saw that she wasn't some Amazonian woman, but was literally floating in the air, spirals of energy protruding from her athletic shoes to keep her airborne.
"Wow," she said, once more getting right up in his face, "you're really big, you must eat a lot, is that part of your quirk or are you just naturally big?" she looked like she was about to launch another payload of questions but the new guy's laughter stopped her before she could overwhelm him again.
Turning to face the new voice. The guy that was approaching was also around his age, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Percy couldn't stop the snort that escaped his mouth, as the image of a cartoon character shot through his mind's eye.
The man raised a happy hand in greeting, "Hiya!" he said cheerfully, "I hope Nejire here didn't talk your ear off too badly!" he laughed, placing a hand behind his head as his smile threaten to split his face.
"Nah" Percy said, shoving his hands into the pockets of the white sleeveless workout hoodie he was wearing, his own smile on his face, and tried his best not to be distracted by the girl as she floated around him, poking his arms, shoulders, and back as though he were a particularly interesting rock.
"Just making new friends I suppose," he said, and in a flash the blue-haired motor-mouth was back in his personal space, a beaming smile on her face,
"Oh!" she exclaimed happily, "Are we friends now? That's so exciting! I love making new friends, do you have many friends yet? If not, we'll be happy to be your friends! I've never had a time-traveler for a friend before, Oh!" She spun around, and landed softly on the ground before bouncing off to stand next to the cartoon-character, slapping him on the shoulder repeatedly, "Mirio! Mirio!" Percy guessed that was the new guy's name, "This is the guy from the news!" she exclaimed, "The one from the press conference, you remember! The guy from two-hundred years ago! He's got fun music and he's nice! And look at how big he is!" She floated back over to Percy, and on a whim, he pulled his phone and earbuds out and just silently handed them over to the excitable girl. She squealed in delight before plopping down onto the ground and shoving the buds into her ears, humming happily to the music.
Percy couldn't stop the smile on his face from growing at the sight, it was impossible not to be affected by the unflappable cheer the girl seemed to exude. Turning his attention back to the newcomer, Percy extended his hand,
"Percy Jackson, resident time-traveler, and apparently walking radio," he joked, "Nice to meet ya,"
The blonde, Mirio, gripped his hand in a shockingly grim grasp. "Togata Mirio!" he said happily. The cartoon character released his grip and continued smiling at him, "I hate to be rude, but I have to ask, are you really the guy from the past,"
Percy just waved off the concern, "Don't worry about it man, I don't mind. But to answer your question, yeah, I guess I am." In the past few weeks, since Nezu went on air to announce his presence to the world, Percy had been approached nearly daily by people, accosting him to ask him questions. It had gotten to the point that Nezu had decided that it would be better if Percy sequestered himself to the on-campus apartment Nezu had been kind enough to gift him, at least until the excitement died off a little. Percy didn't mind, he was sick of dealing with the press, and he had already been able to acquire everything he had needed to get by. He had gotten a haircut, and a new wardrobe out of it so a little press could be tolerated.
Mirio grimaced slightly, which Percy felt was a strange expression on his face. He placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave it a calming squeeze, "I'm sorry for your losses." he said.
Percy was a little taken aback by the gesture, and he stiffened unconsciously as a result. In all the times he had been accosted, he had never had someone come up to him to sympathize with him. It was strange, and yet Percy found himself moved beyond words. Sure, he had been working with Hound Dog to overcome the losses of everyone he had known and loved, but talking with a shrink, and hearing compassionate words in a sterilized environment was different from hearing it from a relative stranger. He also knew the words weren't pitying, Percy could see that in the young man's eyes. He genuinely sympathetic to the hardships he was going through.
Percy allowed a soft, sad smile to grace his features, "Thank you," he finally found the ability to say, "I appreciate that. A lot,"
Mirio smiled once more, what Percy was beginning to understand was his default expression, "Of course!" he said cheerily, "You're going to be my underclassman, which means it's my duty to help and guide you!"
Percy couldn't stop the laugh from bubbling up, there was just something very amusing about having someone six inches shorter, and two years younger than him, talk about being his senior.
It was then that Percy finally saw the figure hunched behind the blonde Tin-Tin, he had indigo hair, and eyes to match. He was cowering behind Mirio, almost as though he were afraid Percy was going to hit him, or worse.
Quirking a brow at the kid, Percy said, "You ok back there?" The figure jumped in startled surprise at the sudden address, and seemed to shrink even further into the frame of the blonde smiley-face.
Mirio laughed at the exchange, reaching behind him to grab the arm of the teen and dragged him out into the open, "Oh don't him, he's just a little shy, this is Tamaki Amajiki, he's a friend! Aren't ya buddy?"
The poor guy looked like he was going to have a heart attack, and Percy couldn't help but think of Frank, his insecure and socially awkward friend from Canada. Amajiki stuttered through his introduction, but finally managed to complete a full sentence, "It's n-nice to m-meet you." and then turned around. Although he was unable to escape due to the firm grasp on his arm, and began muttering to himself. Percy couldn't make out all of the words but could have sworn he heard something about potatoes.
"It's nice to meet you too Amajiki," Percy said slowly, and then blinked in surprise as all three of the students started slightly and turned to look at him in confusion, and uncertainty. Then the looks disappeared, as both Mirio and Nejire smiled broadly again.
Di Immortales I don't think I've ever met a more positively happy group of people before
"Oh!" Nejire said again, earbuds still in her ears as she got up in his face again, "You're American right? So, does that mean your name is Percy? Or is it Jackson? I've never been to America before, is it nice? I hear it's nice, but that the people there are fat, but you're not fat, you're like the waaaaaaay opposite of that."
"Yes," Percy interjected before she got too far off base, "I'm an American, my first name is Percy. Sorry, forgot I was in Japan for a second, you guys say last names first right?" he laughed awkwardly and scratched behind his ear, noticing as he did so as Nejire's gaze seemed to flicker for a second to his forearm as it subconsciously flexed as he scratched, "But you can call me Percy."
"Awesome!" said Mirio excitedly, "So you're here for the entrance exam, right?"
"Yup," Percy said, gesturing back to the school behind him, "I was in college before coming here so I didn't have to take the written test, just the practical, which I'm not too worried about if I'm honest."
Mirio laughed loudly, and his smile somehow grew even larger, "Wow! You must be pretty tough if you're that confident! I love it, I bet you can't wait to show off your POWER!" he shouted the last word as he pumped his fist in the air in excitement.
"Yeah," Percy laughed, "I guess you could say that," then a thought occurred to him, "You said you're going to be my upperclassmen, that means you're students here then?"
"Yup, yup, yup," Nejire cheered happily, floating in soft circles, "We're going to be third-years in a few weeks."
"We're trying to be the top students here at the school!" Said Mirio with a thumbs up, "So our teachers have given us access to a private workout facility so that we can train together,"
"It's nice, we don't have to be around other people" mumbled Amajiki, who still had his back turned on Percy,
"Wow," Percy said, impressed, "If they're giving you guys your own private facility, you must be pretty strong!" then another thought occurred to him, "But I thought the school year was over, at least for another few weeks, why are you here? I know you said you wanted to be top of your class, but isn't that a little excessive?"
"We're going to be tested for our pro-licenses at the end of the year, which means we need to get even better before then! We've got to be strong enough that everyone is impressed by our POWER!" he shouted the word again, "So they have no choice to pass us!"
"Well I'm sure you'll get it!" Percy chuckled,
Mirio paused and then looked at him speculatively, as though appraising him. He smirked, "When you get in, you and me should spar a little! If you're as tough as I think you are, then it should be a blast!"
Unsure of how to exactly respond to the statement, he just shrugged, it had been years since he had actually sparred with someone. Given his status back in his time, and with how few monster attacks there had been after the war with Gaia, he hadn't really needed to train as much. Plus, Annabeth and Jason were really the only ones who could fight him on an even level, and both of them had been across the country for most of the time.
"Sure," Percy smirked back, "I think I'd like that,"
Mirio was cut off from replying by the dinging of a loud bell, all four of the teens turned to look at the school, as the doors opened and groups of kids younger than them began piling out of the building.
"Well," Mirio said, clapping Percy on the shoulder, "That looks like it's our cue to get out of here, good luck on the exam, be sure to show off all of your POWER!" He shouted and then took off like a rocket, dragging poor Amajiki behind him.
Nejire just giggled, before taking the earbuds out and handing them and the phone back to Percy, "Thanks for letting me listen," She said happily, clasping her hands behind her back as she teetered side to side, "And good luck on the exam, I'm sure you'll do great, give me a call when you get in, the four of should definitely hang out! Bye new friend!" And before Percy could say another word, she too disappeared in the direction of her friends.
Percy just stood there, looking at the dust-trail the excitable teenagers had left behind in their wake, unsure of how to react to the utterly bizarre interaction he'd just had. "How am I supposed to call them…" he muttered to himself as he looked down at his phone, only to laugh as he saw that his contact list had been pulled up, and saw that Nejire had put her name, her last name was Hado apparently, and number into his phone.
"Japan is wild," he said to himself with a chuckle, as he set about stretching himself while the group of students steadily began making their way in his direction.
BREAK
Across campus, in a large room with several large data terminals and computer monitors, the teachers for the school were huddled together in their observation booths. They watched as the students at the several different testing sites converged.
"We certainly have a colorful crop this year," Snipe said softly, his voice nearly muffled by the sounds of data being input into various terminals, and the beeping and whirring of the machinery of the room.
"As interesting as some of these new students appear," Ectoplasm said, "I believe we are all a touch biased in terms of where our interests lie," and as he finished speaking, the main display screen switched, and the picture of Percy Jackson, stretching his limbs out and gearing himself up, appeared.
Nezu hummed in excitement, "I for one, am certainly excited to see if Mr. Jackson is as strong as we believe him to be. This little exam should be an excellent test of his skillset. We have, after all, only seen bare glimpses of what he is capable of doing. Oh, I'm just so excited," the small creature clapped, bouncing slightly in his place.
Midnight just chuckled, and turned to address All Might, intent on asking him for his opinion on the man-out-of-time, only to see the large man was distracted by a different screen. Midnight followed his gaze and saw that he was looking at a different monitor, showing a small, green-haired boy with a spattering of freckles, nervously fidget as he was accosted by someone who looked an awful lot like a younger Ingenium.
'Well that is certainly interesting,' she thought to herself, as she looked back at the man, who was clenching his fists tightly, a worried look on his face in spite of the large smile plastered on his lips.
What is so special about that kid that he has All Might's attention?
There was nothing overly interesting about him, other than he looked like he might pass out at any given moment. Looking just past All Might, she saw that Aizawa had also noticed the large man's concern. But like Midnight, the eraser hero seemed like he wasn't going to press the issue.
"All right settle down everyone," Nezu called out to the room, "We're going to begin in three…two…one….now-oh my, look at him go." Nezu laughed. As soon as Present Mic, acting as the announcer for the event called for the start of the exam, Jackson took off at a sprint, quite literally leaving the other would-be students in the dust.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," Snipe murmured, watching as the kid was very quickly on top of a three-pointer. The young man jumped in the air, avoiding a barrage of missiles fired from the villain bot. Landing on the machines back, Jackson ripped the head off the machine with a yell, and hurled it into a nearby two-pointer. Both machines exploded as Jackson managed to jump away in time.
"All right," the cowboy hero admitted, as Jackson summoned a lance of water that impaled another three and two-pointer, "I might have been a little hasty in my initial assessment of the kid."
Nezu just laughed gleefully, even a touch manically, "Oh, you might wish to 'saddle up' my friend. For I feel that young Mr. Jackson is just getting started."
BREAK
Percy could not remember the last time that he'd had this much fun! Freezing the ground, he slid under the shell of a two-pointer, forming a water-like sword in his right hand, and embedded the constructed blade into the chassis of the robot. The machine sparked as he allowed his momentum to carry him past the explosion.
Standing up, he realized that he had quickly lost track of the number of machines that he had destroyed, and as a result, the number of points he had accumulated. He had been briefed by Nezu on how this exam would work, that three of the villain bots he would destroy offered him varying point values and the fourth would result in zero points, and even a loss of points if he engaged with it.
Percy had decided going into the exam, that he would just destroy anything and everything he came into contact with. Even if it resulted in him not accumulating the necessary points, this little exercise was therapeutic enough that he couldn't bring himself to care.
Ducking out of the way, the large claw of a two-pointer barely missed hitting him. He slashed through the air, summoning a whip of water that cut the leg off. The machine tumbled, suddenly off balance, and Percy slammed the lost leg into the headpiece of the machine, before kicking the machine into a three-pointer flying by. The two-pointer exploded, taking the three-pointer with it.
He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, just as a girl with bright orange hair tied up in a ponytail landed next to him, she was wearing a navy-blue jumpsuit, and her forehead was glistening in sweat. His attention, however, was drawn to the enormous hands she had, which he assumed was her quirk. She too, was panting in exertion as she shot him a mock-glare,
"Hey, how about saving some villains for the rest of us?" she asked, though the smile on her face told him that she was only messing around.
He smirked back at her, shrugging unapologetically, "Sorry, I tell ya what, I'll leave some scraps for you and you can have those,"
She was going to respond, but was cut off as suddenly the earth started shaking. Percy nearly lost his balance, and he had to reach out, and grab the orange-haired girl to steady her as she lost her balance.
"What the hell is that?" she shouted over the din,
"I have no idea," Percy shouted back, as an explosion of dust and debris ripped down the street, and the earth seemingly opened up beneath them. A large, green, metallic form rose out of the smoke and dust, towering over even the tallest buildings in the makeshift street of the testing center. There was a groaning of metal as buildings along the pretend street were toppled over, and others began collapsing as the monstrous machine pulled itself free from the earth.
The girl next to Percy gasped at the sight, "That must be the zero-pointer," she exclaimed, and turned to begin hightailing it, "We need to get out of here!" However, Percy wasn't listening, at least, not to her. He was instead listening to the sounds of the street around him. Among the shouting and screaming of the kids trying to get away as fast as possible, Percy recognized the yells of something else. His eyes widening, he saw that several would-be students had gotten trapped under debris from the surrounding buildings the machine had toppled.
Looking up, he saw several more students that were trapped on the third floor of a building that was in danger of collapsing. He gripped onto the arm of the orange-haired girl before she could get too far away, she stopped, and turned to look at him, fear and anger on her face.
"What are you doing, we need to leave!" She tried to shout, but Percy pointed at the trapped students,
"We need to get them out of here" he shouted back, "If that thing continues this way they'll be smothered! Think you can use your quirk to dig them out?" he asked. To her credit, the girl only hesitated for a second before she nodded confidently, "Absolutely," and she ran off in the direction of the trapped students.
"Kero, what would you like us to do?" came a feminine voice and a…ribbit? From behind him. Turning around, he saw a young girl, with green hair and black eyes and a long tongue, crouching beside an athletic looking teenager with spiky red hair, and sharp features. Next to him was a large, well-built teenager with six extra arms, spiked silver hair, and a turquoise face mask, and…a bird? He waved the concern off and focused. He recognized the girl from the fighting. He had watched her scale the side of a building like Spider-Man and use her absurdly long tongue to dispatch a pair of villain-bots.
An idea floated in his head and he quickly pointed to the trapped students in the office building, "I can see people trapped in that building, get them out and evacuate the area," he didn't wait for a response, trusting she would do as told and turned to the red-haired kid, "What can you all do?" he barked out, his years as a commander and leader taking control.
The kid with red hair stumbled for a second before he straightened his back and literally saluted Percy, "Sir, I can harden my body like a boulder sir!" Percy didn't have time to question it and pointed at the human octopus,
"I'm strong, fast, and can transform my tentacles into other body parts." he said simply,
The bird spoke without prompting, a large, shadowy, hawklike figure blossoming from under the large cloak he wore, "My partner Dark Shadow, we can aid her" he pointed at the frog-girl, "With those in the building."
Percy nodded and took another quick survey of the scene. He pointed to a group of student trying break a large chunk of building that had trapped several examinees inside and then at the kid with the arms and the redhead, "Destroy that debris, and gather as many injured as you can and get the hell out of the way," He then pointed at the bird, "Do as you said, and go with her, once the evacuees are secured rendezvous at the entrance."
The boys nodded, and before Percy could turn to do his own part, he heard the frog? He was gonna say frog-the frog girl ask him, "What are you going to do? Kero,"
Percy pointed at the metal behemoth, "Lure it away from civilians," He said simply, not realizing that he had referred to a bunch of would-be heroes in training as such. "Get it as far as I can and destroy it. You have your orders, now move!" He barked out, and leapt in the direction of the zero-pointer, leaving a trail of dust, and two confused and stunned kids in his wake.
"Oh my god, he's so god. Damn. MANLY!" the redhead shouted before taking off towards his own target, the masked teen following in his wake. The frog-girl just shared a look with the bird-headed boy before they too, left to follow their orders.
There was no time to question the sanity of some people.
BREAK
"Well, well, would you look at that," Nezu mused, as he watched the byplay between young Jackson and who he believed were Kendo Itsuka, Asui Tsuyu, Mezo Shoji, Fumikage Tokoyami and Kirishima Eijiro. The staff had just switched their display channels away from young Midoriya Izuku, as he destroyed his arm dispatching the zero-pointer.
"It would seem that young Mr. Jackson is something of a natural leader." the principal mused,
"Indeed," Thirteen said calmly, her helmet tilting slightly as she watched the exchange, "Truly impressive for someone who is untrained in hero work to have the mental discipline not to panic in such a situation. From what we know of his previous situation, his training was more combat related, not rescue. Even more impressive that others seem to naturally gravitate towards him to issue orders. That speaks nothing of the kind of presence he has to drive others to listen to him and follow his commands. I very much look forward to seeing what else he is capable of."
"Agreed," said Cementoss, bringing up images of the other youngsters Percy had issued his commands to, "And it bodes well for the future of these examinees, that they are able to maintain composure enough to think clearly in the midst of a crisis. They understand when and how to take orders issued in the field, and respond quickly to a growing crisis."
Aizawa just grunted from his own observation position,
"Something you wish to say, Aizawa?" Nezu prompted,
"Their motives, no matter how good intentioned, are ultimately irrational. They should know that we would never program a machine or an exam that would needlessly endanger the lives of their fellow examinees."
"While I can understand that viewpoint, I have to disagree," Vlad King countered, "In the heat of battle, it can be impossible to ascertain whether or not someone is truly in danger or not. The fact that, even if their comrades are not in any actual danger, these students are willing to risk their lives to protect others is exactly the kind of heroes we wish to accept into our school."
"If they can't be trusted to make rational field decisions here, can we really believe that they will be able to make those decisions when things actually matter?" Aizawa countered,
"I believe that you are missing the point of our school then, Aizawa." Nezu chided calmly, a large smile on his face as he watched in fascination as Percy charged the large robot,
"It's the thought that counts here, Aizawa." All Might continued for Nezu, "While you are indeed correct in your assessment, these students exemplify the Plus Ultra attitude that our school strives to achieve, and it will be our role as teachers to hone the heroic drive these students display, and mold them into, as you say, more rational situational thinkers!" All Might finished with a flourish, massive grin, and a cheesy thumbs up, that Aizawa pointedly ignored.
"I couldn't have put it better myself," Nezu said happily, "Now, let us be quiet, I'm immensely curious as to what Mr. Jackson plans to do now."
BREAK
Percy jumped, clearing over a massive claw as the zero-pointer attempted to bury him in the street. Using the side of a building as a spring board, He launched himself around and behind the large machine. Grabbing a nearby fake car, he gripped under the bumper and hurled it at the head of the machine. It clunked against the hard shell, but ultimately did not seem to damage it much. However, Percy had not been trying to hurt it, but rather just grab its attention.
He succeeded.
The villain turned, its top half rotating on the tank-like treads at its base to look at Percy. He waved his arms over his head and shouted at it,
"Hey, you wannabe Megazord, you want a playmate? Well you'll have to catch me first!" And he took off at a dead sprint down the street.
"Primary Threat escaping." A deep, intimidating synthetic voice said from the speakers of the zero-pointer, "Changing protocol. Pursuit subroutine activated." And the treads of machine began to spin, as it quickly picked up speed, and gave chase down the street.
BREAK
"Oh?" Nezu hummed as he watched Percy lead the machine through several destroyed parts of the faux city. "Oh hoh! Very clever Mr. Jackson." He cheered softly. He was making no illusions over his joy of the success of the wayfaring time-traveler. The other teachers looked at him in confusion,
"What's going on?" Midnight asked,
"Power Loader," Nezu called, getting the man's attention, "Do you notice anything unusual about Mr. Jackson's chosen route?"
"Huh?" grunted the support hero, before he took a closer look at the way Percy had been leading the zero-pointer. "What the?" he said, standing up in shock, "He's following the water lines!"
The other staff members turned to him in confusion, Snipe asking, "You put water lines in the city?" he asked,
Power Loader nodded, "Yeah, they factor into the fire-suppression systems in most of the buildings. But we also put them in on the off chance that someone with Jackson's skillset might be mindful enough to use them." He then chuckled darkly, as he took another look at the screen and began to put Percy's plan together himself, "Oh I see what he's doing. He's pretty clever."
"I'm confused," Midnight admitted,
"Yeah, same here," agreed Snipe, "Someone mind clueing us in as to what the hell is going on here?"
"Oh, just wait," Nezu assured them, a manic gleam in his eye, "I believe that we are about to witness one hell of a show."
BREAK
Percy rounded the next corner. He could feel that he was almost at his destination. Which was good, because he was quickly running out of steam. For the past several blocks, he had been channeling the water he felt in the waterlines under the city, driving the gallons of water back towards its original home. In the center of the city, was an enormous reservoir, it held several hundred gallons of water. Percy felt its presence early on in the examination, and had tucked the information away for use in an emergency such as this one.
He ducked, as he felt another laser shoot directly over his head. If he wasn't concerned about being barbequed, he might have been jubilant over the fact that he was fighting giant murderbots with freaking laser beams!
Ok, so he was kind of geeking out over it.
"Focus, Jackson," he muttered to himself, skidding to a stop over his target destination. He could feel the water beneath him now, churning and roiling, begging for its master to release it upon his chosen victim. Turning, he watched as the zero-pointer came charging down the street at him. With sweat dripping down his forehead, he tugged his sweatshirt off of his body, leaving him nothing but his tank top undershirt.
Tossing it aside, he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, as he focused on the liquid beneath him. Closing his eyes, he channeled his entire will into the water, and slowly raised his hands, palms facing skyward, as he brought the liquid under his control.
It was one hundred feet away.
He then steadily began raising the temperature of the water, until it was above the point of boiling.
Seventy feet away now.
Perspiration drenching his frame, he swirled his right arm, like he was an egg beater, whisking pancake batter.
Less than Forty feet.
He increased the tempo, calling upon his father's domain to use the winds themselves to speed up his actions, his arm becoming little more than a blur as it rotated.
Then, when the machine was less than twenty feet away, Percy dropped to one knee, cocked his right hand back, and punched the sky as though he were delivering an uppercut, simultaneously releasing the water as he did so. The action drove him off his knee, spinning him in the air like a top. There was an explosion of concrete and rubble, as the ground beneath the zero-pointer erupted like a geyser. The boiling water drove into the undercarriage, as debris shot into, and through the villain-bot like shrapnel from a hand grenade. At the same time, the ground under Percy exploded, and his own geyser carried him into the sky. Riding the water, he bent his knees and launched himself forward, one hand behind him as he kept a firm control of the water geyser.
When he was directly over the villain, he shaped the boiling water behind him, until it looked like an enormous drill. With a mighty heave, like he was spiking the game-winning touchdown at the Super Bowl, he directed every last bit of power he had left in him, and launched the drill directly into the head of the zero-pointer.
"Eat this, you Hasbro reject!" he roared as the drill came over top of him, and connected. The grating sound of metal being shredded tore through the air, as the construct ripped into the head, then the chassis, before finally stopping at the treads. There was an enormous explosion, as the skyscraper sized machine was blown to pieces, decimating the already destroyed part of the faux city. Percy, whose momentum had carried him to the other side of the villain-bot, was thrown by the explosion, and spiraled through the air. It was then that he realized there might have been a fatal flaw in his plan.
He couldn't fly.
At all.
The ground was coming up faster and faster, and he still didn't have any strength left summon enough water for a recovery. He was less than twenty feet from the ground, and he closed his eyes, preparing for the world of pain that would accompany the impact.
Only for nothing to come.
And he realized he was no longer falling.
Opening his eyes, he saw the shadowy, hawklike face of the quirk of the bird guy he had met earlier.
"Hey there," it said, and honestly, if he hadn't been desensitized to weird shit at this point, Percy might have screamed, "Nice kill," it congratulated with a thumbs up.
"Thanks," Percy gasped out, completely gassed. He hadn't had to go that hard in years. He made a mental note that maybe he ought to start training again. "Nice catch"
The shadowy avian slowly lowered him to the ground, gently placing him at the feet of the kid with the bird head.
Looking up at the bird hybrid, Percy smiled, "Thanks for the save man," he said,
"Of course, well done dispatching that villain. That was very impressive," Percy just shrugged and thanked him again,
"You guys get everybody out?" he asked, and the teen nodded,
"Thanks to your distraction, we were able to rescue all of those who had been trapped by the villain."
Percy let out a breath of relief at the words. Inwardly, he was sure that there were failsafe's in place to protect against unnecessary injury, but a small part of him was skeptical. This was no longer his time, and it certainly was not his country, at least not until very recently. So, he could not say for certain how serious the threat actually was. A few moments later, the redhead, masked kid, frog girl, and the girl with big hands came rushing up too.
"Dude!" Said the redhead excitedly, the grin on his face could have mirrored Mirio's "That was so awesome! Easily the manliest thing I've ever seen," he said, closing his eyes and giving Percy a big thumbs up.
'manly is going to be a thing with him, isn't it?' he thought to himself, but answered with a smile and an awkward laugh, and then winced as pain shot through his right arm. He must have torn something with that last toss.
"Are you ok?" Asked the kid with the mask, bending down to check on him,
Percy smiled at him, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Think I tore something with that last throw though." he said,
The orange-haired girl knelt beside him and looked at his arm, "I saw Recovery Girl at the entrance, she was helping with the wounded, here, we'll help you-"
"That won't be necessary," came an elderly voice from behind the group. The assembled teens turned, and then made space as an elderly looking woman slowly made her way over to Percy, judging by the doctor's apparel she was wearing, Percy made the logical leap that this was the Recovery Girl they had been referring to.
"What is with the youths of today," she grumbled as she meandered over to Percy's side, eyeing his wounded arm, "First that green-haired boy who ripped himself to pieces and now you."
"To be fair ma'am," Percy said, a cheeky smile on his face, "Considering I'm older than you are, I don't think I count as a 'youth of today,' what about you?"
Her response was to give him the single blandest expression he had ever seen a human make, and to smack him over the head with her cane.
"Ow!" he yelped in English, unable to maintain his language control, "What the hell?!"
"Don't you sass me boy," she said, waving her can at him, "I don't care if you're from the twenty-first century, or the twelfth century, you're still two-hundred years too young to be giving me that kind of lip."
Percy rolled his eyes but apologized all the same. She nodded, satisfied, before the most disgusting thing Percy had ever experienced occurred. She puckered her lips, and then said lips extended the four feet between them, landing on his arm, and giving him the sloppiest, noisiest kiss, he had ever received. However, his revulsion was turned to awe, as he felt the muscles in his arm relax and repair themselves. It was almost as if he had just taken an hour-long dunk in the water.
"There ya go sonny," she said, before hobbling over and handing him a handful of gummy bears, "Eat those, not all at once though, you hear? And you'll be right as rain. Have a pleasant day now," she said, waving her cane over her head and making her way away from the group. Percy just stared at the retreating figure of the diminutive woman, before taking a look at the gummy in his hand. He shared a look with the orange-haired girl, who just shrugged at him. Throwing caution to the wind, he tossed one of the gummies in his mouth, before blinking in shock as a wave of energy came over him. He felt like he could go another ten rounds! He looked in awe at the little foods, they were like ambrosia! Which reminded him, he needed to see if he could find a new supply of the food of the gods. He still had a few chunks left, but he was saving them for an emergency. It would be worth doing some digging to see if he could come up with something if nothing else.
He was torn away from his thoughts when the frog-girl spoke, "Kero." she ribbited, "What did you mean when you said you were older than Recovery Girl?" The others all turned to Percy nodding in agreement with the question.
Percy just shrugged, and tried to deflect the question, he wasn't in the mood to explain it.
"I'll tell ya about it some other time."
AN: Ooooooh baby that was fun. Nejire might be the most fun character I've ever written. Hard not to when she's just a little happy ball of positivity. I'm excited, this chapter teased out some of the under-appreciated characters that will be getting some much-needed love and attention moving forward. As always, thanks for the love and support. Ya'll are awesome! Love you all and stay safe.
Love,
LilDB