Clint got all the answers he needed that night to rescue Percy and Annabeth. The answer came to him in a dream.
The open sea called out to him. He could feel its desperation. The scene changed, and he saw a very large… thing in the water. He wasn't exactly sure what it was. He knew he had never seen anything like it before. The scene shifted, and he saw Percy sleeping in a cell. As he looked around, he saw Annabeth on the other side of the room, in a cell just like Percy's.
He heard voices.
He turned around, following the voices. He was just barely able to make out the voices of Steve and Tony before he saw them.
"-they're just kids." Steve said, shaking his head.
"I know, I know." Tony looked tired.
"What do we do?" Steve asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Tony sighed. "I don't have an answer for you, Steve."
"You think I do?" Steve punched a wall. "This is the most secure prison on the planet. There's nothing we can even do."
Clint knew that was a lie. He could think of at least ten other prisons that were more secure than this mortal prison. He decided to keep that thought to himself.
"I'd say for now, we will go back to New York." Tony said after a very long silence. "We're still cleaning up from Sokovia."
Steve sighed again. "Sokovia will never be cleaned up, Tony. Something is coming. I don't like it."
"What choice do we have, Steve? That's right. We don't have one. We push forward, as we always have."
The scene changed again.
This time, he was in a clearing. He couldn't tell where it was, but he felt at ease as he knew that it was a secure location. Nico sat in the clearing alone, his head bowed. The clearing was dark, and with the sun long set behind him, he could only just barely see Nico.
"Nico." He said softly, crouching down in front of the demigod.
His head snapped up. "Clint."
He nods. "It's a dream. We have a problem."
"I know." Nico says. "They haven't stopped. They're there when I sleep, when I wake, I have nowhere to hide and nowhere that I can go that they don't find me."
He frowns. "Who?"
"Shield." Nico's dark eyes looked hollow with exhaustion. "Will and I have been on our way to the underworld. It's the only safe place we can go. We can't lead them to camp, either of them."
He nodded seriously. "I have a jet. Need a ride?"
"I don't know where we are." Nico admitted. "Last I checked, we were in Idaho. Every time I shadow travel us somewhere, they find us within the hour. It's hard to keep them away long enough for me to rest. I'm completely wiped out. The monsters… after the first day they started chasing us too."
"How's Will?"
"He's exhausted as well." Nico replied. "Neither of us have slept in a week. I don't know how much longer we can evade capture. They're trying to kill us."
"Just hang on a little longer, okay?" He pleaded. "I can be there by morning."
"If you're not, Clint, it will be too late." Nico warned.
He shoved down his nervousness. "I will be there." He said. He turned from Nico as he forced himself to wake.
He coughed, stretching his numb limbs. Percy and Annabeth could wait. Nico and Will had to be saved first. He had parked the jet in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of North Carolina. Somewhere where he thought he would be safe.
He started up the engine. He flipped a few switches and the rest of the jet came to life. He hoped Nico and Will could hang on long enough. He was going to rescue his brothers, then he was going to get Percy and Annabeth.
After that, well, the gods could tell them what to do next.
He pulled back the stick and within seconds he was in the air. He changed the course to Idaho. He knew approximately where they could hide. He had hidden himself there, back in the day. It was about a two hour flight. He turned the speed up as high as it would go.
A little over three hours later, Clint finally found them. He had underestimated their ability to hide. He landed the ship in the middle of a fight. Golden dust showed brightly among the morning dew on the grass. He took off running in the direction of the destruction. He pulled his bow from its holster as he ran, docking an arrow made of Celestial Bronze. He heard the growl of a monster, and without hesitation let it loose and kept running. The golden dust momentarily blinded him, but he didn't slow down or stop. He could smell blood as he got closer.
"Will! Nico!" He yelled.
"Here!" Will yelled.
Will looked like he was ready to drop dead. His normally golden blonde hair was brown, caked with dried dirt. It had golden dust through the strands. His jeans were nearly torn off of him, his left leg bloody. His shirt had several claw marks through it.
"Nico?" He questioned, docking another arrow. He had finally reached Will, and he noticed they were nearing the edge of a cliff. The trees blocked his view of the ship, but he knew that it would be there by the time he got back.
Will gestured to a motionless heap on the ground. "He's alive… barely. We got ambushed."
He nodded and carefully picked Nico up bridal style. "Let's go before we run into more of them."
Will nodded, grabbing his bow from the ground. He followed Clint to the jet, and he sat Nico in a seat, strapping him to a chair for his safety. He rummaged in a backpack, finding a bottle with a glowing golden liquid. He opened Nico's mouth, pouring half of it down his mouth and forcing him to swallow. Nico's black hair was streaked with grease and dirt, his black shirt and jeans in tatters around his body. As he watched, his cuts and scrapes began to heal.
He turned and handed the bottle to Will. "Drink the rest of that."
Will didn't even fight him, and downed it all. After he had finished, he strapped himself in like Nico was. Clint walked back over to the cockpit, closing the door to the jet and turning everything back on. As soon as the door closed, he heard a thud. Without stopping, he smashed the throttle forward, effectively dislodging whatever was trying to break into the ship.
For a tense few minutes, Clint kept flying at full speed. He kept looking out the windows, trying to see if they were being followed. He flipped a few switches, turning stealth mode on and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where are we going?" Will asked. Clint could tell he was fighting sleep to stay awake.
"We can chat later, brother." He replied. "Go to sleep."
Almost as if a switch was flipped, Will closed his eyes and began to snore.
Clint sighed. Why was shield doing this?
—-
The hours ticked by slowly for Clint. He set the jet on autopilot and caught some sleep himself. He sat next to Nico, checking every so often that he was still breathing. He knew it may be a bad idea, but he was taking the two of them to camp. The closest camp was the Roman camp, but he knew nobody there, and had never been there, so he didn't want to risk anything. Not with two injured demigods.
After nearly six hours, the autopilot started to beep at him. He got up and prepared to land the jet. The shore of the camp got closer, and he landed the jet right on the beach. He opened the door.
He got up, gently shaking Will. "We're here." He then walked over to Nico, who was still unconscious, and picked him back up. He walked towards the infirmary, not stopping to smell the sweet air.
Gods, how he'd missed camp.
He walked inside the infirmary, being careful not to his Nico's head or feet on the door or walls. He laid Nico on the bed, and stepped back as another one of his siblings began working on Nico. He shook his head, stepping out of the infirmary.
Part of him was itching to walk right back into the jet and rescue Percy and Annabeth. But he needed a plan.
He found himself heading towards the Big House. He needed help. He needed a quest.
"Who are you?" A girl said behind him.
He turned around. She had tan skin, her brown hair braided on the side. She had a feather woven into her hair. Her eyes never settled on a color. She was very beautiful.
"Clint Barton." He extended his hand to shake hers.
Her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! I've heard so much about you! I'm Piper Grace."
He let go of her hand. "Good things, I hope?"
"Oh for sure. Percy talked about you all the time, and of course we stayed caught up with the Avengers."
He grimaced. "That's why I'm here. Percy and Annabeth are in trouble."
She frowned. "We'll call a meeting."
He nodded and continued to the Big House. He had only taken a few steps when a loud voice called out. "Clive Barry!"
He sighed. "Mr D. Good to see you again."
"I know why you're here, Clive, and I'm going to help you out on your quest. I've come to like Peter Johnson." Mr. D handed him a coin.
He looked down at the coin. "What does it do?"
"It's an enchanted drachma. You'll know when the time comes."
Vague. Gotta love the gods. He put it into his pocket. "Thank you, Lord Diyonsus."
With a small sigh of annoyance, Mr. D walked away.
Clint sighed. Shield had chased Nico and Will to the point of death by exhaustion. He had never known them to do that before. He started to rethink his position in shield. He didn't think he could ever work for Fury again after this. He would have to talk to Tony.
He knocked on the door of the Big House.
"Clint!" Chiron said happily, clasping his shoulder. "How's my favorite Avenger?"
"Not well." He admitted. He told Chiron everything that had happened. With every minute, his face fell until it was a hard scowl.
"Yes, that definitely needs to be reconciled." Chiron agreed, leading Clint into the meeting room. "What's your plan of rescue?"
"I don't have one yet. I didn't even know that the Raft existed. I had no knowledge. I think Fury is up to something. I don't trust him anymore. We need to get our people out and bring down Fury."
"One step at a time, Clint." Chiron said thoughtfully. "Once the rest of the cabin leaders arrive, we'll talk it over with them."
Clint took a seat in the corner of the room. He bounced his leg as he waited. He thought over each of the Avengers.
Tony, he could trust with his life. Natasha had saved him enough times that he trusted her. He didn't know Steve, Sam, or Thor well. Banner had been missing since Sokovia and nobody knew where he was.
The counselors started to file in. He noticed that he didn't know many of them anymore. Of course he wouldn't. He was the oldest demigod at the camp. Most everyone he knew by now was most likely dead or at the other camp.
Once everyone had taken their seats, he stood up. "My name, for those of you that don't know, is Clint Barton." He said to the room full of kids, teens, and young adults. "Son of Apollo. And I have to tell everyone about something very serious."
He explained everything that had happened once more.
The room erupted into chaos.