The Tides Begin to Turn

*Disclaimer, All rights belong to Marvel Comics and Rick Riordan

*Story is by the fantastic lildrummerboi I'm just reposting

After promising to explain everything when he got back, and despite the many protests he received, Percy managed to usher all the intruders out of his apartment quickly enough. He didn't waste any time after that putting together a gear bag, he knew better than to think he would be getting any kind of sleep tonight. Instead, he chose to pack up spare mags and grabbing his Pelican case holding some of his more heavy-duty armaments.

He covered the two-hundred miles between New York and Boston on record time, SHIELD had called local police stations giving them the description of his vehicle and giving him clearance to go as fast as he dared to get to the gas station.

He pulled into the lot at roughly three in morning and couldn't conceal the look of horror that creeped onto his face at the site before him. It looked like war had broken out in the small lot, smoke still poured thick and black from several of stalls, and Percy could make out dark outlines across the lot, the silhouettes of those unlucky enough to be in direct line of the blast. Their bodies had been laid out spread eagle, marking the ground in dark, sinister tattoo that brought an unholy fury unto Percy.

So much death, these had been good people, he had likely worked with some of them; he knew right then and there that he would stop at nothing until the monster responsible was brought swift and decisive justice

He parked the car and took a deliberately moderate pace over to where Coulson was standing, talking to another black suited agent. If the sight had been horrific, the smell was worse, Percy's nostrils burned as the stench of burnt and burning flesh reached him. He managed to suppress a gag; he couldn't afford to display any weakness right now. Even now, as he walked, agents were turning to watch his approach. His deeds and tales of his missions had reached far and he had reached similar status of notoriety as Clint and Natasha, this meant that he was one of the go to agents to set an example. He needed to present a calm and collected seriousness, for the sake of everyone else.

He took in as much information as he could on his approach, by the mostly destroyed stalls, the burnt husk of a sedan still sat, smoldering and cemented to the ground at the point of the collision. This meant that the car must have been laden down with an explosive of some sort, something that would be triggered by intense heat likely, Looking down he noticed shell casings, which meant that the car, as he had thought, had been nothing more than a diversionary tactic, something that would and did, catch the on guard shield agents off guard.

He turned his attention to the two transport vehicles nearest to him, there were precise shots taken at both sets of tires, whoever had been here hadn't wanted to take any chances of the drugs getting away.

They had known about the drugs, known about the facility, their plans, their diversionary tactics, when and where the largest quantity of the drugs would be. Percy ran a tired hand through his hair; this was bad, very bad.

When he made it to Coulson, the senior agent had finished wrapping up his conversation with the younger agent and motioned for Percy to follow him. "I take it you've come to the same conclusion that I have." He said sharply, without preamble. His face was calm and professional but Percy could see the indignant fury behind his eyes. Normally Percy would have responded with a snappy retort, but he recognized the look. His people, his brothers and sisters, his family, had been attacked and he hadn't seen it coming or been able to prevent it. Percy knew Coulson well enough to know that he was taking these losses very personally.

"There is a mole somewhere in SHIELD" Percy answered immediately, purposefully keeping his voice low as he knelt to ground, under the pretense of fixing his shoelaces. It wouldn't do for anyone to overhear, especially not the newly discovered traitor.

"There is no other way that someone would have known about this location, what it was for, when and where the shipments would be coming and going, and how well guarded it would be without one." Coulson nodded at the analysis as a team from the morgue carried a pair of body bags past them, before loading them into the back of a waiting ambulance. Percy's chest clenched painfully, and his eyes stung.

He felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder and turned to see Coulson staring intently at him, the man understood what Percy was feeling, and Percy felt a wave of tension roll off him that he hadn't realized he had been holding. Nodding his thanks, they continued their walk.

"It gets worse, I'm afraid," said Percy, his voice a quiet muffle against the early morning air. "But first I'm going to need some information from you" Coulson nodded for Percy to continue, "This wasn't the first instance of an attack on drug shipments was it" Coulson took a moment to answer, choosing his next words very carefully, when he finally responded Percy almost didn't hear him, his voice so low, "No this was the fourth incident in a series of encounters that we had been watching, we-I, didn't think that they would get this bold this quickly though."

Percy nodded, "And in each incident there was a victim left at the scene, right? A woman, a man, and girl, right?" he asked, Coulson nodded, understanding beginning to dawn on him as his eyes slowly widened. "They were yours, weren't they." He stated, more than asked. "Yes" replied Percy, more calmly than he felt, "I have reason to believe that this is not the work of mortals, but rather, an organized effort made by demigods."

"It makes sense." Said Coulson thoughtfully, rubbing at his chin absently, "Only your people can make effective use of the drugs, but why would they want so much? Unless… you don't think?" he trailed off, and Percy didn't look at him when he answered, "Whoever this is, and whatever their goals I know three things for certain: one, that that they are like me, two that SHIELD and SHIELD's agents are not the target here, but rather a means to an end and three, that whoever these people are, they're looking to create and sustain an army of highly focused, highly skilled demigods."

"I take it that you've already been contacted by your… family, about these matters then?" Coulson asked, the wind picked up again and above them thunder sunder crashed, loud and impressive. The two men hastily drew their coats closer together, an attempt to shield themselves from the sudden gale. Percy looked up, his brow furrowed and his eyes contemplative.

"Yes" He answered, "I had been approached by several of my older friends and family and had some information brought to my attention. I initially blew it off as absurd, as their underhanded attempt to draw me back into the fold, but clearly." He paused and gave a meaningful look around the decrepit lot, "I was too hasty in my judgments"

He reached into his jacket and withdrew the three files that Piper had given him that evening, and handed them to Coulson, "In here their files on the three who died. The first two had traces of the drug in their system, and were likely forced to overdose, I can't be sure about the third however because her, guardian, for lack of a better term, refused to allow an autopsy to be performed."

Coulson nodded, and accepted the files without a word, only once they were stowed inside his own jacket did he respond, "I'll get a team set on tracking their comings and goings for the last several months, see if we can't find any connections beyond the drug. If nothing else, we may be able to determine where they got hold of it in the first place."

They had made it to the backside of the lot by this point, and were better shielded from the howling wind, "I'll also talk to the director about this… additional problem of ours. It appears we need to do some early spring-cleaning. What are you going to be doing?" normally, subordinate agents such as Percy wouldn't be caught dead giving their own orders on missions, however Percy was a special case. He was one of only a few of his kind in the entire organization, and he certainly had the highest clearance level. This meant that when situations arose where the two worlds met, Percy was often given free rein to do as he thought was right given the information at hand.

Percy looked at Coulson, speculating, "I need to address the family, part of the arrangement was we keep each other appraised when our worlds meet, they'll want to and need to know about these developments." He sighed, and scratched absently at his stubbled chin, "You'll want to start looking at O'Malley and Donohugh." He said, "They're working in logistics and are the most likely sources of any potential… leaks."

He felt sick, despite his estrangement they were still his family, he still cared for all of them, and even begin to believe that someone else was turning on them, it was a hard pill to swallow.

Coulson merely nodded in acknowledgment, then, unspoken, they both turned and began to walk back to their respective vehicles, intent on getting started with their respective missions, and avenging their fallen comrades. However, mid-step, Percy was engulfed in a brilliant and blinding white light, before he was thrown, quite unceremoniously, to the floor of a large ovular room, that looked not dissimilar to boardroom in an office building, the gods had a tendency to adopt aspects of the culture from which they were currently staying.

He hit the floor in a roll and sprung up, weapon drawn and at the ready, only to be staring at the amused and annoyed expressions, of the Gods of Olympus. He caught his dad's eye, only for a moment, and saw a mixture of amusement and pride at the sight of his son.

Percy stowed his weapon without comment, and let his eyes wander briefly around the room; nothing had changed since his previous visit here, which now seemed to have been a lifetime ago. He caught a glimpse of the group who had assembled to meet him the night before, over to his left. They were standing awkwardly, as though unsure of whether their presence there was really legitimate. Leo and Piper were still trying to wipe the sleep from their eyes; Percy was then reminded of how early it must have been.

He was brought out of his musings by the booming and thunderous voice of the King of Gods, Zeus. "Perseus Jackson, do you know why you have been summoned here?" He turned to look at the King; most others would have been in awe of the raw power that and authority that emanated from the godly form of the ruler of the heavens, but Percy was not most. Standing at a staggering two stories tall, Percy had to crane his neck to look upwards at the god. He was clad in an Armani suit, with a neatly trimmed beard and equally styled hair, he looked every bit the twenty-first century businessman.

"Lord Zeus" he said promptly, before turning to address the stunningly beautiful women on his left,

"Lady Hera" Unlike her husband, the Queen of the Gods was dressed in more traditional Greek attire, although it did nothing but accentuate her beauty.

"Uncle" he said, to the gaunt and willowy figure seated next to Hera. Dressed more like he belonged in a mortuary he nodded at Percy.

Finally, Percy turned to address the most strangely attired figure in the room, looking not unlike a Parrothead who got lost on his way back from a Jimmy Buffet concert, Poseidon, King of the Seas was sporting a Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts and a pair of flip flops. Percy couldn't hide the grin on his face as he said, "Hey dad, long time no see."

Poseidon's chuckle reverberated throughout the hall, seemingly filling the room with its boisterousness "Aye, my son, that it has"

Percy then gestured vaguely around the room, before giving a two finger salute, "Everyone else, hope all is well", vague affirmations followed, before a clap of thunder brought the room back to heel and attention was once again focused on Zeus, who narrowed his eyes at Percy.

"I see you have grown no less petulant in your time away" he rumbled, "I will only repeat myself this once, do you understand why you have been summoned here?" Percy looked up at him, before slipping his coat off and tossing it vaguely off to the side, where a coat rack appeared just as it was about to hit the ground.

"I assume you wish to discuss the murders and their relation to what I was doing prior to my being summoned here, correct?"

Zeus looked less than pleased by his rather flippant answer, but answered nonetheless, "That would be correct, a drug that enhances the abilities of demigods, allowing them to access aspects of their abilities they otherwise would be unable to is… worrying to say the least."

Of course, Percy thought to himself, it came down to the threat of Zeus's own power and authority, not the lives of others that concerned the King. Then again, Percy could hardly blame him, as he had only a few hours previously, written the entire situation off as not his problem, all the same, it irked him.

Percy was so lost in his own musings that he almost missed when Zeus resumed talking, "So, Perseus, as the liaison between our worlds, it was decided that you be consulted for your opinion on the matter, and furthermore what should be done to correct the matter." Zeus looked like he had swallowed a lemon, he had never been overly fond of Percy, and having to subjugate himself to the authority of a demigod would be difficult for any god, let alone one as proud as Zeus. Still, Percy knew better than to rub Zeus's face in it, agreement or not, Zeus still had the power to leave him as nothing more than a scorch mark on the floor should Percy be too biting in his response.

Taking a breath Percy began to pace back and forth, it was a habit he had picked up from where, he knew not, but he knew that it helped him think through problems whenever the answer was less than obvious.

"Demigods are very clearly involved, that much is obvious" he started

"Excuse me" came the strong and mischievous voice of Hermes, "But for those of us not in the know, mind explaining why it's so obvious demigods are responsible?"

Percy looked briefly at Zeus but was beaten to explaining it by the sun god Apollo, "The drug that two of the dead demigods were on is called Supprimere, it was designed by Bruce Banner, meant to suppress his more… aggressive tendencies, and instead, it suppresses the more adversarial aspects of a demigods mind. Imagine the mortal drugs of Adderall and Xanax but times about ten and actually effective, it allows demigods to perform mentally at a level beyond that which they are normally capable of."

He trailed off, before sharing a meaningful look with Percy, what was left unsaid, however, was that the drug slowly sapped the user of their godly abilities, suppressing the metaphysical abilities that came with them, until eventually, Percy believed, the abilities would be gone for good. It was why so much of it was being produced; Percy had friends in certain circles that wished to perfect the drug to dampen the effects of their latent natural abilities, especially the more destructive abilities. It was also why Percy struggled so much to fight to his fullest potential when on the drug, but because he was the only known active user of the drug, he was the only one to notice this long-term side effect. This also meant that only the director, whom Percy gave his reports to in person, and a small, select group of agents knew of these additional effects. Because these drugs had been stolen in such a quantity, told Percy that, whoever was stealing the drug, if they were, indeed, a demigod, didn't know about this aspect of the drug.

"And here I thought that you were only good for spawning bastards and spewing bad poetry" came the bitterly dry remark, to the right of Apollo. Artemis, Apollo's twin sister, sat, in the form of a small girl, looking utterly bored of the entire conversation, her silver eyes dull and listless as she stared blankly at her brother. There was something off about the moon goddess though, something that Percy couldn't place.

He quickly averted his eyes before turning his attention back to Apollo, it was probably just his imagination and he didn't want to be caught staring lest he be accused of having less than noble intentions, he tuned in just in time to hear Apollo respond, "I'm just full of surprises, you know being the god of medicine and all"

"Wait, are you on this drug Perseus?" asked his father sharply, his eyes shining briefly. Percy nodded in affirmation.

"It's not a daily thing, I only take it when I need to be a little more focused, or if I've been awake for too long and need to stay sharp, it takes enough of the edge away that I can focus." Poseidon looked as though he had something to say to that but held his tongue, choosing to sit back in his throne and adopted an intensely thoughtful look.

"I don't very much care what this drug is or who is using it, someone is targeting demigods and building an army to oppose us. I would very much like this to be dealt with Perseus Jackson, and promptly" Zeus' voice cut across the room sharply, and he glowered down at Percy.

Percy folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, "We've begun a preliminary investigation, but we don't have a lot to go on at the moment."

"That's not strictly true, is it Perseus?" came the sharp and tilted voice of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, her dark stormy gray eyes gazing down at Percy, calculating and appraising him. He hated the way she stared at him, it never ceased to make him as uncomfortable as possible.

"There is only one way that these insurgents would have known about your little drug, and where and when to strike so that they would receive as much of it as possible. There is a traitor in your organization, is there not?" That was the other thing, that whole goddess of wisdom thing was damn annoying.

Percy's jaw clenched painfully as every eye in the room turned to look towards him, he clenched his fist and looked Athena in the eye, he would not let her win this. "We have come to the conclusion that there is a strong possibility that SHIELD is having slight compromises in the internal security of classified information, and that those compromises have the potential to be coming from somewhere in the organization itself."

Hades snorted ruefully, "So the answer is yes, mortals, always so damn untrustworthy. Can't keep a secret to save their life."

"Coming from you dear brother, that is truly an amusingly hypocritical observation" Poseidon responded bitingly. Hades clamped his mouth shut and began an in-depth inspection of his own nails.

"As I was saying" cut in Athena, drawing the attention back to her, "Given the internal compromises of your organization I don't believe that you should be the one leading this investigation, additionally this is a matter of great importance, beyond the jurisdiction of mere mortals. We should have our own, look into these matters."

"Absolutely not" Came Percy's strong and fiery reply, and the temperature of the room seemed to drop several degrees as Athena's glare turned positively murderous.

"Be careful, young demigod, you had best remember to whom you are speaking"

"I know perfectly well who I'm speaking to" Percy barked back at her, Athena had always hated him, always looked for ways to undermine him and his, but he would not let her simply walk all over him this time; goddess or not, they had all agreed to the arrangement and they were bound to abide by it.

"You agreed" Percy began, his eyes shining in anger "every one of you took an oath on the Styx itself to honor our agreement and the terms and conditions there within. These were mortal drugs, taken from my mortal organization. Demigods attacked my people; killed, my people. This is my jurisdiction, and you will not butt into this investigation. I have kept to my part of the bargain, and I damn well expect you to return the favor."

"This does not change the fact that your organization is to be held accountable for the situation, had it not been for mortals we wouldn't be in this position" replied Athena

"We were only compromised because your child sold us out". A pin could drop, and it would have been like a gunshot in the silence that descended upon the chamber.

Finally, after a moment, Hades said, "That, is a very serious accusation that you are making Perseus, I hope that you have evidence to back up your claim."

Percy nodded as he took a few deep breaths; he needed to calm himself before he said something even more stupid.

"I can count one two hands the number of people in SHIELD who are even aware of their existence, of these, four of them are demigods themselves. Of those four, only two would have been privy to the information about the drug and its effects on demigods."

He then looked straight into the eyes of the War Goddess, "Both of them, are children of her lady, Athena." He couldn't quite keep the snarling bite out of his voice as he addressed her and took a vindictive pleasure in seeing the flash of anger in her eyes, and the tightening of her muscles; were there not several other gods willing and able to intervene otherwise, she would have pounced and blown Percy away in a heartbeat.

"That is enough" roared Zeus, throwing down his Master Bolt with a heavy crash that brought the demigods to their knees, simultaneously covering their ears as they did so.

Zeus gave them all a moment to recover be speaking, commanding really, to Percy.

"I trust that you're preliminary investigations into these accusations are being performed by those you trust?" Percy nodded, not trusting himself to speak, "Then for the moment, this council will leave these matters to you and yours" He didn't give Percy a moment to internally celebrate his victory, as Zeus' entire demeanor changed, growing colder as an aura of sheer unadulterated power swept through the room.

"But be warned Perseus, should matters begin to devolve further, we will have to intervene; divine law or not, our existence cannot, under any circumstances, be jeopardized. Order must remain lest we allow the world to once again dissolve into chaos."

Percy had literally bite down on his tongue to prevent himself from pointing out that, like always, the earth had nearly fallen to darkness and chaos because of the gods' own ineptitude.

And with that said, a blindingly bright light filled Percy's vision once more, and he stumbled forward. His hands landed and grasped onto the roof of his car to prevent him from face planting completely.

A hand grasped onto the back of his coat and pulled him up as he righted himself and readjusted to the stark change in scenery. After taking a moment to collect himself he spoke, not entirely looking at Coulson. "How long was I gone?"

"Only a few moments" came the reply, quiet, yet terse "not long enough for anyone to notice anything suspicious."

This wasn't the first time Percy had been brought unceremoniously to the gods domain, when he was summoned his physical body never actually left the living plane, and as such, it appeared as though he was only ever deep in thought for a few moments.

"What did they want" Coulson asked as they leaned against the side of his car.

"They wanted to take control of the investigation" Percy replied "I wouldn't let them, but we need to leads and we need them soon. They aren't known for their patience, and a few in particular are looking for any excuse to discredit me"

"I'll begin looking into things as soon as-" Coulson started.

"Agent Coulson! Sir!" The two turned and looked as a young, fresh-faced agent ran up to them, his blue eyes were wide, and he looked extremely harried. "Sir, we think we found the ones responsible, a van matching the plates of the ones seen fleeing on the freeway was spotted outside a warehouse in New York"

Coulson wasted no time in reacting, "Get team three on standby, I want the building stormed and cleared by the time we get there, Jackson with me, this takes priority."

Percy nodded and followed at a jog to Coulson's car, sliding into the passenger seat, and buckling himself into place, he could feel a headache coming on. It was going to be another very long night.

BREAK

The smell was overwhelming, it burned his nostrils and he had to forcibly remind himself to breath or else he was guaranteed to vomit, not that that was not already a very distinct possibility. The sight before him was something especially revolting, and something he had grown upsettingly used to in his line of work.

The warehouse was not large, only a few thousand square feet, but it felt about three times smaller than its actual size because of the blood and the bodies. He raised a small handkerchief to his mouth as his eyes flitted around; seven men, ages varying but all within three or four years of one another, likely between 26-30, and all in extremely good shape.

They were well armed too, compact assault guns and tac-gear, meaning they were professionals. But something was wrong here, there was a distinct lack of casings, on the ground, if these men were indeed the professionals that Percy was confident they were, then surely they would have seen an attack coming, at the very least they should have reacted to an attack.

He turned and approached Coulson who was kneeling over one of the bodies, a paper mask over his mouth and plastic gloves on his hands. "These guys knew their attackers, were comfortable enough in their own security that they didn't expect betrayal. But whomever they were with didn't use conventional weapons."

Coulson didn't reply for a moment, instead focused his attention more on the body he was inspecting. After a quiet moment he motioned for Percy to approach. Percy walked briskly around the body, before kneeling down next to his superior, one hand on his knee the other still holding the thin cloth to his face.

Coulson raised the jacket covering the dead man's breast, and Percy's breath caught in his throat and his chest tightened. The man's chest was coated with a thick and hardened sheet of blood, turned near black; the cause of the mans wounds were three, identical holes, each roughly an inch long, and plunging deep within his chest.

Percy was intimately familiar with these kinds of wounds, there was only one weapon that caused this kind of damage, a simple bow and arrow. He slipped on a glove of his own as he reached down to get a closer look at the wounds when another agent, over to Percy's left, called out.

"Sir, we got a note here, it's pretty stained."

Percy and Coulson shared a look before rising up and striding over to the agent, a woman in her late twenties, who Percy was not altogether familiar with. In her hand was a piece of blood stained parchment, not paper, but parchment, made from papyrus.

Percy's stomach dropped out of his chest again as the pieces began clicking in his mind, Coulson briefly studied the paper before thrusting it into Percy's hand, looking down Percy saw the reason, the letter was in Ancient Greek.

He read it. Then he re-read it. He read it an additional two more times, not really registering what he was looking at as he tried to squash the sudden tightened queasiness that was spreading through him. Looking down at the body he reached down and began grabbing at the insides of the dead mans flak jacket, he didn't recognize the man but that did nothing to stem the flow dread.

As his fingers closed on something sewn into a small pocket in the inside of the breast, he closed his eyes and muttered under his breath "Άνοιξε", he felt the pocket open and a small, wrapped package fell into his palm. Pulling his hand away he turned to Coulson, who gave him a nod in approval.

Percy grimaced and unwrapped the package with trepidation. Maybe it was the cynic in him, maybe it was just that he knew from the instant he'd seen the wounds on the other man what was going on, but he was viciously upset with how unsurprised he was when a shinning silver tiara fell out of the package and into his waiting palm.

Artemis' symbol of power, like Zeus' Master bolt, or his own father's Trident, was the symbol of her status as the Goddess of the Moon, without it, her position was in considerable jeopardy, and explained why she seemed so on edge during the meeting.

But why was it here, and who were these men, more importantly who killed them? And why did they leave the tiara here when presumably it was the entire purpose for the meeting, there too many questions and not nearly enough answers.

"Coulson" he started, his voice soft, and surprisingly calm, given the torrent raising inside of him, "You need to get a move on with your investigation"

"Why, what's going on here Jackson, what is that and why is important enough to warrant two separate attacks?" Phil asked confused

Percy looked over at him, his green eyes now brimming with a furious urgency that was all too similar to the roaring seas, "We're about to be at war"

BREAK

Because he spent most of the next few days briefing and preparing Coulson for the job they were about to undertake, Percy didn't get home until around midnight, extremely exhausted, and more than a little stressed. He was getting tired of this whole 'end of the world' thing that never seemed to go away.

Whether just extreme apathy or pure exhaustion, it's not quite clear, but Percy either missed or chose not to notice that his apartment was unlocked, and the TV was on, which most assuredly was not the case when he left.

Therefore, he was mildly surprised, and more than a little distressed to see two mops of red and golden hair, lounged out on his couch in his living room, watching his TV, eating his popcorn, and more importantly, drinking his beer.

"Took you long enough Jackson" came Natasha Romanov's low voice over the dull roar of the TV, "was beginning to wonder if you were even coming back" he ignored her, choosing instead to unceremoniously drop his bag on the counter and his weapons case on the floor, fish a beer out of the fridge, and drink all of it in one gulp, before repeating the process two more times.

When he was finished, he mournfully marched over to the couch and fell, more than sat, next to pretty, pajama clad figure of Alyssa.

"Long day?" she asked, amused.

His response came in the form of an all too piteous moan of affirmation that drew a smirk from the two women.

"Oh boy, this must be bad," said Natasha, an absolutely feral smile on her face, " He doesn't even have the energy to think of a sassy comeback"

Alyssa playfully mussed up his hair, saying, "Poor thing is all tuckered out."

Percy swatted her hand away, before finally opening his eyes to glare at the pair.

"This, whatever this is, I don't like it. You two should never be allowed in the same room, least of all any that belong to me, and I absolutely forbid you two from being friends. My life is stressful enough as it is"

"I don't know which is cuter, your attempt at maintaining the shred of masculinity that you have left, or the notion that you can even begin to boss either of us around." Alyssa once again mussed up his hair as she said this, drawing a hearty

"Hear, hear" from her new, redheaded friend.

Percy gave up trying to swat away Alyssa's hand, and he would be loath to admit that it was because it was the single most relaxing thing he'd ever experienced.

"Why are you even here Nat, I thought you were still in Russia on that modeling thing." Despite being positive that Alyssa was in the intelligence business herself, there were still rules that needed to be adhered to, and you never knew who might be listening in.

It was in this respect that he gave Natasha room to tell him the pseudo cover story she'd adopted while she was here, allow her to play to her strengths while filling in Percy on the roles the two would be playing for Alyssa, or anyone else for that matter.

"Gave it up, it was fun but decided that it was high time I try my hand on something a bit more legitimate. I have an interview for an administrative attendant position for Stark industries on Friday."

In his haze-filled state, it took Percy several moments to fully process, and then comprehend exactly what had just been said. When the information finally began to make sense in his head, he couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up, which quickly became a rather hysterical fit of cackles.

Alyssa and Natasha shared a raised eyebrow as they watched Percy lose control of himself for a moment, when he finally managed to calm down slightly, although he was still giggling, he said, "Oh my god thank you, that's the single greatest thing I've heard, literally all month." He wiped a genuine tear from his eye as he composed himself, "Oh god, have fun with that."

Alyssa and Natasha shared a raised eyebrow as they watched Percy lose control of himself for a moment, when he finally managed to calm down slightly, although he was still giggling, he said, "Oh my god thank you, that's the single greatest thing I've heard, literally all month." He wiped a genuine tear from his eye as he composed himself, "Oh god, have fun with that."

He knew exactly what was going on there, Natasha was being prepped for a long-term undercover op, similar to what he had done but on a much more personal level. With Stark outing himself as Iron Man, SHIELD desperately needed someone on the inside watching over him and making sure he stayed on the straight and narrow. Given Stark's personality, a beautiful, nubile, young secretary would be the perfect cover.

"How long you need a place to crash?" Percy asked after getting himself fully under control.

"At least through the week, figured you'd probably be out of town most of the week as it was." Percy nodded, closing his eyes again as Alyssa, who had been half paying attention, half watching TV, continued absently running her hands through Percy's hair.

"Well, the bedroom is yours, I don't think I could even move from right here, right now, even if I wanted to."

Natasha knew better than to argue with him so merely raised her bottle in mute thanks.

"What about you goldilocks, what brings you around, not that I'm complaining" he added hastily. His eyes were closed but he could feel the smug smirk that was laying on her lips.

"Caught Natalie" Ah, so Nat was using the Rushman angle "breaking in, we talked it out, and decided to have TV night since you ditched out on the last one."

The end of her statement was punctuated by a small, good-natured kick against the side of his leg. Percy flinched; he had completely forgotten about it in his rush to Boston. The pair had been habitually watching TV together whenever they were both on leave, and he was loathe to ever miss it, it was one of the small pleasures in his life not associated with his family.

"I'm sorry about that." He said, "I just got suddenly called to work and it completely slipped my mind, I will make it up to you though, I promise"

"You'd better Jackson" she said, but her smile said that she was pleased about it.

He knew that he should have been more stressed, that he should have gone to bed and focused on the coming days, that things were very quickly heading in a direction in which there was no going back, but as Alyssa shifted in her seat so her legs were propped up in his lap, and as he sank lower in the couch and listened to Nat as she commented on the irrationality of one of the characters fighting in high heels, he just couldn't bring himself to care.

For right now, everything was right in the world, and he was going to savior every last second of it.

BREAK

Rostam walked into the large office overlooking the harbor, he had just gotten out of the shower and his hair was still wet, but at least he had gotten the dried blood out. She wasn't' looking at him as he walked in, instead, she was looking out the large windows, inspecting the moon, as it reflected on the water.

"I trust everything went off without a hitch" she said, her voice was soft, almost reverent.

"Yes ma'am, everything went exactly as planned."

"Good" she said, still not turning to face him, the light from the moon was now glancing off her flowing, blood-red hair, giving it in ethereal quality.

"Soon enough they will be so busy killing themselves, that they won't even see the real threat until it's much too late. And what about the other developments, was Jackson assigned to the case?"

"Yes ma'am, our source in SHIELD told us that Coulson gave priority to Jackson almost immediately." He couldn't see, so much as feel the malicious grin on her face.

"Excellent work Rostam, you have made me very proud. Now, I need you to contact our friends, tell them that Jackson is to be taken care of immediately, no delays."

He hesitated, he was still very much unsure regarding this portion of the plan, "Ma'am, if I may, I still don't understand why we can't take care of Jackson ourselves, surely our own soldiers could-"

"You greatly underestimate Percy Jackson" she said sharply, cutting him off, "No, as much faith as I have in our soldiers, and in you, Percy Jackson cannot be taken down by the likes of us, in the very likely event that whomever we assigned to the task would fail, Jackson's and SHIELD's attention would swing in our direction, we cannot afford to be discovered until the timing is right. You will listen to me, and do as I ask Rostam, I promise, we will have our revenge. Now get to work"

"Yes ma'am" Rostam replied, before sharply turning and leaving the office, and the woman alone.

"Soon" she said quietly to herself once the doors had closed, and she was by herself again.

"Soon the moment of our great victory will be at hand and the revenge we have waited for, for over two millennia will ours. Greece will fall and from her ashes, the great Persian Empire will be rebuilt."