Nick Fury Jr. was a very superstitious man. Having lived his life with a formula that granted him limited immortality, meeting his father before he died(again), and being told of his destiny, there wasn't much reason he shouldn't be superstitious.
In his line of work, he quickly discovered a universal truth. 'At some point there is no such thing as coincidences.' Sure, you can discount some connections in a scenario as coincidental, but not all of them can be.
That is why when the FBI had stopped their investigation seven years ago on Percy Jackson, a few years later he decided to pull some strings and test his luck.
If the fact that Jackson had quickly risen through the ranks of SHIELD, stopping just behind Maria Hill, and was privy to even the most confidential information didn't prove that he was correct: the fact that he was a demigod of the Greek Pantheon was more than enough.
Nick reached into his desk drawer and withdrew a thin Manila folder. Looking at his three highest ranked and most trustworthy agents, he flicked a small switch on the inside of the same drawer.
The lights dimmed slightly as the modified electromagnetic pulse device shattered any possibility of technology(other than the overhead lights) to be used both inside and outside of the room.
Luckily, the power in the surrounding buildings was hooked up to SHIELD's EMP-proof generator or else Nick would have a few dozen irritable agents to deal with. Fury stood up as he tossed the folder to the three agents standing at attention. "At ease."
Percy caught the folder and frowned as he saw the contents within it. "Asgardians? I thought we had a truce with them? Even if it's shaky when it comes to the Greco-Roman pantheon." Percy handed the folder back to Fury since Hill and Coulson had both been in New Mexico when the attack happened.
"You are right. His name is Loki, God of Mischief and brother of Thor Odinson. Earth has never had contact with him before. The first thing he does when he arrives in New Mexico is tank a few dozen shots to the chest and head and kill a dozen guards. He proceeds to use a spear to take control of Agent Barton, Doctor Selvig, and a few other SHIELD operatives. He then has Barton shoot me, steals the Tesseract, and escapes. The entire compound collapsed in on itself due to the Tesseract's instability."
Percy's frown deepened. "Do we know where any of them are? It's unlikely that Loki just disappeared off of earth after just attacking it. He wouldn't have taken Barton and Selvig if that were the case. Matter of fact, why am I here right now? You still haven't told me."
Fury walked aimlessly around the room as he spoke.
"A few years ago, I came up with the idea of a response team. A team of unique and extraordinary individuals who could make a difference together. Hill and Coulson both know of this project. The Council vehemently disagrees with this plan, but I told them to shove it."
Nick pulled out a flash drive and inserted it into his personal computer. Pulling up a file marked "The Avengers Initiative", he turns back to Percy and crosses his arms.
"You are being temporarily reassigned to this team Agent Jackson. Welcome to the Avengers."
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"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner remarks sarcastically, looking up from the screen and towards the other people in the room.
Steve ignored his quip. "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve's question seemed to shake Thor out of whatever line of thought he had been in. As he turned back to the room at large he looked thoroughly exhausted.
"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."
"An army? From outer space?" Steve asked. Mainly to confirm that he wasn't going crazy and he had heard him correctly.
Banner looked up at the room. "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."
That seemed to wake Thor up from his brooding as he turned to Banner questioningly, "Selvig?"
"He's an astrophysicist." Banner supplied, not noticing the concerned tone Thor asked the question with.
"He's a friend." Steve looked up at the near possessiveness in Thor's voice. It seemed the Norse God had a sense of loyalty. Steve hid a small smile. He could respect that.
"Loki has him under some kind of spell," Natasha spoke up for the first time, "along with one of ours."
"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's powerful, and he put up almost no fight. He wants to be here and I don't know why. He's not leading an army from here." Steve continued, taking note of the tone of voice Natasha used.
Banner brushed off the concern, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall again.
"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."
Thor rounded on him, anger radiating off him, "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother."
"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha deadpanned, her frost blue eyes turned to stare at Thor. He looked away and replied weakly.
"He's adopted?"
Banner, always the one to avoid further confrontation, spoke up once more. "Iridium, what did he need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent." Stark's voice joined in as he walked on to the deck with Coulson. He said something to Coulson, finishing up a talk they'd clearly been having before walking into the room. Coulson rolled his eyes at whatever Stark said and walked away.
Stark continued on unimpeded, "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD."
He walked past Thor, smacking him on the arm as he did so, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Tony stopped in front of the control panel where Fury typically directed the Helicarrier, "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He turned and began playing around with knobs at the panel, "Uh, raise the mizzenmast, jib the topsails." He pressed a small circular object into the side of one of the panels, the object whirring silently as JARVIS began to access the mainframe.
"That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."
Stark covered one eye and continued analyzing the controls, "How does Fury do this?" he asked Hill with such a blatant look of confusion she couldn't help but make a comparison between Tony and Percy.
"He turns." she said dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, that sounds exhausting." Stark muttered as he continued to swipe and tap the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." He punctuated the end of his statement with a combination of snaps and clicks of his fingers and hand.
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow at the playboy philanthropist.
"The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked. Banner put his hand under his chin as he responded.
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Stark continued, turning with renewed interest and a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner thoughtfully finished. Stark clapped his hands together in utter excitement and delight at the thought of another intellectual to speak to.
"Finally, someone who speaks English!"
"Is that what just happened?" Steve questioned, sitting back in his chair.
Stark approached Banner, hand outstretched and said, "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."
Banner looked like he had absolutely no response to that and simply shook the man's hand, "Thanks."
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury stated as he strode into the room.
"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Steve suggested, looking relieved to finally have something to contribute again. Fury eyed him briefly.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys?" Thor echoed, confusion written on his face, "I do not understand-"
"I do!" Steve half-yelled, looking around at the exasperated and confused glances. He straightened back a bit and said a little more quietly, "I understood that reference."
Stark rolled his eyes. He was about to continue when the door slid open one more time to reveal another SHIELD agent. Normally a SHIELD agent would go 'unnoticed' by the Avengers, but this agent was different.
He was tall, about 6'4, and had broad shoulders for his age. Untamed black hair that looked permanently windswept and tanned skin. He carried himself differently than other agents. Steve noticed that immediately, as he carried himself the same way.
He didn't see an agent. He saw a war-hardened soldier, which was concerning considering the man couldn't be older than twenty years old.
"You're late, Agent Jackson." Fury notes with a hint of amusement in his tone, despite the situation being as it is.
"Uhh. Sorry sir. The trip here was a bit messier than normal."
"Pardon me, Eyepatch, but who is this?" Tony quickly inquired as he took in the slightly disheveled looking teenager.
The agent's green eyes roamed over the room's occupants, causing the tension in the air to rise at the powerful stare. He was about to respond when Thor walked up to him.
"Perseus Jackson? Is it truly you? By the Aesir, I haven't heard from you since you helped the Son of Frey last year!"
"Wait. Ok. Time out, Point Break. You know this kid?" Tony asked incredulously.
"Everyone in Asgard knows of Perseus Jackson! His tales are some of the best to tell among the halls. The Son o-" Thor was cut off by Fury clearing his throat.
"Before you just go telling everyone an incredibly well-kept secret, Thor, let me make one thing clear. What is revealed in regards to Agent Jackson, is so classified that to even think about telling anyone is an immediate death sentence for both you, your loved ones, and anyone you have ever met. Death meaning a brutal de-atomizing of your body as a higher power rips you to pieces." Nick glared into the eyes of each and every person in the room, before finally turning to the agent in question. The now named agent looked out the window, staring at the sky with a hint of hesitation and wariness, before nodding at the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, May I introduce to you Agent Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon. Jackson was the second person we thought of for the Avengers Initiative. We found out about him and his extended family when he jumped off the St. Louis Arch, fell over six hundred feet into the water, and emerged a few minutes later completely dry. Fast forward two wars, a few dozen incidents, and a lengthy conversation, Percy Jackson worked his way to becoming S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best agent, and best kept secret."
The room was quiet for a few seconds.
"So, he's like Thor." Natasha says, her eyes picking up the same details that Steve had noticed about the Son of Poseidon.
"No. While Thor is an immortal, he is not truly a god," Percy replies, "He is just a powerful individual who lives much longer lives than humans. On the other hand, I am merely a demigod: Half-god and half-mortal. Typically, demigod's don't live long at all. We give off this...scent...to monsters of all kinds. Since these monsters can't fight the gods that they hate, they settle on killing, sometimes eating, their children. The average lifespan of a demigod if they didn't reach a safe haven, up until three years ago, was about thirteen."
The room was extremely quiet as the morbid reality of the life of a demigod set in. Percy was worried he broke them until Stark asked the question on everyone's minds.
"What happened three years ago to change that? What is the average lifespan now?"
The demigod sighed, suddenly looking decades older than he was...physically at least, and sat down in one of the chairs around the table. Setting his hands on the table, the agent sat with a slight hunch. He spared a questioning glance towards Fury and upon receiving an approving nod, continued with his answer.
"It goes back much farther than three years ago," Percy leaned back in his chair, pulling out a ballpoint pen and spinning it with extreme skill, "back to the end of World War Two to be exact. You see, whenever the gods have a war, a war in the mortal realm also happens. World War Two was, at the bare basics, a grudge match between a son of Hades and a son of Zeus, both being encouraged by their fathers. Hitler, being a unique son of Hades, had an ability that allowed him to gain power from causing death. 1945 rolled around and Olympus became concerned with Hitler's power level. They sent one of their deadliest immortals to assassinate him."
Percy shook his head and looked up at the moon with a complex look in his face. A mixture of longing, apprehension, and something utterly ineffable on his face as he stared at the retreating form of the lunar crescent.
"Said immortal carried out the mission successfully, of course, and soon the Big Three had a meeting. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made a pact on the River Styx to not have anymore kids. The official reason being that a war of that magnitude and severity could not happen again. The unofficial reason? A prophecy had been given by the Fates."
"A half-blood of the eldest gods
Shall reach sixteen against all odds
And see the world in endless sleep
The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze"
"Being the paranoid King of Olympus he was, Zeus declared that they were forbidden from having offspring. Of course, as you can see, the pact was broken. Broken three times in fact. Once by Zeus, once by Jupiter, and once by my father." Thunder rumbled in the distance and Percy couldn't help but look up warily once more, ignoring Tony's remarks to Thor to "cut it out."
"Wait. Jupiter? So the Roman gods also exist? How does that work? Wouldn't the fact that Rome sacked Greece result in the, err, disappearance of the Greek Gods?" Bruce asked, a mix of confusion and pondering written across his face.
Rubbing his face in frustration, Percy sighed before answering the scientist, "I am still unsure of how it happened but during the fall of Ancient Greece, the Greek Gods were...absorbed by a new personality. At least, that's what we were told. They became more militant and orderly, while their Greek counterparts were put in the backseat, for lack of a better comparison."
"In 2006, I was attacked by one of the Furies on a field trip to a museum. This attack would soon start a domino effect, subsequently leading me to one of the safe havens I talked about. I spent a few weeks there before I was sent on a quest to retrieve Zeus's master bolt."
Nick cleared his throat and shook his head when Percy glanced at him.
"You can hear the rest of my tale later as it is far too long to tell in one sitting," standing up from his seat, Percy began walking towards the door.
"Where are you going, Nemo?" Tony asked, one of his eyebrows raised at the teen's abrupt exit. The kid was working his way quickly onto his favorites list.
"I originally came to interrogate Loki, as he has broken inter-pantheon laws by attacking America. I don't know about y'all, but I'm not too happy with some guy coming to my planet and throwing his weight around like an elementary school bully. No offense, Surfer Extreme." He answered, smirking, before stepping out of the room.
Well, if he wasn't his favorite before that quip, he surely was Tony's favorite now.
Loki's cell.
As soon as Percy had stepped into the room containing Loki's cell, a bright flash caused him to look away. When he finally looked back, a slight upturn of his lips was the only reaction he had.
"Lady Artemis, why are you here? I thought I would be interrogating Loki?" Percy inquires nonchalantly, ignoring the Goddess's powerful gaze as she stares at him.
"Father asked me to spectate. Nothing more, nothing less." Artemis replied stiffly, looking away from his gaze and staring harshly at the prisoner.
Nodding in understanding, he approached the door of the glass room. The God of Mischief glances up and smirks, amusement gleaming in his eyes.
"Ah, if it isn't Percy Jackson and Phoebe Artemis. I am Loki, of Asgard. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He bows sarcastically, causing Artemis's eye to twitch in frustration and Percy to grin internally. Oh this would be very interesting.
"Loki Odinson, you trespass on Olympian grounds. What, other than causing chaos and mayhem, motivates you to break the inter-pantheon laws?" The demigod asks dryly, already knowing that a long ass monologue would be the response.
"I am burdened with great purpose. To rule this world as it's rightful king-"
"Kronos sought the same, as did Gaia." Percy interjects, "Kronos is currently scattered into a million pieces in Tartarus. Gaia? Well let's just say she won't be able to even create a small presence for a few dozen millennia. Do you truly think you could do any better?"
Loki went to speak again but was soon cut off once again by the demigod. "Save your breath. You won't convince me that you aren't any more difficult to defeat than Ares."
Loki's frown turned into a fierce glare. He turned his head to stare at Artemis. A small twitch of the lips was the only reaction he gave her.
"Oh boy. You really do have a death wish don't you, Lucy?" Percy observes, knowing that Artemis was seconds away from assuming her immortal form and wiping the oily smirk off the "God's" face.
He wasn't gonna let her waste her time though, as he quickly phased through the glass walls and grabbed the god by the throat. He shoved him into the wall, poisonous green eyes glaring deep into the emerald shards of the Trickster God.
"You will fail, Lucy, and it will be by my hand." Percy snarls into his face, the promise audible to both Artemis and the people watching the interrogation. Of course, the spectators wouldn't remember anything about Artemis, as she had dealt with that during Percy's angry actions. It irked her slightly that he jumped to her defense, but it was the thought that counted.
Leaving the room behind, Artemis disappeared in a flash of light, closing her eyes to avoid looking towards the man that was on her mind recently.
He had changed, that is for sure. She hadn't seen him properly since the Giant War, only getting small glimpses of him whenever Percy Iris-messaged her Lieutenant or during the rare council meeting.
No one knew how it happened, but it did. It was a shock to both her father and her uncles when Perseus had walked into the Throne Room with shaky steps and dilated pupils. He shouldn't have been there at all, and that was when they noticed the changes in his blood.
He had become a God somehow, and his life was in shambles. Lady Luck was a fickle creature.
Lady Fate could go fuck herself for all Percy cared.