CHAPTER 2: A SIMPLE STROLL
DISCLAIMER (heh heh, I forgot): I do not own PJO or the Avengers, you guys know the owners so don't look at me.
Percy's eyes snapped open, out of habit his eyes darted about to scan his surroundings, ''oh, I'm at home…on my bed…I was kinda hoping to wake up in the middle of a gun fight, now that would have been awesome' and with that thought he sighed and stood up from his bed.
That was the thing with the life of a professional killer, paranoia was always present in their mindsets leading them to suspect everyone and everything to the extent that your neighbour's dog was an undercover assassination unit out to get you…..
Let that sink in for a moment.
Percy also had the same paranoia, but to a milder degree than most other solo 'guns for hire' the reason why he always scanned the area of where ever he found himself was more of a force off habit than a paranoid reaction.
Why? You ask, one word 'ADHD'. He might've been a big bad mercenary, but he still had his demigod traits of ADHD and dyslexia much to his chagrin as he had hoped that his current.
He walked to the kitchen sink with a glass tumbler in hand and filled the tumbler with tap water which he immediately gulped down.
He placed the cup in the sink and walked over to his living where he grabbed the remote control and plopped on the couch, he switched the television and began to flip through the stations.
"Thundercats, boring"
"Tokyo Ghoul, not in the mood"
"Finding Nemo…Hell No!"
"Teen Titans vs Justice League, eh maybe later"
"JAWS 2…..this movie is just racist"
"Morning News, nope….wait a second"
He quickly went back to the morning news to channel and took a closer look at the headlines, he raised an eyebrow at what it said 'CONGRESS DECIDES TO ENTRUST SAFETY OF 'TESSERACT' WITH S.H.I. '.
He didn't bother listening to the full story after reading the headline and switched the television off, he could practically feel the amount of calls concerning 'job offers' that were about to come his way.
The Tesseract had been in an undisclosed location for the past few years of its discovery, the fact that it was going to be moved to S.H.I.E.L.D for safe keeping would mean that many organizations or powerful individuals would hire mercenaries to intercept the transport vessel and steal the extra terrestrial power source.
His 'business' phone rang causing him to grin a Shark like grin (pun intended) and pick the phone up, he adjusted his voice to sound like that of those business men you would find on Wall Street (he was the Blood Merchant after all) before speaking "Hello" he said smoothly, "This is the blood merchant correct" a thick voice said from the other end of the line,
"You are correct" he answered simply, "Good, I have a job for you Mr. Blood…" the stranger began before he was cut off, "I am guessing that this job you speak off has something to do with the acquiring of the Tesseract, am I right?" Percy asked in a knowing tone.
"…you are correct" the mysterious voice stated with a hint of irritation at being cut off in his voice, "Are you up for it?" he asked finally.
Percy hummed in thought "How much are you willing to pay Mr…?" he asked, "My name is not important, but you may address me as Mando. In regards to your payment how does Five million dollars sound?" he asked with a hint of pride in his voice at offering such a 'high' price.
Percy scoffed, "Do you take me for an amateur Mr. Mando? Do you think that I don't have other offers concerning this particular job?" he asked crossly, "WAIT! What about fifteen million dollars" Mando asked.
Percy smirked as he detected the panic in the man's voice, "Too little for a job so large, are you sure that you are interested in doing business with me Mr. Mando" he asked condescendingly.
"Twenty eight million dollars, final offer" the man stated in a tone of finality (and desperation), Percy hummed in thought before speaking again, "I'll compare it with my other offers and give you a definite answer tomorrow evening" he said before cutting the line.
"These guys are just so fun to mess around with" Percy said with a chuckle, he craned his neck causing it pop, "Time to take a shower" he said before making his way to the bathroom.
He lived in a two bedroom apartment located in the suburbs of Brooklyn, which was quite surprising considering the millions, if not billions of dollars he had in various bank accounts scattered all around the world.
He only used his money to take care of his needs and to take care of Paul his step father who was wheelchair bound, his mother had died some years prior in an accident, the same accident that sentenced his step father to a wheel chair.
He shook his head causing water from his untamed hair to fly about in order to clear his head of such thoughts, that was five years ago and he promised himself not to cry about that matter any longer.
Finishing his bath, he stepped out of the tub (butt naked mind you) and walked to his dresser where he put on a boxer brief and blue pants, he picked up an oceanic blue coloured skin tight shirt and slung it over his shoulder (he would put that on later).
He walked over to the couch and sat down to await the incoming barrage of phone calls.
LINEBREAK
As he predicted, more 'job' offers came in, totaling seventy five calls for the day with the same mission 'get me the Tesseract', he had rejected them of course, he might've been a mercenary for hire, but he had a principle 'first come, first serve'.
He would contact the mystery man AKA Mando tomorrow to accept his offer, but for now he was going to enjoy a long leisurely walk.
He put the shirt on and walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind him he began to walk out of the apartment complex, he soon left the stuffy atmosphere to receive the cool evening breeze.
Sighing in content he took a look at his sports bike that was parked close to the side walk and contemplated going for a joy ride on it before quickly dispelling such thoughts from his (messed up) head, this was meant to be a stroll and he intended to keep it that way.
He began to stroll through the street with his hands stuffed in his pockets, it was going to get chilly soon and he knew it, but the cold didn't bother him.
He had learnt to be cold resistant the same way he was heat resistance, one of the many things he had learnt down there. His visage darkened at that thought, 'I have got to stop pushing that bullshit into my mind' he thought with a scowl on his face.
Sighing once more he pulled out a container of Orbit and popped four pieces of the breath freshening gum into his mouth.
He didn't have any plans of hooking up with any random girl that came his way, but ever since the incident he had developed the weirdest of cravings. Unlike other people in the same line of work as his person who preferred Whiskey or Cigarettes (he still didn't know why people took those things, they did realize that they would die right?), he had taken interest in consuming things like Pepsi's, Coke's, Orbit chewing gums, Chocolate bars and what ever sweetened food items one could think of in large quantities.
Given his special condition, the consumption of such items didn't pose a risk to his health or make him gain weight so he ate or drunk as much of them as he wanted.
He arrived at a Café and looked at it before shrugging, 'might as well get a light drink' he thought to himself as he stepped into the establishment.
He took a seat closest to the door and waited, a waitress walked up to him and flashed him a pearly white toothed smile, "Welcome to 'CC's Café', what can I get you?" she asked.
He raised his head to look at the waitress and couldn't help but stare (AN: not in that way, there's a poll remember) Blonde Hair, Californian tan, dull grey eyes… 'dull grey eyes? Phew that's a relief, I almost thought that the fates were screwing with me" The girl looked like a carbon copy of Annabeth, but the dull grey eyes and the fact that her blonde hair was shorter than Annabeth's confirmed otherwise.
The blonde waitress blushed as she realized that the hot looking customer was staring at her, "You're or…order si…sir?" she stammered nervously effectively snapping Percy out of his staring trance, "Sorry about that, you just look like someone I knew" he said smoothly, 'God! Even his voice is sexy' she thought dreamily before steadying herself and giving him a small smile in response.
"I'll have an ice tea thank you" he said simply, the waitress nodded and walked off to get his order, once she was out of site, Percy grimaced 'why do I always run into love sick girls?' he bemoaned internally, he was already used to girls crushing on him/ ogling him but it still made him uncomfortable.
As he awaited his drink the doors of the Café were pushed open and a beautiful Red head stepped in, the saliva immediately dried up in his mouth making him feel like he had stuffed his mouth with sand from the Sahara Desert (sadly he knew how that felt like).\
The lady dressed simply in blue skinny jeans and a sweater, she walked up to him and raised an eyebrow at him causing him to tense, he expected her to say that she was from an agency that had a mission for him, but she said no such thing.
"You're in my seat" she said dryly, Percy gave her a blank stare for some minutes before bursting into quiet laughter, "Your seat?" he asked teasingly with a raised brow of his own.
The Red head narrowed her eyes at him "I always seat here when I come for either Tea or Coffee" she said tersely, Percy looked at her curiously for some moments before deciding to give her the chair.
As he began to get up from the chair a sly smile appeared on his face as an idea wormed its way into his head, "I'll get up from this chair only if you give me your number" he said to her with a challenging smirk on his face.
It was the Red head's to smirk slyly, "Oh…now you're asking me out on a date?" she asked challengingly. Percy frowned at her statement, "I only asked for your number" he said with furrowed brows, her smirk increased "The only universally acceptable reason a guy would ask a girl he has never met before for her phone number, is if he wants to ask her out" she stated smugly.
Percy deflated in defeat, "You win flame head" he said causing the lady to scowl, "Did you just call me 'flame head'?" she growled.
Percy just stared at her once more, "I have no idea what you are talking about" he said with a smirk, she glared at him for a few more moments before her face broke into a grin.
She grabbed him by the fore arm causing a tinge of pink to appear on his cheeks (which the red head saw and decided to save as ammunition for later), she brought out her lipstick from her purse and popped it open before proceeding to write down her phone number on his fore arm.
She dragged his ear to her lips and whispered, "Call me", she pulled back and gave him a wink before sauntering away.
The waitress arrived with his ice tea and followed his line of vision to the retreating form of the red head (which she glared murderously at, "Your order sir" she said tensely before dropping the tea and walking off.
Percy looked at the number written on his fore arm with bright red lipstick, if there was one thing he had learnt on all his time alive on Earth, it was that girls that wrote their numbers on your fore arm of handkerchief with lipstick meant trouble….which made him smile lightly (he never did 'easy').
He looked at the name written below the number
Natasha Romanoff
Her name practically screamed trouble.
He was suddenly very glad that he had chewed those Orbit breath fresheners earlier on.
AN: Took me a ridiculously long time to write this, but it's out isn't it? I am honestly surprised (and grateful) how well this story is being accepted, you guys rock.
Now in regards to longer chapters, *sigh* I would love to, but I am a very busy individual the fact that I am 16 and have graduated from Secondary school is a pain, why? Because I have officialy taken the role of my Father (and Mother's) Secretary/P.A/messenger boy. I literally have no free time, and it isn't helping that I am typing out the examination papers for my mom's school (an examination that will commence on Monday) so it is a miracle I still have time to write fanfics, but regardless I'll try to make all chapters above 1k :p
PS: Natasha is dominating the polls
PPS: Some one asked if the picture on my profile is mine, the answer to that is no, that is my best friend, you can find my picture on facebook, just search for 'Rexaquilla Ezeugo'.