CHAPTER 4: FIRST BLOOD
READ AN BELOW
PREVIOUSLY:
Percy stopped and smirked as he took pleasure at the disbelieving looks on the face of every one except Michael and Thor before continuing, "I returned the master bolt to Zeus who threatened to strike me out of the sky if he caught me flying again before sharing a brief conversation with my father and then returning to my mother whom I gave medusa's head to dispose of the trash of my step father before finally returning to camp. Despite the quest being over I knew that the prophecy was not complete yet and that put me on edge since it said I would be betrayed by a friend.
My hunch was proven correct as Luke Castellan set a pit scorpion on me and leaving camp for refusing to join his master Kronos who was rising to destroy Olympus and western civilization as a whole…not that Luke knew that" Percy finished and stood up while the occupants of the room looked at him in wonder, he walked to the door before stopping and turning around to look at Michael, he narrowed his eyes at the archer, "what…" he was cut off mid sentence as an explosion went off somewhere in the hellicarrier.
NOW:
The explosion threw everyone in the room (and in the hellicarrier as a whole) off their feet and to the ground, to their credit though their surprise didn't last long and they all from various sectors in the behemoth of an aircraft took off towards Loki's holding cell.
Those in the briefing room took off in that direction as well leaving behind Percy who still had a piercing stare fixed on Clint, Natasha because she knew that something was up for Percy to be glaring at the archer like that and Clint who began to fidget.
Suddenly, as if the figurative flip had been switched, the archer's eyes glowed a harsh blue similar to that of Loki's scepter and in the blink of an eye he released an arrow at the Blood Merchant.
Percy ducked under the table as the arrow whizzed past were his head once was and his ears picked up the sound of Hawkeye jumping on the table and quickly approaching his position.
As much as he wanted to pound the son of Apollo into a red stain on the pavement for faking his death and disappearing for God knows how long, he couldn't afford to damage him too much because he would be needed for the inevitable last stand against Loki (of course he knew that Loki would escape, the bad guys always do).
Thinking quickly, he grabbed the glass tumbler on the table that he was drinking from and without raising his head to take aim he threw it at the incoming possessed archer.
The glass tumbler sailed through the air and with accuracy uncommon amongst sons of Poseidon (except Orion of course) nailed the son of Apollo in the nose sending him crashing backwards and through the table.
The breaking of the table seemed to snap the Russian spy out of her stupor and she hurriedly attacked the already rising archer.
"I'll hold him off, you go see if the others need help with Loki!" she yelled over her shoulder as she ducked to avoid Hawkeye's swing of his bow.
Without hesitation or argument, Percy spun on his heel and took off in a sprint towards Loki's holding cell, he did not doubt for a second that Natasha would thump Michael's (or Clint's) ass.
Just as he burst out of the briefing room into the corridor, he quickly dived to the floor to avoid the barrage of bullets that came his way, despite his earlier evasion he didn't stay stationary for long and quickly got up.
He quickly closed the distance between himself and the small bands of mercenaries who struggled to fill his body with bullet holes but were frustrated as he kept dodging the incoming bullets. He performed a leg sweep on one of the mercs sending him to the ground and to unconsciousness as his head smashed against the metal floor.
He frowned slightly at the lack of blood from the impact but regardless continued his dispatching of the other intruders. He went low once more to avoid the butt of a gun that was aimed at his face and gave a swift but hard punch to the man's family jewels smiling a little as the appendage was crushed and the man fell to the ground in a state of pain and shock as blood trickled out of his mouth. The remaining four intruders attempted to back pedal but were unsuccessful in that regard as one was punched in the throat and fell to the floor while hacking up saliva and blood with his gun flying out of his grip.
Percy quickly grabbed the gun before it could land and quickly corked it before unloading on the remaining mercenaries.
With a dramatic dust of his shoulders he spun around and attempted to continue his journey to Loki's holding cell but was stopped dead in his tracks by a massive roar that was no doubt heard throughout the SHIELD hellicarrier.
In the future he would look back and realize that that action was a horrible mistake on his part but then again the author is getting ahead of himself.
His surprise was short lived as a massive green blur smashed through the wall on his left and crashed into him before continuing its journey through the aircraft's walls with him being the human shield.
After about the hundredth wall (to him at least), the less than uncomfortable journey was put to an end as he was brutally smacked to the metal floor leaving a dent in it.
Percy groaned and moaned and winced at the same time as he was sure that he had broken majority of the ribs in his body (other bones as well but first come first serve right?), his head was pounding furiously and he was sure that if it weren't for the curse of Achilles he would be dead.
His head ache intensified even further when he heard the same roar again only that it was much closer this time, "For fuck's sake would you shut up" he snapped only to pause and with a grunt turn around to meet the hulking figure of the hulk (heh).
The hulk growled at him making him sweat drop, 'Good job Jackson, you managed to piss off the guy who would've just left you in a wounded heap, and now he wants to kill you, great' Percy thought exasperatedly.
Deciding to end it quickly the hulk charged the demigod to crush him, despite his multiple injuries Percy somehow managed to get to his feet and jump upwards. He used the giant of a man's head as a spring board and pivoted himself even more before landing on it's (or his) back with his arms wrapped around it's (once again, or his) meaty neck.
Despite his perilous situation, a wave of nostalgia washed over him as he remembered 'the ground beef incident of 2005' as he had dubbed it.
Deciding to reminisce later, he tightened his grip on the green giant's neck and squeezed with all he had, the hulk's eyes bugged out as he felt his air supply shut off and he began to thrash about wildly in an attempt to shake the smaller figure off his body.
Despite his already tight grip on the mutant's neck, Percy somehow managed to tighten his grip even further on the hulk's neck as well wrapping his legs (as much as he could) around his torso.
Slowly but surely the hulk's struggles began to get sluggish and his eyes began to droop, just as he was about to fade into consciousness Percy's nose picked up the familiar smell of ozone.
The smell of lightning.
He idly wondered if ole' thunder beard had finally noticed that 'sea spawn' was in his domain but he somehow knew that that was unlikely.
His eyes suddenly widened as he realized that the smell was coming from a specific direction, without the slightest bit of hesitation he quickly jumped off the Hulk's back just as a familiar silver hammer with arcs of lightning around it slammed into the Hulk's chest sending him through the next wall and out of the hellicarrier.
Percy watched with a mixture of amusement and slight irritation as the hammer returned to the open palm of the thundered himself Thor.
"For Asgard" the son of Odin bellowed before jumping after the falling green mass, Percy adopted a thinking stance as he tried to remember what exactly he was doing before his meeting with Hulk before snapping his fingers in remembrance and taking off towards Loki's holding cell once more.
Another explosion rocked the hellicarrier making Percy stumble but he still managed to regain his footing before he could kiss the floor.
Before he could do anything else, his comm links crackled to life, 'Agent Coulson is down! I repeat, Agent Coulson is down!'.
He froze in his tracks as he heard that transmission, his blood ran cold as the feeling returned to him.
He knew that feeling.
He had experienced it in both the wars with Kronos and Gaea respectively.
It was the feeling he got whenever a friend died.
Bianca…
Zoe…
Pollux…
Beckendorf….
Silena….
He snapped out of his reverie and took hurried steps towards Loki's cell, his heart pounded furiously in his chest and he prayed to God that it was just an injury.
Within a few minutes he had arrived at the cell, the hallways had surprisingly been devoid of any more mercenaries but he paid no attention to that detail. He froze once more at the sight before him.
Loki was no where to be seen as expected, but that wasn't what he was looking at.
Paramedics loaded the lifeless body of Phil Coulson into the body bag, the other avengers (including a de possessed Hawkeye) bar Thor and Banner were in the room with forlorn expressions on their faces but he paid them no mind. A part of him was glad that it wasn't Natasha but he pushed that part back into the dark recesses of his mind.
He looked on as the medics zipped up the body bag containing his mentor…
He would never him talk on and on about the missions he had been on as a newbie…
He would never have him give him words of advice before he made a rash decision….
He would never hear him go on and on about Captain America's awesomeness and show him the various collectibles he had of the Captain…..
And for the first time in years a tear drop slipped from his eye…..
And then his fists clenched into fists, Loki would pay…..
LINEBREAK
Percy sat in the fetal position as water from the shower cascaded over his body and healed his broken bones and his aching muscles but it did nothing to assuage his grief, he was in his quarters aboard the hellicarrier that was surprisingly unaffected by the destruction caused by Loki's escape.
His face was blank of all forms of emotion as the scene of Coulson's lifeless body being placed into a body bag replayed through his mind's eye again and again.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by a firm and yet gentle knock on his door, he turned off the water in the shower and stepped out completely dry. Without bothering to tie his towel, he went straight to his cupboard where he kept his clothes and threw on an odd combo of a long sleeve shirt and boxer briefs.
The knocking on the door continued making him roll his eyes despite his raging emotions, he walked to the door and opened it only to be met by a knuckle to the nose.
He blinked at that before turning around and sneezing violently, Achilles curse or not being hit in the nose will get a reaction out of anybody.
He sniffed a bit before turning around to meet the smiling face of Natasha Romanoff, he stared at her for a bit making her roll her eyes at him irritably "Can I come in?" she asked sarcastically making the green eyed male chuckle slightly.
He stepped out of the way and she walked into his room with a slight limp in her leg, he frowned slightly at the sight but chose to say nothing until Natasha was done with whatever business she had with him.
The red haired assassin sat down on his bed and fixed him with a piercing stare causing an awkward silence to fall over them.
After a few seconds of awkwardness she finally spoke up, "You know, despite the number of people Phil had mentored he wouldn't shut up about you" she said softly making Percy smile a little.
Seeing his smile she continued, "He spoke so much and so highly of you that there were times that I wondered whether if I threw him off the hellicarrier he would finally shut up" Percy's eyes glistened at this but he refused to let a tear drop from his eye.
Natasha blinked back tears of her own, "I was the last person who knew him to see him alive and yet he didn't talk about captain America or even about the safety of his family, he talked about you" she finished with her voice trembling.
Percy opened his arms for a hug and the Russian did not hesitate to launch herself into his arms and release heart breaking sobs.
He stroked her hair soflty as she sobbed into his shirt, this was what made his relationship with the Russian beauty, she kept up her emotionless mask when she was around others but when she was with him.
A few minutes later her sobs had reduced to sniffles and she raised her head to look into his sea green eyes, Percy wiped away the tear streaks on her face with his thumb and they both noticed how close their faces were.
Percy bit the insides of his cheek to avoid doing something impulsive, sure he had thought of her in that way but their friendship was too valuable to him to lose because of he did something rash.
Natasha licked her lips as she wondered how it would feel like to kiss him, she took in a small shaky breath and her nostrils were invaded by his scent…
Sea salt and coconuts…
It was a strange and yet pleasant smell to perceive from a person and she somehow knew that this was his natural scent and not the work of any perfumes or deodorants.
The red haired immediately blushed a shade similar to that of her hair and scrambled down from his embrace thereby forcing another awkward silence to hang above them.
Once again Natasha broke the silence after a few seconds, "You tell anyone I was crying and your dead, got it?" she said in the best threatening voice she could muster.
Which was kind of difficult considering her uncontrolled face colouration.
Despite the previous awkwardness Percy managed a chuckle, "Crystal" he replied making the red faced red head turn around and power walk to the door of his quarters.
She stopped as she grabbed the door knob before turning around slightly, "Oh and Tony's having a rendezvous with Loki right now, the snake's gonna open the portal any moment from now, and we leave in twenty…" she looked at her watch, "…scratch that, we leave in five minutes" she said cheekily before running out of the room.
Percy sighed slightly, 'Why does it always have to end up in a big bad final stand?' he questioned himelf…
…
…
…
His brain finally registered the final part of what she said…
Five Minutes…
The jerks were leaving any moment from now, he hurriedly made his way to his dresser and hastily threw on his second suit that wasn't covered in dust and other peoples blood before bursting out of his room and taking off in a sprint towards the landing bay where the quinjet containing the avengers would take off.
LINEBREAK
The avengers with the exception of Thor and Bruce Banner sat in their respective seats aboard the hellicarrier with a thick cloud of silence hung over them, the grief of Coulson's death was still heavy on their hearts but they all had intentions to channel that grief into fighting the alien army that was headed their way.
The Norse god of mischief had yet to arrive at Stark Towers and their journey to New York was still a long, and all this factors were quite frankly making Percy's ADHD act up.
To his credit, once his ADHD became unbearable he stayed perfectly still and said nothing for a solid fifteen minutes before he couldn't take it any longer.
"Well this is boring" he finally drawled out making the avengers fix him with incredulous looks.
In all honesty he was surprised at how mild mannered his comment was he honestly expected something embarrassing to fly out of his mouth.
The Captain raised an eyebrow at the maniac, "We are about to face an army of aliens with advanced weaponry than us without back up of any sort and just before we arrive you are complaining that you are bored in what could possibly be our last moments alive?" the patriot asked.
Percy huffed, "My point exactly, who wants to live out the last moments of their life moping about and thinking of what they could have done better when you can make memorable memories (heh) before you die?" he asked.
Hawkeye blinked, "He's actually got a solid point there Cap" he intoned making the captain sigh in resignation.
"So…" Steve began, "…how exactly can we make 'memorable memories' when we are jam packed in an aircraft that is hundreds of feet above the ground?" the captain asked sarcastically.
Percy gasped dramatically, "Did you just use sarcasm cap? I didn't know you had it in you!" he exclaimed in a dramatic fashion making the captain scowl a bit, "We had schools back then you know" Steve grumbled while the other avengers smiled a bit at how their maniac of a team mate was trying to alleviate the gloomy atmosphere.
Their comms crackled for a bit before the voice of Tony Stark came through, 'Well, Loki's not here yet and like samurai Jack over there I am bored, so why don't you finish that story of yours that you were saying before we were rudely interrupted' the billionaire intoned while every one else rolled their eyes at the new nickname that Tony had assigned to Percy.
Percy crossed his over his chest and sat back into his seat, "Well, the next year I was in my school…"
(Skipping from the sea of monsters to the Blood of Olympus with a twist of Percy and Leo killing Gaea instead of whatever the hell Uncle Rick wrote there)
The avengers Natasha included sat in another bout of stunned silence as they heard of what the young man in front of them had accomplished in his shot time on earth.
Natasha looked at Percy in awe and slight jealousy at the fact that he had jumped into the Greek version of hell just because the girl he loved was falling there as well.
Steve was looking at him with pity, here he was being called a war hero while all his accomplishments paled in comparison to what the half blood in front of him had accomplished and as a child nonetheless.
The avengers all looked at him with varying emotions in their eyes for a few more minutes before their comms crackled once more.
'If you were considered a hero, why would you leave all that behind to become a mercenary?' Tony asked in a confused tone.
At that question Percy's lips formed a thin line and a cold chill swept through the quinjet, chilling everyone aboard the aircraft to the bone and they instantly knew that the billionaire had hit a sore subject.
"Er..you don't have to answer if you…." Tony started in an awkward tone but was cut off by the raven haired man.
"That's not a problem Stark" Percy said before pausing for a bit, "Well I guess you could say that it all started at the throne room on Olympus, the Olympians might have feigned indifference to my choice of becoming a god but my gut told me that I was fooling myself.
One could say that that was one moment of my life that I regret not trusting my instincts, the results of my choice didn't show until a month or two later when I and Athena's daughter were attending college in New Rome.
I could bore you all with the details but long story short the Olympian gods with the exception of my father and Lord Hermes decided to cut off all my ties with the mortal world meaning that I wouldn't be able to say no to godhood if I were to be offered it again"
Percy exhaled and the avengers kept their expectant looks on him, "They started by killing my younger brothers and would've done the same to my step father and mother had they not been out to buy some groceries…", "How do you know that they were responsible for this?" Hawkeye asked softly and Percy chuckled mirthlessly at the question.
"Because Mikey…" the archer flinched, "…a bolt of lightning does not just fall from the sky on a sunny day." Percy answered flatly.
Seeing that no one else had anything else to say, Percy continued "My mother Iris messaged me and gave me the news as she cried. Thank my father I knew how to mist travel then because I did just that as soon as I got the news and arrived just in time before she could end her own life with poison.
I decided to take a break from college just to stay with my mother and step dad because I didn't trust her not to attempt to take her life again."
"I decided that it would be a good idea to call the wisdom spawn and let her know the condition of things just so that she wouldn't worry…" Percy stopped once more and smiled ruefully before continuing.
"She told me that all it was my fault and if I wanted all those problems to come to an end all I had to do was accept godhood, I was confused as to why she was speaking like this until I noticed the glow surrounding her.
She had accepted godhood, it was no doubt a ploy by the council to entice me into accepting their oh so gracious offer but I had a grieving mother and step father to take care off and so I ended the IM without another word.
From that moment I knew it would be too dangerous to remain in New York so I packed my things as well as those of my parents and we headed off to Alaska the one place that the gods had no control over, on several occasions I attempted to contact my father but something was blocking me so I abandoned that venture in favour of getting my folks to safety."
Another pause for air, "On our way to the land beyond the gods we were assaulted by a thunderstorm, some would say it was a coincidence or just a weather pattern to show how grave the situation but I doubt if swerving the car from side to side to avoid random bolts of lightning qualifies as a 'coincidece'" Percy quipped making his team mates crack small smiles at his attempt at comic relief.
"Good news was that we managed to avoid the lightning strikes, the bad new…..we were rammed into from the side by a Harley. My mother didn't survive the crash and my step father was paralyzed from waist down, the moment I saw the motorcycle continuing its ride smoothly as if it hadn't just rammed into a vehicle many times larger than it I knew that it was the god of war who was responsible.
I wanted to mourn my mother but I knew it was only a matter of time before the Olympians would close in on I and my step father.
I had to drag my unconscious father figure all the way to Alaska while avoiding the huntresses of the goddess of the hunt"
At this stage everyone aboard the craft had varying looks of disgust on their faces but said nothing as they waited for him to continue his tale.
"After a few days I finally managed to get us to Alaska where I finally thought our problems would be over, I was wrong a few days after we arrived I discovered a cave which I instinctually decided to explore.
That course of action was either a good or bad choice on my part depending on how you choose to look at it…"
The avengers raised brows at that.
"I discovered that the cave was actually a hiding place for Gaea, turns out she didn't really go back to sleep after all and on seeing ourselves we attacked each other, I don't know how I know this but the fight lasted exactly eight hours, a fight in which majority of the landscape had been destroyed by both her and my powers. It was pretty awesome if you ask me" Percy shrugged at the last part while his team mates let out full blown laughs as opposed to their previous strained smiles.
"I managed to defeat her but I guess I didn't consider the fact that the major destruction caused by our fight would be felt on a wide scale.
The Olympians might be powerless in Alaska but demigods were not and so they teleported the entirety of the twelfth legion fulminata as well as the best fighters the Greek camp could offer to the location nearest to mine where they began to search for me.
I was too exhausted from the fight to put up much of a struggle and hence I was bound and dragged to Olympus"
"Your gods sound like a ray of sunshine" Steve muttered sarcastically while Percy clapped a little at his use of sarcasm before giving him two thumbs up.
"On Olympus I was dragged to the Olympus council or at least most of it seeing that Poseidon and Hermes were absent doing God knows what, I was tortured for two days straight all the while I was being threatened to accept godhood or my suffering would be prolonged and each time I responded by giving them the middle finger.
On the third day Zeus finally had enough of my insolence and I was thrown into Tartarus…again"
"One would think that family would stick together" Tony quipped but was ignored much to his irritation, "I spent a total of ninety eight years in Tartarus killing monsters of various types and honing my water and earth shaking powers. I learnt many things down there including a few lines of the 'ancient laws' which is ironic considering the fact that the pit is a place of torment and not learning.
While I was down there I somehow managed to absorb the immortal essence of my friend Zoe Nightshade that was trapped in my sword thereby granting me better control of my hydro kinesis, by a stroke of fate or something like that I was standing on the banks of the Styx at that time and in my shock I stumbled backwards and into the river.
Once again I'd rather not go into detail of what it felt like but long story short I came out with the same curse of invincibility as before with a different mortal point this time."
Percy brought out his Glock and began to clean it, "I finally managed to climb out of Tartarus, it took me two weeks to do so but I got the job done and crawled out right out of the rug in the cabin I left my step father in in Alaska, my happiness was amplified even further when I saw my father figure alive and well albeit in a crudely made wheel chair but at least he was alright"
Percy holstered the gun and brought out the other one and began to clean it as well, "Despite everything I knew I had to get a job and since I didn't have a qualification of any sorts I began to do odd jobs just so I could feed my step father, that is until I heard of a guy who needed a hit done…I'm sure you can figure the rest out" Percy finished as he holstered the second gun.
Over the comm Tony whistled loudly making everyone wince at the volume before speaking, "You my friend have a shitty life" he said before pausing slightly, "Hold that thought, Reindeer Games' here".
At that the avengers snapped out of their personal musings and hardened their resolves, this Tesseract/Asgardian bullshit was coming to an end today.
At least they had one more thing to channel into anger towards the incoming Chitauri.
AN: Hey guys, I hope this was to your satisfaction for the long wait if it wasn't then I am sorry for not delivering. Life has thrown a few loops at me and as of late I have become fed up, I am tying up a few loose ends before I do what I intend to do and this happened to be one of them.
Hopefully I will see you all on the other side when the time is right.
Goodbye, love Altair25
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
O_O Psych, hehe just kidding guys I ain't offing myself now or anytime soon. Anywho on a completely un related (or related) matter my OTP (One True Prayer) has finally come true, what is it? You ask, well I have been granted admission to the University of Uyo to study, wait for it…..
PHILOSOPHY!
I'm awesome, I know but while this means good news for me it means bad(ish) news for this fic, no I'm not abandoning it or any of my other fics but updates will be agonizingly slow.
Now I'm gonna go celebrate my success with a six pack of Coke, love ya, miss ya, see ya.
REVIEW!
REVIEW!
REVIEW!
ALTAIR25 OUT!