CHAPTER TWO: GETTING TO KNOW THE COLOUR SCARLET

"I take it that this is where you live?" Wanda asked dryly as she looked around the rather compact and stuffy apartment with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Five points to Wanda" came the sarcastic retort from the unorthodox avenger as he shrugged off his gear leaving them strewn about haphazardly while moving to get a can of Pepsi from the fridge.

"He's got a PlayStation and an Xbox…I'm good" Pietro chirped as he quickly slotted in Assassins Creed Unity to begin what would no doubt be a few hours of intense, fast paced gaming.

The future Scarlet Witch rolled her eyes at her younger twin in exasperation, "Of course you are " she intoned without losing a speck of dryness in her tone.

Cracking open another can of Pepsi (seeing as he had mowed through the previous four cans in a heartbeat) Percy spoke up, "Sorry if it isn't a Castle or whatever it is you princesses live in, but it's the best you've got at the moment" he said feeling the need to defend the pride of his run down apartment.

The female Maximoff twin fixed him with a dubious look before rolling her eyes once more, "It's not the nature of your house I'm worried about, it's the fact that this place is a pig sty, I might be a fugitive meaning that I have to make do with what I have, but that doesn't change the fact that I am a lady and I as such find your living space filthy and inhospitable" she rebutted with a huff.

Percy blinked at her owlishly, "…what?"

Her eyes rolled once more (she honestly hoped he wouldn't keep up this behavior for the rest of her stay here or she would have no other option that to rip out her own eyeballs lest the eye rolling became a habit) at his confused expression before speaking up, "Your crib is whack nigga'" she replied with perfect intonation.

Another blink from the demigod, "Oh" he muttered dumbly causing the mutant to face palm, "Just get out and let me clean it up" she said in resignation while rubbing her fore head with her finger to alleviate the incoming migraine that she was sure would arrive soon.

"Er,…okay?"

TIME SKIP (do you really expect me to write a cleaning scene? 0.0)

Thirty minutes and one clean apartment later, the 'less, yet more than human' trio sat in the living room in companionable silence while being lost in their respective thoughts…that is if you took away the sounds of game play coming from the console where Pietro was crushing the competition in Call Of Duty on a worldwide scale.

Well, Pietro's thoughts were glaringly obvious…

Wanda was fiddling with her fingers, producing little rays of scarlet themed psionic energy which seemed deceptively harmless as she twirled her fingers idly.

Percy on the other hand, let his mind wander to the real reason he was even in that accursed HYDRA base in the first place. Long story short, he and Natasha had had their first quarrel in their relationship.

Hurtful words were thrown, insulting gestures were shown and fists and kicks (albeit much tamer than usual) were distributed like party favours. After their… interesting dispute, the red head had stormed out of the apartment with a cut on her cheek leaving him fuming with a broken toe and a massive build up of blood lust which the HYDRA operatives at the facility had thankfully quenched.

Percy bit back a groan as the events of the day ran through his mind and slumped further into the plush arm chair exhaustedly, thankfully the neighbours hadn't heard (or hadn't cared about) their little scuffle else he had zero doubts in his mind that he would be cooling his heels in a police cell for battery (even though it was obvious that he was pulling his punches).

In his line of work as a hired gun, Percy had already hardened his resolve hence, he had no qualms with hitting members of the opposite sex (in sensitive areas too) if the need were to arise, though he preferred bisecting them and getting it over with. Most people would call him female basher or whatever but he could honestly care less for their thoughts on the matter…

…the line between morality and immorality is so thin these days it is hard to tell which is which after all…

Another pathetic groan escaped his mouth as he began to miss the heat only Nat could provide whenever they cuddled and the Maximoff twins cast him a sideways glance each before shrugging and going back to their previous activities…

…the guy was crazy after all.

Having had enough of his own pathetic moaning, Percy decided to strike up a conversation with the less preoccupied Maximoff twin to get his mind of things, said twin was Wanda off course, disturbing the blue themed speedster would no doubt bring about… less than savoury consequences no doubt.

"You remind me of someone I used to know" Percy began causing the female mutant to pause before continuing what she was doing only this time her attention was on him, "Really?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah…" the son of Poseidon continued, "…she used to belong to an all girls group…" he was cut off by Wanda, "Girl Scouts?" she asked unimpressed making him nod slowly, "You could say that" he replied making her nod, "What was she like?" she asked once more making Percy's lips twitch a little.

"Well, when I was a bit younger I used to see her as a brave young lady who was not afraid to take what she wanted and would do anything to keep anything she held dear close and away from harm" he said softly.

"And now?" Wanda asked tentatively. Percy sneered in disdain making her blink at how quickly his mood had reversed, "That was when I was younger, now I just see her as a quitter and a deserter, some people would call me heartless for saying this considering the fact that she lost her life to save mine and the lives of a few others, but that wouldn't have been necessary had she not abandoned her only family for a bunch of strangers, for someone who claimed to be cautious she was down right care less in that decision of hers" he answered with a scowl etched on his features making Wanda cast a look at Pietro (who was still playing his game uncaring to the outside world and its problems) wondering how someone like herself, who had been by her brothers side from day one up till this moment could be compared to someone like that.

Seeing her gaze, Percy waved off her worries, "Don't worry, you just remind me of my first impression of her" he said.

Wanda shifted her gaze from her twin back to him, "I se… what was her name?" she asked softly, while the demigod exhaled slightly, "Bianca… Bianca Di Angelo" he answered in a clipped tone.

"Bianca…" the chaos magic user echoed, "…Bianca, Wanda, Bianca, Wanda" she continued the mantra for a little longer causing Percy to shift his gaze down to her plump lips momentarily before snapping them back up just as quick.

"It rolls off the tongue nicely" the female mutant admitted finally before pausing briefly, "…say, this group of strangers she abandoned her only 'family' for…" "Her younger brother" Percy clarified making her stare at him with slight incredulity, "She abandoned her younger brother for strangers? Really!" she quickly calmed herself down before she accidentally blew something up.

"Well this 'group' she abandoned her brother for, what exactly where they like?" she asked, eager to keep the conversation going. "It was an all females hunting group, one could say that they have an intense… dislike for the male species, oh who am I kidding, they're god damn Feminazi's to the core" Percy answered bluntly making the lady raise an eyebrow at him.

"Feminists?" she asked with clear distaste in her tone, "…yes" he answered after a slight pause.

Wanda scoffed at the admission before going back to her previous activity of twirling rays of psionic energy between her fingers, Percy raised a curious brow at her, "Problem?" he asked tentatively hoping he wasn't poke nosing on a personal matter.

The mutant (mutantess?) looked up from her twirling to fix a heavy stare on him before shrugging, "Nothing much really, just that the concept of feminism irritates me" she said softly.

Percy was pretty sure that her statement was an understatement.

"Care to shed more light on why?" Percy asked curiously, this was honestly the first he was hearing of a member of the human female gender disagreeing with the concept of feminism.

She rolled her eyes but explained regardless, "Female and male equality, really? That is the most absurd thing I have ever had the displeasure of listening to, don't get me wrong there are 'some' things that a man can do that a lady can do and maybe, just maybe do it better but the twisted logic that a man and woman have equal stance in all aspects of life is complete and utter trash. No matter how humans and mutants try to paint a picture of a 'perfect' world, a pecking order still exists in the world as we know it"

Percy cracked open another can of Pepsi and took a small sip, "So you're trying to say that the role of women in the world is in a nutshell that of a housewife?" he asked clearly intrigued by her train of thought.

"Not necessarily, what I mean is that there is a pecking order that is set by nature, a pecking order in the form of male, female and slaves…" "You're a supporter of slavery?" Percy butted in with a raised brow, "No, I'm not, but that's just the way nature made we humans no matter how we try to delude ourselves with the mirage of modern civilization…truth is deep down we're all savages" the eldest Maximoff replied coldly.

"I attest to the last bit of info, pardon me carry on" Percy said with a small chuckle as he took another gulp of his favourite Cola drink (he was freaking obsessed with that thing). "Do you know why most marriages break up in a heart beat these days?" she asked with a hum as she stopped fiddling with Chaos magic and walked over to the fridge where she pulled out a can of Pure Heaven, "I have a few ideas but hey, surprise me"

Wanda took a small sip of her drink before humming in satisfaction at the fizzy feeling on her palate, "One of such reasons is the fact that most people, male and female alike, rush into marriage blindly without really getting to know exactly who they're getting married to, this is the major reason why I am unsympathetic to victims of domestic violence, every one has to pay for their careless mistakes after all." She continued in her same cold tone making Percy chuckle darkly.

'And here I was thinking I was the darker of the both of us' he mused.

"Second reason is another thing homo sapiens are very good at, quitting, I don't need to speak much on this, the marriage vows are self explanatory…" she continued, "… the third and perhaps major reason would be the fact that women fail to realize that in marriage – in layman terms – the man is the boss…"

Cue eyebrow raise.

"… a marriage is already on the railway to failure when the lady fails to recognize her place in the family and rather opts to compete with her husband…" she paused once more to take another sip of her drink before continuing once more, "… I'm sure you're familiar the saying of the man being the head of the family and the lady being the neck right?" she questioned while Percy gave a small nod before cracking open yet another can of Pepsi.

Wanda rolled her eyes.

"Now, just because the man is in charge doesn't make the lady un entitled to anything, rather her position as the neck – if she is a good neck that is – …" Percy snickered at the joke, "… guarantees her a whole lot of control over her husband rather than when she tries to rub shoulders with her spouse. One of the oldest tricks in the book to achieving this control of husbands is taking advantage of the nature of men", "Nature of men?" Percy echoed curiously.

Wanda grinned cheekily, "Men are babies…" she began, ignoring the undignified 'hey!' from both males in the room, "… they all want to be pampered no matter how tough they act or how much they deny it, so in a simple manner of speaking, a good meal, good sex, undivided, attention, the right amount of submissiveness while being unafraid to stop him from acting on stupidity, is all every woman needs to have a man wrapped around her little finger without having to worry about him running off to other women… unless he's cursed that is… heck even if she's cheating on him, he'll rather die than let her go" Wanda finished casually while taking another sip of her sparkling drink.

Percy halted the process of opening another Pepsi and fixed the Sokovian mutant with a curious stare, "You lady, are the most strangest woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and conversing with" he finished before raising his drink to her in acknowledgement while she returned the gesture.

They sat once more in companionable silence before Percy broke it once more.

"Sooo… homophobic huh?" he asked teasingly.

"It makes me feel sick, don't ask, I don't know why" came the blunt reply.

Percy raised a hand in surrender, "Hey, the people are happy, let them be" he said complacently.

Wanda paused mid sip before looking at him for a bit and then finished her sip, "My mom used to tell I and Pietro something… she said, don't hate the people, hate the concept" she said softly.

"Well said" Percy nodded with faux sagely wisdom causing the Sokovian to giggle a little.

Before they could settle into companionable silence once more, the apartment door burst open and a crazed looking Natasha Romanoff stumbled into the apartment.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LINEBREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blonde goddess of intellect and courage walked through the gardens of Olympus at a leisurely pace, a small yet sad smile graced her facial features as she gently caressed each flower that was within her reach, she continued this activity for a little longer before settling on a particular flower.

She went down on both knees and gently caressed the petals of the flower in a manner akin to a lady in the embrace of her long lost lover and began to hum a gentle lullaby while her stormy gray orbs grew watery as she kept caressing the petals. Finally the dam broke and an anguished sob escaped her lips as golden tears fell from her cheeks and spilled down on the moonlace petals.

From afar, the Greek goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athena watched the anguished goddess with a forlorn expression on her face. She continued watching for a while before sighing resignedly and turned to leave only to be stopped short when she noticed another female goddess staring at her with a disappointed expression on her face.

"Your daughter looks like she needs a shoulder to cry on" she said firmly yet gently. The wisdom goddess wiped all form of emotion clean from her face before replying in an icy tone, "she's a strong woman, she'll get over it soon enough" Athena intoned flatly.

The goddess of the hearth shook her head in disappointment, "She is your daughter Athena, the only reason she is like this in the first place is as a result of you and the councils foolish pride…" "A council which you are part of Hestia!" the wisdom goddess hissed in anger at being judged by the goddess before her.

Without another word, Athena brushed past the eldest child of Kronos and Rhea and kept walking, stopping a few paces ahead, Athena cast the hearth goddess a venomous glance and sneered, "Your self righteousness disgusts me aunt, you of all people had the power to expel the potion from her mind and prevent her from betraying her beloved yet you didn't, and we all know why…" Hestia's palms balled into fists at the comment but otherwise said nothing.

"… it's because you are nothing but a cheap two bit whore, you wanted him for yourself, just like the rest of us goddesses who wanted him there, so don't you dare walk about playing judge and jury because you're no better than the rest of us"

With those spiteful words, the goddess of wisdom stalked away and after which the hearth goddess let a few tears drop in shame before walking in the same direction the wisdom goddess had gone.

The goddess that was once known as Annabeth Chase continued mourning the loss of her lover completely ignorant of the cruel game of Olympian politics she had been a victim of.

AN: Before anything else I just have to say this, we ladies and gentlemen have reached 73 300+ views… I would fangirl but I'm sleepy so…

Sha bam, bet you guys didn't see that last part coming huh? Funny enough, Percy's conversation with Wanda is actually based off a conversation I had with a female course mate of mine a few weeks ago, the girl surprised the hell outta me to be honest.

I honestly don't know when next I'll be updating cuz, the second semester begins on Monday which is tomorrow btw so I have courses to register and all that jazzy stress.

I didn't tell you guys that the first semester ended as of the third of March, whoops heh.

So, read, review, favourite and follow

ALTAIR25 OUT!