Chapter Eleven: The Avengers Get Their Butts Kicked
A/N Not a huge author's note today, though again I'll thank all my AMAZING reviewers at the end of the chapter.
Annabeth P.O.V.
Annabeth was worried about Percy.
He'd woken up with sweat pouring down his face and breathing hard. The Avengers were all looking worried over him, and Tony kept smirking. They all thought it was just a normal bad dream. Annabeth didn't need them underestimating Percy and Annabeth even more.
"Percy, what was it about?" She whispered in his ear. "Later," He mumbled and stood up; trying to look like everything was fine. "I'm good, people. Show's over. Go back to your business." They did so. "Bathroom," Percy said to Annabeth, and left.
As soon as Percy came back, they went to the back of the quinjet together. "It was important," Percy said. "But I can't tell you when they're all listening." Suddenly Annabeth had an idea. "As milisoume sta ellinika archaia*." She said in Ancient Greek. Percy understood immediately. "Do you think it will work?" He said, also in Ancient Greek. "As far as I know, none of them can speak it." She replied. "All right," Percy said, "But let's make this quick. We don't want to raise more suspicion." Annabeth nodded.
"We have permission from Olympus." Percy said. Annabeth stared at him. "When? Who told you?"
"Just now. My dad." Percy replied. "Should we do it now?" He asked. Annabeth thought. "No," She said. "After the whole Ultron thing blows over. Who knows? Maybe we'll defeat him right after this!" Percy sighed. "Annabeth, you know that isn't true." Annabeth nodded sadly. "Fine. After we fail to capture Ultron. That good enough for you?"
Percy nodded and there was a ghost of a smile on his face. "Okay. But that wasn't the most disturbing part." Percy told her about the rest of his dream, halting at parts because Percy didn't speak Ancient Greek as well as Annabeth did. When he was done, Annabeth stared at him in horror. "We killed all the Titans!" She said. "Do you think some of them are coming back?" Percy asked her. "They can't be." She murmured. "I don't remember any nicknames for Titans that are even remotely like the Mad Titan." He nodded. "I'm just as freaked out as you are. And the end of my dream didn't make any sense at all." Percy told her about a golden glove and different colored gems.
"Okay," Annabeth said, breathing through her nose to get control of her panic. "There's no way a Titan is coming back. In the meantime, I'll try to contact my mother, see if we can get any information. Right now, we should focus on Ultron." Percy grinned weakly. "Right. One crisis at a time."
(Tony)
Was the kid having a bad nightmare? That wasn't a good sign. If one of their crew got freaked out just when he had a nightmare, that couldn't bode well for anything else. Tony had to resist the urge to say, 'Aww is the wittle baby scared?' The look in Annabeth's eyes made him decide that it was not the best time, however.
Then the two went in the back and started talking quickly in a different language that Tony didn't understand, though once or twice he thought he heard 'Ultron'. "JARVIS, what language are they speaking?" Tony asked quietly. "It appears to be a form of Ancient Greek, sir." Tony nearly fell out of his chair. "Isn't that a dead language?" He asked. "Ancient Greek died out around the seventeen hundreds, sir. The people in the areas around Greece now speak Greek, but not Ancient Greek."
Tony nodded. This was starting to fit with one of his theories, but he had to be sure. It sounded like the kids were finishing up their conversation. "JARVIS, translate, please." Tony put on his headphones and Annabeth's voice sounded in his ear, distorted from translation technology. "-Try to contact my mother, see if we can get any information. Right now, we should focus on Ultron." Percy replied, "Right. One crisis at a time." Then they stopped talking.
Tony took off his headphones. He glanced behind him and Percy and Annabeth had sat back down in their usual spots. Were there multiple crises that the Avengers didn't know about? Were the kids creating another problem that they would have to deal with? And wasn't Annabeth's mother dead?
Tony was pondering these questions until they finally landed in Africa.
(Percy)
The Avengers quietly got off the plane and on to the boat where Klaue was working (could you call it working when you were only buying off other people?). Everyone in the boat was wandering around and it was pitch black. Finally, with a lot of bumping into things, they found where Klaue and Ultron were.
It appeared that Ultron had just cut of Klaue's arm. "Oooh, I'm sorry. I'm so sor… I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry, I just don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark! It's a thing with me. Stark, he's a sickness!" Ultron kicked Klaue down the stairs.
"Oh, junior." Tony said, now in his Iron Man suit. "You're gonna break your old man's heart." Thor was to Tony's left, Percy was directly behind him, and Steve was to his right. Percy brought out his sword and readied it. "You know if I have to." Ultron said, not even flinching as he turned around.
"We don't have to break anything." Thor said. "Yeah, I prefer my bones un-broken." Percy commented. "Ah, clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron replied. Percy would have laughed if Ultron wasn't evil. "Beat me to it by one second." Tony said.
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff emerged from the shadows. "Ah, this is funny Mr. Stark." Pietro said. "It's, what, comfortable? Like old times?" Tony turned to them. "This was never my life." Steve turned to the twins as well, his expression sympathetic. "You two can still walk away from this."
"Oh, we will." Wanda said. "I know you've suffered." Steve said. Ultron looked at him in disgust. "Ugghh, Captain America! The righteous man, pretending you can live without war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but today ends the Age of Man."
"If you believe in peace, let us keep it." Thor said sternly. "I think you're confusing peace with quiet." Ultron replied. "Uh-huh. What's the vibranium for?" Tony asked. "Well, I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron said sarcastically. Ultron's robot army burst out of nowhere yet again. Percy chopped the head of the one that was attacking him with one swipe of his sword.
Annabeth, Clint, and Natasha all jumped out of the shadows to help everyone, drawing their various weapons. Bruce had stayed in the ship just in case he accidently Hulked out. Pietro ran and attacked Steve and Percy but Percy hit him with the blunt of his sword and Steve hit him with his shield. Pietro fell to the ground. "Stay down kid." Steve said.
"Guys, is this a Code Green?" Bruce said into their ear pieces. Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Wanda sneak up to Thor. "Watch out!" Percy yelled, but too late. Wanda used her creepy red powers near his head. Steve ran up to Thor. "Thor! Status"
"The girl tried to warp my mind," Thor replied, striding forward as if nothing had happened. "Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty…" Thor's voice trailed off as his eyes shone red.
Percy winced. He doubted there was anything to do to help Thor besides wait for the vision to stop. He glanced behind him and saw Natasha halted on the stairs; her eyes glazed red as well. "Styx," Percy swore. "Steve! We're the only ones-"Wanda did the same to Steve. Percy would have groaned if she hadn't been making her way over to him as well.
"Not today," He said, not even looking over and giving her a nice good bruise with the butt of his blade. Sure, it wasn't the nicest, but Percy figured she deserved it. Nothing too bad, but enough for her to think twice about trying her mind games on him again.
One of the last robots attacked Percy just as Wanda got up shakily and walked towards Clint. Percy would have stopped her if he wasn't too busy not getting killed by a robot. Luckily, Clint turned around and put an electric arrow on her forehead. "Done the whole mind control thing." Clint said. "Not a fan." Pietro ran in out of nowhere, grabbed Wanda, and raced off. "Yeah, you better run. Whoever's standing, we gotta go. Guys?"
Steve dropped his helmet and walked off. Suddenly Percy remembered Annabeth. He spun around violently and spotted her just above the stairs to his left. She was lying on the ground and shivering. Percy ran to her and sat near her.
She was trembling so violently her teeth were chattering. "Percy no… Why are you leaving me? Spiders… spiders everywhere…" She was muttering nonsense, mostly about Tartarus and the minutes leading up to it. "No, Annabeth, it's okay, we're not there anymore, wake up please wake up!" Finally, she gasped and sat up. The fog cleared from her eyes. "Percy!" He pulled her towards him and hugged her. "That was… that was…"
"I know." Percy replied. "Styx, Annabeth, I know." He took a sharp breath. "I'll kill her." Annabeth had a shaky laugh. "I'm fine." He looked into her eyes. "No, you're clearly not fine." Percy glanced over at Barton who was farther away holding Natasha, who was also staring into space. Clint looked at him as well and a sort of understanding passed between them. "We've got to get them to the jet," Percy said, and Clint nodded.
Tony's voice sounded in their earbuds. "Natasha, I could really use a lullaby." Clint shook his head. "Oh, that's not gonna happen. Not for a while. The whole team but Percy and I is down, you'll get no help here. "What am I, chopped liver?" Annabeth protested. Percy ignored her. "What's going on?" He asked.
Clint sighed. "Apparently the little idiot made Bruce Hulk out. Not normal Hulk out, though. Tony's dealing with him." Percy stood up. "I've got to go help him." Annabeth pulled him down. "No Percy, you're no match for the Hulk. Even Thor couldn't subdue him. You'll be no help to us if you're dead."
Percy scowled. "But-"
"No." Annabeth was final. "Remember that time I saved you from failing your physics test? And when I studied with you for hours? When you passed the test I specifically remember you saying, 'I owe you one, Wise Girl.' Remember that? I'm calling that favor in now. Under no circumstances are you going."
Percy groaned. "Aw, don't pull that on me now." But he sat down. "I guess we're just gonna have to wait." Clint said who was watching Percy with a slightly amused expression. After a while Percy said, "Should we try to wake her up?" Clint shook his head. "I tried. She's pretty stuck in it right now. Besides, she'll be disoriented when she wakes up and might accidently attack someone."
Percy shrugged. "Okay. It was just an idea."
"Yeah. Ever try to play an April Fool's Day trick on the Black Widow? Not smart. She accidently kicked me in the gut before she realized it was a trick." Clint remembered.
Percy laughed. "I would've payed a lot to see that." They sat in silence for a little longer, and then Tony spoke in their earbuds. "Guys, Banner's been taken care of. Let's bring 'em back in the ship. I'll meet you there." By then everyone had woken up from their visions, but were still shaky.
. . .
Everyone was very subdued on the quinjet. Percy had never seen such a mix of emotions on Natasha's face before. Come to think of it, he had hardly ever seen emotions on Natasha's face. Bruce looked awful. Annabeth kept shivering at random moments, even though it was anything but cold inside the jet.
Clint had taken the wheel. He'd said he was taking them to 'a safe place', whatever that meant, and they certainly needed it. The Avengers had gotten their butts kicked by two kids with powers. Everyone's pride had taken a severe blow. Percy and Annabeth didn't care as much. They were used to fighting teenagers.
Thor didn't look worried as much as thoughtful. Steve seemed to have collected himself well enough, and Tony was stewing on the pilot's seat next to Clint. Maria Hill's voice sounded on the speakers. "The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest but it's in the air."
"Stark Relief Foundation?" Tony asked, sitting up. "They're already on the scene. How's the team?" Tony sighed. "Everyone's… we took a hit. We'll shake it off." There was static on the speakers for a bit. "Well, for now stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here."
"So, run and hide?" Tony wondered. "Until we find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer." Tony switched off the monitor. "Neither do we."
Percy leaned back in his chair and sighed. Soon enough, the news reports would come in, telling of two new recruits to the Avengers with hoods over their faces. And soon enough, reports would come in about six new recruits also wearing hoods over their faces. What would happen when the hoods came off and the Avengers found out who they really were? How would the group, and the world, react?
A/N Thanks to all my reviewers! Shout out to:
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*Ancient Greek translations: Let's talk in Ancient Greek.