AN: Hey yo! I'm baaaccckkkk! Yeah, I know, it took forever, but here I am, and I'm earlier than I thought it would be too! So yay! But anywho, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, because it took a lot of work. I had to rack my brain to get the right music for the different themes of this chap. I'm so proud of myself, I wrote this in one day! Yay! You may even get to see some other half-bloods we haven't seen in this so far.
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Avengers
Tony grinned easily. "Hey Captain Eyepatch, was up?"
Fury ignored him in favor of turning to Natasha. "Bring me the other boy," he instructed her.
"Leave Nico alone," Tony glared at her.
She met his glare with an even look. "No," she said simply. "He's a suspicious character who's being brought in for questioning."
"He's fourteen!" Percy argued.
Pepper touched his shoulder. "Let Tony and I deal with this, okay?" she said. "No!" Percy wanted to shout. "He's my cousin, and I will protect him! I can stop them!" But he knew he couldn't. Not even he was powerful to manipulate the mist to cover up water attacking people. He'd seen that in sixth grade. Natasha ignored them and headed for the elevator. Percy's heart rate sped up. He had to get down to Nico first and warn him! But how...
Percy turned and bolted from the room, heading for the stairs. A gun shot rang from behind him, but he just dove through the door and closed it behind him. He only noticed the bullet sized hole in the door because of his ADHD. He ran and hopped onto the railing, sliding down it like a slide. He ran for all he was worth when he got down to the right floor. Only one thing mattered. Getting Nico out of harms way.
His latest vision began to haunt the boy's head. In his mind's eye, he saw Nico laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling with life-less eyes. Bullet holes riddled his chest. Blood stained the bed and the floor. He could hear his voice whispering in his ear. Telling him he'd not only failed Bianca, but Nico too. Tears began to fill Percy's eyes, but he shook them off, determined to protect his young charge. He may have failed with Bianca, but not with Nico. No, he would protect Nico, no matter the cost.
Percy burst into the room, making Nico groan at the noise.
"Get up! Now!" he shouted anxiously. He grabbed his Nectar and shoved it into a knapsack, doing the same with a pair of clothes for himself and Nico. When his cousin groaned and rolled over, he scooped him up bridal style. Nico's eyes flew open.
"Hey! Hey! Put me down!" he demanded. Percy turned when other people entered the room. His eyes were wide with fear. The black man from upstairs had a gun in his hand. Natasha also held a gun. Tony and Pepper were no where to be seen. Vaguely, the son of Poseidon hoped they were alright, before his mind came back to the more important things. Percy back up to the window, tightening his grip on his cousin.
"Let him go, son," the man said, his voice softer than it had been upstairs. "We just have a few questions to ask you." Percy glared at him, his eyes flickering all around the room, from face to face and gun to gun.
"The shooting makes me feel so comfortable," he replied sarcastically, his grip once again tightening on his cousin. Nico wiggled a little, trying to free himself. Percy set his lips right next to the boy's ear.
"Go to your dad's house. Stay there until I call for you," he instructed.
Nico's eyes widened. "What? No! I'm not gonna-"
"It's that or go to camp!" Percy snapped.
The son of Hades gulped as he looked into his cousin's eyes. There was something there he'd hoped to never see again. It was an icy anger, mixed with burning desire to protect. It made Nico's blood run cold, as well as make him burn with fear of what his friend might do.
"Choose, your dad, camp, or the legion!"
Nico nodded glumly. "I'll visit Hazel," he said quietly.
Relief passed through Percy's eyes.
"You're not going anywhere," the black man growled, pointing a gun at them. Percy's eyes widened.
"Now!" he shouted, turning and shoving Nico into a shadow. The boy stumbled and fell into the wall. Two gun shots rang through the room. The son of Hades grabbed his cousin's hand.
"You're coming too!" he growled. Percy gave the barest of nods. Nico relaxed and stepped deeper into the shadows, beginning to shadow-travel. Percy ripped his hand from his cousin just as he vanished, so the older boy stayed behind.
He smirked victoriously at the people before him. He whistled. It was a New Yorker's whistle, loud enough to be heard by the human ear for at least a mile. "You can't touch him now," he promised.
"But you're coming with us," the man replied. Percy shook his head tiredly.
"I won't be going anywhere with you," he said, clutching a bleeding arm. He jumped backwards, breaking through the window and falling back towards the ground. The two adults rushed to the window, looking down to see the seventeen year old fall through the air. About five meters off the ground, a black shadow swooshed underneath him, and he vanished. The only things left behind were a black feather as it floated slowly to the ground and two very confused and pissed off members of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nico turned to grin at his cousin.
"We made it," he said as he turned. Then dread filled him. There was no one behind him. Percy wasn't there.
Nico stared brokenly at his hand, noticing a small red smudge. He sniffed his hand, wincing when he smelled a familiar coppery tang. Blood. He stopped and focused for a minute, feeling for his cousin's soul in the underworld. He could feel that Percy was still alive, still very much alive.
Anger boiled in his stomach. He couldn't decide whether to be pissed at the cousin that sent him on alone, at himself for not realizing Percy would do that, or at S.H.I.E.L.D for causing the mess in the first place. No matter what, he knew what he had to do.
The son of Hades stepped back into the shadow he had emerged from and a was gone in an instant, leaving no trace of himself except for a lone foot print in the dirt.
Tony soared around the building, just in time to see his foster son falling to his doom. He raced down, putting all power to his thrusters, hoping to save the boy he'd come to care about. When he was about a hundred feet from the boy, a black shadow raced by, catching the teen and carrying him off. Tony watched it, shell-shocked for a moment, before chasing after the shadow. The black creature flew back up into the sky, higher than the clouds. Tony soared after it.
When he broke through the clouds, he was met with a sight only described in story books. His foster son was smiling peacefully, hugging the neck of the black shape. His black hair really lived up to its description 'wind blown'. Up in the sky, the wind shoved it every which way. A leather necklace Tony had never seen before hung around the boy's neck, shivering in the wind.
But the part that made the scene one from a fairy tale was the black creature that seemed to run on air. A horse as dark as midnight seemed to run across the clouds, its black tail and mane whipping in the wind. Percy's right arm was around the horse's neck, a pleasant smile on his face as his lips moved. The horse's dark wings beat steadily, like a drum. The Pegasus threw back its head and neighed happily to the world. Percy laughed with it.
Then, halfway through his laugh, the boy grunted and curled up on himself. The Pegasus neighed worriedly, slowing from a gallop to a trot. The teen urged the magnificent creature to pick up its speed once more. Tony followed it without hesitation.
Then, suddenly and without warning, the two dove down through the clouds. Tony, trying to copy the sudden change in flight patterns, blinked in shock at where they came out. It was a simple park on the outskirts of down town. One of the old abandoned ones no one used anymore. A fountain sat on the edge of a clearing of trees at the top of a hill. It seemed to be full of some dark liquid. For a second, Tony was scared it was blood, since it had a red-ish tint, but as he got closer, the red tint turned into a brown tint.
The pair flew over top of that and on through the park. About thirty seconds later, the Pegasus stopped over top of a pond. Percy pulled himself off of the creature's back and fell silently into the small body of water. The black Pegasus landed on the edge of the pond and stretched out, before laying down, as if to take a nap.
Tony landed in the cover of the trees, walking to the edge of the pond to gaze down in, on the opposite side of the mythical creature. The boy was laying at the bottom of the pond. Blood had began to tint the water, floating in it like some kind of red smoke. The Pegasus snorted a warning, its eyes locked on the metal man on the other side of the pond.
"Be careful what you do," the creature seemed to say. Tony looked at it for a moment, before giving the slightest nod.
"I'm just gonna get him back to the surface, 'kay?" he said, moving to dive into the pond. He jumped to dive, but was sent flying by a heavy weight slamming into him. The Pegasus glared at him from its spot over the water, where he'd been seconds before. It neighed angrily, pawing at ground that wasn't there. Tony stood and backed up slowly, trying to refrain from angering the creature once more. The Pegasus stared at him intensely for a moment, before landing on the same side of the pond as he stood on. It shuffled uncertainly, turning its head to gaze all around the pond, before it snorted angrily, once more taking flight. It dove at something on the other side of the pond. It smashed into something and neighed angrily, rearing on its hind legs.
"Impressive," an all too familiar voice said as a tall man with slick black hair and gray-green eyes appeared.
Nico stepped out of the shadow of the tree, looking around in the growing darkness. Already, nearly everyone was there. Annabeth, Thalia, Leo, Piper, Grover, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Clarrisse and a few others looked at the son of Hades when he stepped into the clearing.
"You all know why we're here," he said. "And I don't know about you, but I'm not just gonna leave Percy in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D." A growl of approval rose from some of the Ares campers who stood nearby.
"Percy's as much a part of the Roman camp as he is of the Greek, and I don't intend to let him stay missing!" Frank growled. "As one of the Praetors of the Twelfth Legion Fulmenta, I fully intend to help you regain our missing member."
"I agree. Percy maybe Greek, but he's a member of the Twelfth Legion, and no one gets away with messing with the Twelfth!" Reyna cried her agreement.
"Both Praetors have reached a consensus, and all the cabin leaders agree," Clarrisse smirked. "S.H.I.E.L.D has asked for war, so let's go give it to them. Let's go get Prissy back!" A roar rose from all the campers present in the woods. The trees nearly trembled at the force coming from the combined ranks of Greeks and Romans as they shouted they vengeance into the night sky.
AN: And that's a wrap. Poor Percy, getting shot. I thought I did a really good job with a lot of those cliffies. I know, I know "RAD you just gave a cliffy, what's with all the new ones?!" The answer is, I couldn't help it. Yes, I know you'll all be mad at me, but try to be patient all will be explained with time. And now to answer reviews. (Note, if you reviewed as a guest and don't know which response is to you, look at the reviews, I'm answering these from the bottom of the reviews to the top, oldest to newest. You could start putting some name in the name line just to use as a place holder so I know which Guest. Thanks!)
Guest Reviews:
JarvisAI: I know, I know, it really was uncalled for, but I didn't have any more time to keep writing, and my muse was encouraging me to end there, so I did. Blame him, no me. I think this chapter proves that you gave me a little too much encouragement to continue with the 'good work'. Is this enough cliffies for you? LOL! 3
Guest: Sorry, but now you have an update!
Guest: I did update soon! Yay!
Guest: I hope you did survive. It would be very sad if one of my reviews died. I'm glad you liked it.
Fluffyteddybear: I hope your brain didn't implode since I updated within a month. If it did, know in the underworld that tried I to save you. I'm a huge Nico fan too! Sorry, no interrogation just yet. May add some later though, not too sure yet. Thanks for the encouragement!
Guest: I heard you, and did update soon! Wahoo!
Actual Users
monkeybaby: Thanks for understanding. It's sad when you try to explain something, and people are all like "That's not okay!" I was really glad that you and a bunch of others were just like "sure, okay!"
Theia-The-Planet: Yaaaayyy! Updated!
Saphira Nograd: You don't need to miss me any more, for I have returned!
Protagonist of Life: Sorry, no big reveal just yet, but I hope the twists have been enough for you until I update again.
Starlilly Rose: Yes indeed, now that Leo has joined the party, things have begun to heat up! ;) I'm so glad you think so! I can't tell you how much I appreciate being told things that I'm doing well, (and not so well but whatev.) (Look at bottom for reward)
frejane: I thought it was getting excited too! Sorry, I'm not trying to be as bad as Rick. You should blame my muse, he made me do it.
AjSummer: I read your review, so I understand why you had to scream at me, but I won't feel complete unless I reply UPDATED UPDATED UPDATED!
Fireflames2018: I'm glad you like it! Welcome aboard this crazy train of a story!
Glossette: Thanks so much!
Young Writer Author: I don't intend to abandon my first story! That would just be cruel, heartless and Ruthless (lol). Yes, I will keep writing for a while.
MusicMyEscape-DemiGodSlytherin: I'm glad you liked the idea! I did too ;) I hope you like how I'm writing it. There you go, now you may read more.
PercyJacksonDoctorWhoFanGirl: Well, first off, I like Doctor Who too! I haven't watched that much unfortunately, but I still like what I've seen! I did write the ninth chapter and I'm glad you like this so far!
avengerbrink: I did hurry up, but I hope it didn't effect the quality of the chapter, that would be sad. I hope you liked it!
And now I have responded to all 19 or so reviews. *sighes* that was a lot. And I realized I over use exclamation points in my ANs. Oh well. Question, Is Blackjack a boy or a girl? Cause in The Sea of Monsters they refer to him/her as a mare (which would be a girl) and then later they refer to him as a boy saying things like "he said" or "he replied". Anywho, hope ya'll liked it!
- RADyo