Hi everyone! Hope you are all doing well and are excited for Christmas and any other holidays/festivities you celebrate. Those of you who are in school do you get off soon or are you already off? I finish this Wednesday coming but I'm curious if anybody is already done or is in for longer than me! Got a bit of a longer chapter for you as an extra special treat, the longest one yet! Nearly 4,000 words! I put a lot of time into it and really enjoyed writing it so I really hope you all like it. Anyway I'll shut up now, enjoy!
Percy woke up to bright lights. That was never a good sign. Well, the fact that he couldn't remember falling asleep or what happened before wasn't a good sign either, but the bright lights weren't helping. As he adjusted to his surroundings, he realised something. He had no idea where he was, or how he got there.
He looked around and realised he couldn't move his hands or feet. They were tied to the arms and legs of a chair, tightly. There was a table in front of him, and mirror on the wall. Most likely one-way-glass by the looks of it, which determined Percy's decision on where he was. An interrogation room.
Just as this thought occurred, the door opened, and a man with an eye patch walked in. He sat down in the chair on the other side of the table, opposite Percy.
"Perseus Jackson, you have been-" "Percy." The man blinked at him. "I'm sorry?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "My name, it's Percy. I don't go by Perseus," he said nonchalantly.
"Perseus Jackson," he said, acting as if the interruption hadn't happened. Rude. "You have been charged with numerous suspicions of crime-"
"Emphasis on suspicion. Never actually proven, seeing as I didn't commit them," he said, shrugging as best he could with the restraints. He saw the man's face and clasped hands tighten. A smirk slipped onto his face. He's getting frustrated. Good. This should be fun.
"Mr Jackson, I must ask you to refrain from interrupting me again, it would not do you well-" he began, trying to keep his voice steady. "I would, but you're really taking your time getting to the point of all this, so I might as well start. Where am I, why am I here, and who are you people?"
"I am the one asking the questions here," he stated, irritation lacing into his voice now. "As I have been trying to do this entire-"
"Well then ask them already! What's taking so long?" Percy asked, knowing that was the last man slammed his hands on the table. He was about to say something when the door burst open. Robin Hood stood there.
"Director," he said in a warning tone. Eye-Patch's knuckles turned white from how hard he was grasping the table, his glare piercing through Percy like a dagger. Percy didn't even -Patch breathed in deeply before shakily exhaling. "I'm fine, Hawkeye," he said, keeping his eye on Percy, who raised a mocking eyebrow at him.
"Could I speak to you for a moment, in private?" Robin Hood asked. Eye-Patch continued stare angrily at Percy, before aggressively straightening up and walking out through the door, Robin Hood following after him.
As soon as the door shut, Percy burst into laughter. Oh my gods, that was funny! He knew he was probably being watched by whoever was on the other side of that glass, but he didn't care. His reaction was priceless!
Not even a minute later, the door opened, but it wasn't Eye-Patch who entered, it was Robin Hood. Percy didn't try to hide the smirk on his face. He must have really gotten to him if he wasn't coming back in.
Robin Hood sat down across from him, clasping his hands together; not angrily or in a threatening way, but more civil. He stared at Percy, as if waiting for him to speak first, but if he wanted Percy to speak first, then Percy was going to go out of his way to make sure that didn't happen. Yes, he was that stubborn. He could practically feel Annabeth rolling her at eyes at his arrogance. After an agonising hour (it was only 2 minutes, but with his ADHD, it felt like an hour) Robin Hood finally seemed to give in. Ha, score!
"Do you remember me, Mr Jackson?" he asked in a calm manner. "Yeah, I remember you, you're Robin Hood. Met you at school when you guys were trying to be all 'inspiring'," he responded, making air quotes on inspiring, which was hard to do with his hands tied.
The man frowned. "Well, my name isn't Robin Hood, it's Hawkeye, but yes, that is where we met. I wanted to talk to you about that. You showed off some pretty sweet skills," he said. Percy didn't respond, just shrugged in a laid-back manner. This guy was clearly trying to coax him into a false sense of security, so he would just start talking. Does he really think I'm going to just tell him everything he wants to know by being nice to me? I'm not that stupid!
"You also seemed to not show much fear for being attacked by rabid animals, you were very brave," he continued, once he realised Percy wasn't going to respond. "Why is that? I mean, most kids, or anyone for that matter, would be terrified to even be in the presence of something like that, let alone go off and attack one."
Percy shrugged again, but this time decided to reply. "Guess I'm just built different," he said with a smirk. Hawkeye eyed him curiously, then gave a smirk of his own, leaning back in his chair. Percy didn't expect that. "I feel that. I'm not exactly like most other people, but I mean that's because of my, abnormal background, and the fact I have to work alongside a bunch of overpowered idiots."
Percy snorted at that. "I know the feeling," he responded. He glanced up and saw him looking at him. He realised what he said. That didn't give anything away, right? A flicker of worry went through him, but he continued to remain calm and more focused. He wouldn't let himself slip up again.
"How so?" Hawkeye asked in a way that made him sound like he was just asking an innocent question. "No reason," he said, shortly.
A pause, then, "I read your file, so I know you have a very... interesting past." Percy stayed silent. "Or maybe you were referring to the working alongside 'overpowered idiots' part?" Again, Percy didn't respond, just stared at the man. "Would you like to tell me something about you, either on your background, or any people in your life?" Nothing.
He seemed to realise then that Percy had locked himself off from him, after his slight malfunction. He frowned at him slightly, and after a very drawn out silence of neither of them saying anything, he said, "Okay kid, if you ain't gonna talk to me, we'll have to pull out the big guns. I kinda feel sorry for you," before getting up and walking out the door.
Percy frowned at that, but it was quickly replaced with a smug expression. I am so winning this! But just as he was feeling all chuffed with himself, in walked Ginger. Uh oh.
He swallowed thickly. There was something about her that put Percy on edge, but he knew he could still take her, whatever mind games she threw at him. Percy had been through Tartarus for Olympus' sake! He could take on a mere mortal. He grimaced slightly. He sounded like the Gods.
Ginger didn't take the seat like the two men prior. Trying to gain dominance with height. Simple, smart. But that won't work.
She narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't say anything. Just kept staring at him. Percy gave in this time. He was curious about this woman. "You got a name? Seeing as you probably know mine, seems fair I should know yours," he stated.
She looked at him for another moment before, "You can call me Black Widow." Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Pretty weird name, but hey, who am I to judge." "Not my real name of course," she continued, "but I'm afraid I can't disclose that to you." Percy shrugged in response. "Eh, fair enough."
She leaned on the back of the chair. "You seem to be a nice kid, and I'm sure you have a good heart. Your parents taught you well," she said. "Yeah, my mum's great. Way nicer than me," he said genuinely. His mum was the best.
"Not your dad?" That caught him off guard. He glanced at her instinctively with a slight flinch, but tried to remain casual. "Nah, wasn't around much," he said, keeping the slight hurt out of his voice. Before he wouldn't have really cared that his dad was never around, but after getting to see him a few times, they had developed a bond, becoming almost close; well, for a demigod and their parent anyway.
"That must have been hard. Probably made you feel sad, alone... angry." Percy cast his gaze down. Sure, he had gotten close with his dad, but he still had been angry at him for years until he found out the truth, and even still somewhat now. But what was she getting at with all this? "Not really," he replied, light-heartedly, "As I said, I had my mum, and my friends, so I was never really alone or unhappy." He left out angry; he knew he wouldn't be able to make that sound like the truth.
She must've noticed, because she raised her eyebrows in question at him, but he didn't continue or elaborate. "I understand what you mean. When I was a child, I was separated from my parents, my family. I was... taken, by an organisation that forced me to do, horrible things; that turned me into, a soldier. A killer." He looked up at her when she said this, taken by surprise. Guess he was right when he thought something was up with her.
"They took other children too, and I wish I could've helped them when I got out. Told someone, that could've got them out too." She looked at him seriously, but Percy was utterly confused. What is she talking about? Does she think he knows something about this organisation?
He kept his expression neutral as best he could. Her face changed to one of almost sympathy. She was about speak when suddenly, alarms began blaring from the hallway outside.
...
4 hours earlier
Jason walked through the city of New Rome, taking in the beautiful buildings, children running around, and clear skies above. It was good to be home.
He decided to leave Camp Half-Blood to come back to Camp Jupiter, for a while anyway, partially to check in on how things were going with the cross-camp renovations. He and Percy had discussed getting the camps to be more united; people could go between the two, share traditions and discoveries with one other etc. They were both going to be working on it together, seeing as he was Roman and Percy was Greek but were still very close friends, it would help set an example that they can coincide and work together.
They both decided to take a break first though after the war, where Percy could go off to see his mum and try to lead a bit of a normal life, and Jason could relax with his friends in both camps. Although, Percy had left 2 days ago and there had been no word from him, even though he said he would IM them as soon as he got home so they would know he hadn't gotten himself killed.
At first, Jason just assumed he would take a day to unpack, get settled, and probably just forgot. But now Jason was getting concerned, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.
He went up the hill to the fountain with a golden drachma. A rainbow had formed in the spray of the water. Jason tossed the coin in.
" Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. I wish to speak to Percy Jackson." Nothing happened. Jason frowned. "Percy Jackson," he repeated." This time something did happen, though not at all what he was expecting.
The drachma shot right back out at him and hit him in the nose. "Ow!" he yelped. Once he got over the shock, he stared at the rainbow, then at the coin, then back at the rainbow. I am doing this right, right? Romans had never used IM messaging before recently, but this is how he saw the Greeks do it.
He tried again, ending with the same result. Jason was utterly confused. Why isn't it going through? Is it blocked or something?
Jason froze. Blocked. He remembered something about the gods blocking messages to people who they didn't want to receive said message. Percy must be somewhere, or with someone, who the gods didn't want to see the IM. Jason thought for a moment, then tossed the coin in again, but said a different name. The image morphed into a collage of colours before solidifying into someone looking out the window.
"Mrs Jackson?" he called out. The lady jumped, and quickly looked around. "Over here," he said, causing her eyes to land on him. They widened before she seemed to regain composure after the surprise call and walked over.
"Yes?" she asked suspiciously. "Sorry to startle you, I'm Jason, a friend of Percy's," he responded with a friendly smile. Her face changed from suspicious, to surprised, to happy. "Percy mentioned you! Thank goodness you called, is he with you?"
Jason felt worry run through him, and it must have shown on his face, because Sally's expression fell, and Jason immediately felt guilty for giving her hope, even if it was unintentional. "I'm so sorry, I was actually calling to ask you just that. Percy said he would call when he got home, but he didn't, and I just wanted to check if he was okay."
Sally gave him a sad smile. "That's very kind of you to care about him, but I'm afraid I don't know where Percy is. He was meant to meet me at work, but he never showed up. I thought maybe he decided to stay at home, but he wasn't here when I returned." Jason could hear the panic in her voice, and tried to think of a way to help. "Don't worry, Mrs Jackson. I'm sure he's okay. I'll come out and look for him. Knowing Percy he probably decided to go to the beach or pool and fell asleep."
Sally's smile returned, comforted by Jason's attempts to make her feel better. "You may be right. And I would really appreciate your help, if you wouldn't mind." Jason gave her a comforting smile, trying to hide his own panic. "Gladly. I'll leave right away."
"Thank you. If you find him, please let me know," she said, a hint of desperation seeping into her voice. Jason nodded. "I will." and with that, the image faded.
Jason took a deep breath. Guess I have a Son of Poseidon to find.
...
Jason looked slowly around the park. He followed the short distance from Percy's apartment to his mum's shop, and noticed the park was the only way to stray from the walked around the entire area, finding nothing out of the ordinary, until he came to a stop in front of a tree. There was a gash through it. Thin, but deep. It looked as though something had hit it. He looked down to the ground near it, and found a patch of grass slightly dented, as though something had weighed it down for a short period of time. Something circular.
He walked around and felt something under his foot. He knelt and picked up a small dart. It had a needle on the end and a tube section, like an injection needle. Jason swallowed. From what he could tell, there had been a fight which ended with someone being drugged. That someone, though Jason hated to admit it, was most likely Percy.
He stood up and gazed around him, before his eyes landed on a man with his hood up sitting on a bench, face looking down. Jason eyed him for a moment before walking over to him.
The man glanced up at him as he came over, but Jason was already there before he could move.
"Excuse me, did you by any chance see anything happening here earlier? A fight perhaps?" he asked as politely and casually as he could. The man looked up, at which point Jason realised he wasn't a man, but a teenager. The guy looked at him curiously before saying, "Yeah, I did. Some kid and, the Avengers I think."
"The who now?" Jason asked. He had never heard of any 'Avengers' before. The kid looked at him weirdly. "The Avengers. You know, 'Earth's mightiest heroes' and all that that?" he said.
"Do you know where I could find them?" Jason asked, trying to move on as he for some reason felt awkward at not knowing who these people boy looked at him, bewildered, before a smile spread across his face. "You're funny, man," he said before getting up and beginning to walk away.
"Wait!" Jason called; the guy was somehow already almost completely hidden by the trees. How did he get so far without me noticing?
The boy turned round with a knowing grin on his face, making him appear all the more mischievous. "Always so serious, gotta get your head into the clouds for a change, though I suppose you even take that pretty literally," he said, before turning and disappearing into the darkness.
Jason blinked, bringing himself out of a daze. What the Tartarus did that mean? And how does he know I'm serious? I am not serious!
Jason shook himself from his self-argument and focused on the other thing the boy said. "Get your head into the clouds," he murmured. Then suddenly a thought came to him. It was weird and he felt stupid for thinking it, but he had no other leads. So, after making sure the coast was clear, he took off into the night sky.
...
Jason didn't even know what he was looking for as he flew through the air. He was taking some passing remark that a random teen said so seriously. He grimaced. Ugh, maybe I am too serious.
He was so focused on his own thoughts he didn't realise the speed he was going at, making the smack into the invisible wall all the more painful.
He caught himself before he plummeted to Earth. Slowly, he edged forward, hand stuck out, so he felt the wall before crashing into it again. He flew upwards, hand still on the side of whatever this was-a spaceship?-until he he was able to stand on what he presumed was the roof.
An invisible ship! This is so cool. Leo would've loved this, trying to figure out how it worked. His face fell. Leo. He closed his eyes for a moment to keep his composure. He couldn't let his emotions get the better of him now. After taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and began walking around.
There had to be some kind of entrance for people to come onto the roof for repairs. And sure enough, Jason walked into another invisible wall. He rubbed his head and glared accusingly at the wall. A security camera was going to have a great time putting all this together for some 'Epic Fails' video.
He moved his hand across the surface before feeling a doorknob. He turned it, not surprised when he found it locked. He took a step back and kicked the door, causing it to swing open with a bang. He winced. Not as subtle as he would have liked.
He stepped inside and closed the door. A stairway lead down to a hallway. After a quick debate he chose left.
Quietly as he could, he ventured down the corridor, keeping to the walls, and hiding behind corners when people passed. People with guns. What have you gotten yourself into, Percy?
After a while of, he walked past a room with screens covering the entire opposite wall. There were two men sitting in front of them with headsets on. The screens seemed to show different areas of the ship. This could find Percy! He scanned the screens from the doorway, until his eyes landed on one in particular. It was a small room with two people in it. A red-headed woman, and a black-haired boy. Percy!
His hope dipped slightly; he didn't know how to get there. He contemplated this dilemma, before his gaze wandered back to the two men sitting before him. With a quick look down the hallway, he slowly, quietly, stepped towards them. They didn't notice he was there until it was too late.
He knocked one out instantly with a quick strike to his neck, hitting a pressure point. The other stared at him in disbelief for a brief moment before lunging forward for the security breach button.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jason warned, lifting the mans fallen comrade from the floor and holding him by the neck. He didn't like threatening people, but he couldn't allow himself to be caught. "Press that, and I'll break his neck," he said, eerily calmly, completely contradictory to the panic zipping through him.
No you won't! And there's no way he's gonna believe you. "No you won't, (called it) you're just a kid," the man said, not convinced by Jason's act. "Wanna bet?" Jason challenged, glaring hard at the man. He saw the man hesitate, but thankfully he didn't call his bluff, and lowered his hand away from the button.
"Good. Now, where is that room?" he asked, gesturing to the screen with Percy in it. The man glanced over at it. He looked like he wasn't going to answer, then second guessed himself when he looked at his co-worker.
He glared at Jason. "2nd floor. Down the corridor, to the left. Take the stairs down 4 flights. Room 14." Jason nodded. "Thanks," he said, dropping the man in his grip, then lunging forward and pinching the same nerve in the other man before he could call for backup.
He fell to the ground, but not before his head knocked against the security alert button. Alarms blared through the room and the corridors.
Oh Styx.
Who do you think the teenager Jason met was? Someone relevant? Or just someone I threw in for plot convenience? Feel free to take a guess and enjoy your week!