Jason watched as his friend faded from view, guiding him with the winds away to safety.
Once he was gone, he turned back and his smile dropped to a grimace at the sight of all the glooming adults before him.
He opened his mouth to try and get in his explanation but was quickly cut off before he could even get a word out.
"You better stay right where you are!" shouted who must have been the lead agent, gaze locked on him as the rest raised their guns in warning.
"Here we go again," muttered Jason, already moving his hands up in the air.
"Lower your weapons," said Steve, gesturing to the agents. They looked between him and their leader for a moment, not knowing who to listen to.
"Sir, he just attacked my agents and assisted in an escape attempt," the man pushed, frowning at the captain.
"I would like to hear his argument before we go and lock him up," said Steve, looking to the agent. "But sir-" he tried but Steve raised a hand, silencing him. "We will take it from here," he said, leaving no room for argument.
The group hesitated. "That's an order, agent," warned Natasha, sending him a look. The man straightened instantly and nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he said before signalling for his troops to follow as he lead them out of the room, leaving just Jason and the Avengers.
The group turned to Jason, glaring at him, with the boy giving them a nervous smile in return.
"You better have a really good explanation for all this," said Clint, folding his arms. Jason fidgeted under his gaze. "Would you believe me if I said I went crazy under the influence of the plague and couldn't control my actions?" he asked, hopefully.
They continued to stare at him, unamused. "Yeah, didn't think so," he admitted, looking anywhere but at them.
"You knew he was planning to escape, didn't you?" asked Steve, sounding disappointed, which sent a weird feeling through Jason that he didn't understand nor like.
He shrugged, continuing to avoid their gaze but could still feel their penetrating looks sending daggers into his skull.
"Jason, you helped him. You flew him away into the sky and beat up numerous agents!" argued Clint.
Jason didn't say anything. What could he say? What they were saying was true, he didn't have any defence, but he didn't want to willingly give in.
"Jason, we were going to help you. Both of you," said Bruce, sounding genuinely confused at why he had done this.
Jason couldn't help a small eye roll as he scoffed. "To an extent," clarified Jason.
Bruce frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean sure, yeah, you were trying to help us find a cure, but what happens after that? Were you just going to let me and Percy go? Send us off on our merry way like nothing ever happened?" asked Jason, a bite to his tone as he finally looked up to face them.
It was the Avengers turn to feel awkward, Tony glancing away and Bruce putting his hands in his pockets so he could hide his fidgeting. Steve, Natasha and Clint's faces all softened at Jason's statement.
"You know we couldn't do that. Fury would never allow-" started Natasha but Jason scoffed, interrupting her.
"Exactly. Even if you really did want to help and make a cure, it was never going to make it back to camp, because you would never let us go. You still don't trust us, and your director certainly doesn't, what with our powers. He was probably glad we were going to die so he wouldn't have to worry about us using them on the world or something," finished Jason, looking at them angrily.
They didn't respond to that, instead looking to the ground with guilty expressions on their faces.
Jason sighed, trying to control his emotions. "I get why at the beginning you would be apprehensive about letting us go. But I thought.." He stopped, trying to find the words. "I thought," he finally continued, "after all the time we spent together, all the things you guys have said about wanting to help us, you would trust us enough to know we're not a threat. Enough to let us go home."
Shame swam through each of them, guilt clawing its way through their guts. Wasn't that what they had been trying to build this whole time? Trust? And now here they were, caught out as complete hypocrites, and it was all their own doing.
"Jason, we're sorry," Bruce said, finally, and it sounded like he truly meant it. "We really didn't mean for this to get so out of hand, and we really did want to help you. We still do, if you'll let us." Jason's gaze landed on him, searching his face for a flinch, a muscle twitch, any sign that would indicate a lie. He found none.
Jason's face softened and he took a deep breath. "Fine," he agreed, nodding to him.
Bruce smiled at him, turning and gesturing to the doorway. Jason hesitated before slowly walking over, and they both headed out back towards the laboratories, the rest following quietly behind.
...
As they made their way down, Steve, Natasha, Clint and Tony fell into step beside each other, Bruce staying up front with Jason.
"Well, now I feel awful," said Tony, sounding genuinely ashamed. "As you should. As we all should," said Natasha, sounding truthful but not breaking her stride.
"There's no way Fury's just going to let them go, especially not after all this," remarked Clint with a sigh. Then he frowned. "Actually, on that topic, how did all this start?"
They all turned to Tony, looking at him accusingly. "What?" he asked, frowning.
"You were the last one with the kid. Remember? When you took him to go show off after he tried to one you up?" reminded Natasha, looking at him pointedly.
Tony raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, all that happened was we got to my lab, I showed him my suit, which he gave some really good suggestions for improvements. Like really good, even I was impressed, and annoyed that I didn't think of it-"
"Tony," interrupted Steve. "What happened after that?"
Tony shook his head. "Right. Well, I went over to start drawing up diagrams and blueprints for the new suit designs and left the kid to do whatever kids his age do. And then..." he trailed off, a look of realisation dawning on his face.
Clint groaned, throwing his head back. "Please tell me you kept an eye on him and he only managed to escape because he somehow overpowered you?" he pleaded.
Tony grimaced. "Okay so he may have slipped out without my knowledge, and I may not have noticed until the alarms started going off," he said hesitantly.
Steve let out a long sigh whilst rubbing his forehead while Natasha shot Tony a look that was a mix between a glare and one of exhaustion.
"Okay, we can't change what happened, so no point in thinking anymore on it," said Steve, just as they were making it to laboratories.
"How about thinking about what Jason said then?" muttered Clint. No one responded to that, though their heads were dipped in silent shame.
"He was right," said Steve lowly. "Maybe it was a good thing the kid escaped, then," suggested Tony. They all turned to him, not knowing what he meant.
"I'm just saying, what Jason said was true," he explained, nodding to Steve. "Fury was never just going to let him or Percy go, so how would their camp be saved? Since I'm guessing Fury wouldn't have bringing them the cure as his number one priority when invading it."
They all thought about that for a moment as they entered the labs. This was true. What if, in their mission to free and save all these kids at this camp, they ended up letting them die? Jason was right. They were hypocrites.
Natasha sighed. "Even so, we shouldn't have just-"
"Guys," called Bruce. They all looked over to where he and Jason were now sitting, a needle in Bruce's hand. "We're about to try this out, if you all are interested."
They all glanced at each other briefly before quickly hurrying over to join the two.
"Okay then," said Bruce, turning back to Jason. "You ready?"
Jason took a deep breath before releasing it and nodding.
"I'm ready."
...
Jason tensed as Bruce carefully inserted the needle. It wasn't the needle he was scared of, he had endured far worse pain. It was the worry that what lay inside it would do no good. Or would do something worse.
He was so caught up in his anxious thoughts he didn't notice that Bruce had already retracted the needle and was disposing of it.
He stared forward absently, despite feeling the eyes on him as they waited. "How long should it take before we see any effects?" asked Clint after a minute of silence.
"Not long," Bruce replied vaguely. "You should start to feel different quite quickly at the very least," he said to Jason. 'Feel different' doesn't sound very certain.
They continued to wait in silence for what felt like hours but was really only a few minutes. Jason's worry and impatience got the better of him though.
He sighed as what little energy he had drained out of him. "I don't feel anything," reported Jason, slumping disappointedly in his chair. "Maybe you guys were right. I don't know why I was so certain we would get a cure this time."
"Hey, don't be discouraged," consoled Tony, feeling guilty about questioning Jason's hope earlier on. "It hasn't been that long," he said, trying for encouragement.
"You said it should only take a few minutes for it to take effect?" Jason asked Bruce who begrudgingly nodded.
Jason sighed again. "Look guys, I don't think it's going to-"
He felt his body lurch back as he started shaking all over. He cried out, his fists clenching the chair he sat on.
"What's wrong with him? Is he having a seizure?" he heard someone ask. "I don't know. This shouldn't be happening!" That was Bruce.
He felt hands grip his upper arms to try and hold him and his jerking body in place. "Jason? Jason, can you hear me?"
Before Jason could try and focus to generate a reply, his body fell forward into a hunch, stilling instantly.
He let his head hang forward, feeling too weak to move. He took quick breaths to try and get over the shock of what just happened. After he did though, he frowned, realising something. He slowly straightened up, blinking to regain his focus. That's when his eyes widened. He felt... fine. In fact, he felt great. Better than he had in days.
He slowly stood up, the hands that had latched onto him releasing but hovering beside his arms in a cautious manner.
For the first time in what felt like forever, he didn't feel dizzy at the movement, nor like he was going to collapse at any second.
He swallowed, and sucked in a shocked breath at how easy it was, no longer a feeling of rawness or pain in his once agonised throat.
He huffed out what he thought was a laugh, though it felt foreign to him since he probably hadn't had a true laugh in what felt like an eternity.
"Jason? Are you alright?"
He turned to Steve, seeing the worry lines in his forehead as he waited for his response.
"Yeah," Jason replied, distantly. He laughed, a real one this time. "I feel... great."
He looked up to smile at them. "I... I think it worked," he said, the grin on his face growing with each passing moment.
Relief flooded their expressions at his words, smiles appearing on their own faces that mirrored Jason's.
"Seriously? It worked?" Tony asked in disbelief, his eyes wide.
Bruce hurried over with a new needle and extracted a blood sample from Jason, who didn't even notice it this time.
He quickly moved over to inspect it. After a moment of examining it, he pulled back from the device with a grin. "All clear," he announced.
Jason, despite trusting Bruce's word, hurried over to see for himself. When he looked and saw the blood free of the virus, he finally allowed relief and joy to fill up inside him.
"Oh my Gods," he laughed, running his hands through his hair as he walked aimlessly around the room.
The others were talking now, but Jason couldn't focus on what they were saying. There was only one thing he could think about.
It worked. It actually worked! Everyone will be okay. Camp will be okay. The demigods won't die out. We're actually going to survive this. Gaia won't win!
"Jason," someone called, drawing Jason out of his thoughts as he whipped his head round to face them.
"Sorry," he muttered, though he was still smiling. "Just got excited."
Natasha smiled at him. "No problem," she said. "We were just saying, now that we know it works on you, we shouldn't waste any more time preparing and distributing another dose."
Jason tilted his head. Another dose?
"Why would I need-" he stopped as he realised, wanting to kick himself for not understanding immediately. "Oh my Gods, Percy!" he gasped.
He saw them grin, finding his delayed reaction amusing.
"We have to go! We have to go right now!" he said, running to the door. He was quickly stopped though as a hand grabbed onto the back of his shirt by the scruff of his neck.
"Woah there, zippy," said Tony, holding onto him so he couldn't go any further.
"We can't wait, we need to go now. Every second we waste, Percy gets closer to death, and I am not going to let him die when we have a cure right here," argued Jason, straining on Tony's hold.
"Jason, we're not letting him die, but we can't just rush in there either," reasoned Steve. "Why not?" questioned Jason, not happy about the delay but halting his attempts to escape Tony's grip.
"Well for one thing, the last time we saw him he attacked us with his very deadly powers and tried to kill us," said Tony, receiving a glare from Jason.
"Percy's not exactly in his right state of mind right now," interjected Steve before Jason could retaliate against Tony. "We are going to help him, but Tony's right. We need to remember that right now, Percy is not thinking straight and is in possession of powers that could seriously hurt or kill one of us."
He looked sympathetically at the teen before him. "Don't worry. We'll get him the cure, it just won't be as easy to give to him as it was to give to you."
Jason looked up to meet his gaze. After a moment, he sighed and nodded.
Steve smiled. "Okay then. Bruce? You have another one ready?" he asked, turning to the man.
Bruce held a needle up the ceiling, letting the light glint off it. The clear liquid inside didn't look like anything special, but they all still held their breath in awe as they looked on at its presence.
Bruce looked over to them, nodding. "We're good to go."
Steve looked back to Jason, now free from Tony's hold and straightening to attention. Steve smirked and looked to the rest of them.
"Alright, let's go."
...
The walk to where Percy was being held felt long and endless, but also like it came and went far too fast, as soon enough, they were right outside the room.
There were multiple agents posted inside and outside the door, guns armed and ready, which to the oblivious would seem like overkill, but to them didn't seem like nearly enough.
The light atmosphere that had been created when Jason had been cured had now vanished, leaving only unease and agitation.
Jason held his breath as Natasha signalled for the agents to move into place around them as she entered a pin and scanned her fingerprint. A beep sounded and the doors slid open.
It was dark on their half of the room as they entered, but there was light on the far side, covering the other half.
They all stepped in, their eyes locked on the empty bed that was pushed into the far corner, the only piece of furniture in the wide cell.
As they edged closer to the reinforced transparent wall that separated them, they saw him.
Percy was sitting tucked into the other corner, hugging his knees and with his faced tucked into his chest, muttering inaudibly.
Clint looked to Natasha, the pair nodding at each other. They then advanced on the cell, Clint placing his hand on the barrier. A light shined on it, scanning his hand before a beep signalled their access had been granted.
The door, which had blended in completely before, now slid open, and the two agents stepped in. They stealthily made their towards the boy, who seemed oblivious to their presence.
Just as they thought they would get to him before he noticed, his head sprang up and his eyes locked on their approaching forms. He quietened, the two freezing like dears caught in headlights.
Clint broke the silence, trying to sound as calm and peaceful as he could. "Hey there Percy," he said, taking a cautious step forward. The boy flinched at the action. "Don't be afraid, we're just here to help. We have something for you."
Percy didn't say anything but continued to stare at the pair. Although, while he wouldn't pull his gaze away from them, it also didn't seem like he was looking fully at them, as though he wasn't completely aware they were even there.
His fingers twitched and his neck seemed to jerk slightly every so often. There were dark rings under his bloodshot eyes, and the veins in his much thinner frame were way too prominent. It was horrible to see him so far gone, like he was just a shell of the person he once was.
He didn't even seem to be aware they were talking to him. In fact, he didn't react in any way until they were right in front of him.
His eyes widened as though this was the first he had seen them. His hands shot to the ground as he pressed himself against the wall behind him as he tried to scramble away.
"Woah, hey," said Clint, quickly reaching his hands out to try and halt his movements. He grasped onto Percy's knee, drawing his attention and so now he was only panting instead of pushing himself away.
"Percy, it's okay," said Natasha, trying to reassure him. She glanced behind her and waved her hand, motioning for Bruce to come in with the cure.
The man did so, quickly but cautiously entering the cell. Steve and Tony came with him to the door but waited outside with Jason, who kept his eyes locked on Percy. Steve placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder when Jason started to shake slightly at the sight of his friend.
Percy then muttered something under his breath, so quiet they would have missed that he had said anything at all if they weren't so close.
"What was that?" Natasha asked, softly. Percy raised his head up to meet her eyes, which widened at the now lack of fear, and appearance of anger that lay within them.
He snarled at her. "Go to Tartarus," he hissed before lunging forward.
...
Clint was taken aback for only a moment before he quickly regained his senses and pushed Percy off of him.
Bruce stepped back as Natasha and Clint struggled to control Percy, who would not hold still. Steve and Tony rushed in to help as Jason stood frozen outside.
After a painful struggle, they managed to get him to hold in place. He still tried to lash out, but his arms and legs were pinned behind him, preventing any further movement. He bared his teeth and breathed heavily, eyes filled with such hatred.
Jason finally shook himself from his shock and moved into the cell. He looked at Percy, his eyes filled with grief, but now also with determination.
He then rid his face of emotion and marched forward. Once he was close enough, he knelt down to be at Percy's height and grabbed his face to hold it in place while simultaneously exposing his neck. Percy struggled aggressively, but Jason held firm.
He then turned to Bruce. "Do it."
Bruce nodded and quickly went into action.
He hurried over to them and checked the needle before lowering it to Percy's neck. Percy's struggles increased tenfold as he tried desperately and without luck to escape.
As everyone focused hard to keep him in place, Percy's eyes met Jason's, and the world seemed to slow down.
The slightest look of recognition appeared in Percy, but it disappeared almost instantly as the plague took over once more. That was enough to send Jason over the edge. I am not losing him.
He turned to Bruce and nodded, and the man slid the needle into Percy's skin and injected the serum.
Percy froze as the liquid went in. After Bruce removed the needle, the adrenaline and exhaustion finally seemed to catch up with Percy, as his body went limp in their hold.
"You'll be okay, Percy. I'll see you soon," promised Jason, watching as his cousin's eyes slid closed.