Fury motioned for his troops to move forward, all of them discretely moving through the forest that they believed led to this organisations headquarters.
He decided to be in the field for this one, the danger of this case making it a top priority and Fury needed to ensure that everything went according to plan. They would take this group down and free those kids from their clutches.
As they grew closer, the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up, and he whipped his head to the side. He squinted through the trees but couldn't see anything through the darkness.
He didn't feel at ease though, and kept his guard up. As they moved forward, he saw something whiz passed in his peripheral vision. He spun on his heel and raised his gun, but again found nothing.
"What is it, sir?" asked his lieutenant, looking between Fury and the direction his gun was aiming. "I'm not entirely sure," admitted Fury, narrowing his eyes but lowering his gun. "But remain vigilant. I have a bad feeling. Something's not right."
The agent looked at him warily but nodded and continued on, his gun raised and ready.
Fury stayed back for a moment, looking around him, but eventually he followed the rest of them.
As he joined up with the group, he watched as the agents in front made their way up a large hill that had a tall pine tree on top. When they reached the summit, they stared over the edge. One of the them stepped forward to cross over, but jerked back instantly. Another tried again, but had the same result.
"What's going on up there?" asked the lead agent into his com, looking up the hill at his men. "Sir," one replied, sounding confused, which only made Fury frown deeper. "There doesn't seem to be anything here."
"What?" snapped Fury. "It appears to be just a strawberry field," one said. "Why haven't you moved in yet to investigate?" demanded the lieutenant. "We-we can't, sir," they answered, uncertainly. "What do you mean, 'you can't'?" pushed Fury, his impatience growing. "We can't move forward," they explained, again trying to step over the hill and failing. There seemed to be some kind of blur or mirage created in the air when they moved, but Fury couldn't exactly see what it was.
He was about to demand an explanation when a loud thud snapped them all to attention, guns raised and pointed into the trees.
Fury watched over the edge of his gun as footsteps sounded, coming slowly closer. They seemed uneven, almost like the person was stumbling or limping. Then, out of the darkness into the moonlight, stepped out a boy with brown hair and blue eyes, his gaze downcast to the ground and arms twitching by his sides.
The agents hesitated, confused at the sight. "Kid, are you okay?" called out Fury, thinking he might be an escaped child from the organisation.
The boy didn't answer but instead raised his head to reveal bloodshot eyes, cuts on his face and a snarl.
Fury was on high alert, about to say something to the boy when more thuds came, but this time from all around them. The agents whipped round in various directions as more figures emerged from the woods, circling and surrounding them, each one in a similar state to the first boy, twitching and angry looking, but some were even growling.
Fury looked back over to the first boy, who was now grinning at him, sending a chill down Fury's spine.
Then, everything turned to chaos.
...
Percy and Jason swung the doors to the roof open, finding the Avengers waiting inside. Their heads whipped towards them as they entered, the boys running over to meet them.
"Took you long enough," mumbled Tony, crossing his arms. "We got in here thirty seconds after you did!" defended Jason, gesturing with his hands to the door.
Bruce jumped in to prevent the oncoming argument. "Come over here," he told the teens. They quickly walked over despite not knowing what they were being summoned for.
Bruce pulled out his phone from his pocket and tapped the screen. "Hold out your hands," he commanded. They glanced at each other but did as told. Bruce then pressed the screen again and the bracelets on their wrists beeped and fell to the ground.
The two looked between themselves and Bruce, stunned. "Well you're going to need your powers if we want to stop this invasion," explained Bruce, laughing.
Percy and Jason blinked but soon smiled. "I'll not argue with that," said Percy, shaking his head.
"Are we ready to go?" Steve said, anxious to get going and not get distracted talking. They all nodded. "Great. Let's move," he instructed, moving over to the edge of the building which now opened up into the night sky thanks to its wall being destroyed.
Clint looked over the edge. "So how exactly is this going to work?" he asked, turning back to Jason, folding his arms.
"Like this," said Jason, those words being the only warning before the winds picked up in speed and Clint and Bruce rose into the air.
"Woah!" exclaimed Bruce, startled, waving his arms around in an attempt to balance himself. "Just relax. I've got control of you so you won't fall. If you flail about too much, it will be harder to concentrate on keeping you airborne," explained Jason, holding his hands up in the air.
"That's really encouraging," muttered Clint, trying to hold still. Tony, who had changed into his suit, slid his helmet down over his face and hovered into the air. Steve and Natasha walked over to him. Tony grabbed onto a harness they had fastened around themselves to give Tony a better grip and lifted them off the ground.
"Just you now, water boy," said Tony, head turned to Percy. "Ha, ha," deadpanned Percy, unimpressed by the already used nickname, but he readied himself and let Jason wrap an arm around him, meaning they were now all in the air.
"How come you get to be carried and not just be floated about in the sky?" complained Clint, frowning at them. "One less person to have to concentrate on keeping afloat," explained Jason, shrugging. "Plus, he's way lighter than any of you."
Clint looked at him aghast but didn't say anything when Steve shot him a look.
"Okay, we all ready?" Steve asked, looking to the group.
They all nodded.
"Great. Let's go."
...
The fly to Long Island went rather quickly. With the speed Tony's suit could go at, and with Jason having the whole 'Child of Jupiter' thing on his side, it went remarkably fast. Their panic fuelling their want to get there as soon as possible also was a helpful contributor.
Soon enough, Percy could make out the light provided by fire from torches, though they looked far brighter than usual, that signalled they had arrived. Jason must have seen it as well, because he began to descend towards the ground, Tony following his lead.
They landed at the edge of the forest that hid the grounds of Camp, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence with them flying in from the sky or with Tony's jets in case they needed the element of surprise on their hand. They each touched down gracefully, though Bruce and Clint did stumble as Jason set them down.
"Never do that again," Clint said to Jason, giving him a dark look. Jason raised his hands. "You got it," he agreed.
"Oh, by the way," Percy said, grabbing their attention. "Something we forgot to mention earlier. We have this magical barrier around Camp that's meant to act as a way to protect us from monsters, but it also prevents mortals from seeing what's really there or from entering."
"Wait what?" asked Clint, squinting at him. "Okay, let's go," continued Percy, ignoring him as he and Jason both dashed into the darkness of the woods. They could hear the others calling after them, wanting him to elaborate but eventually giving up and chasing after them.
Once they caught up to them, Jason spoke, doing so in a much more hushed tone than they had previously been speaking in..
"You all need to remain cautious," he said, lowly. "Even though none of you can get infected, these kids are still far more powerful than you all, and have lost all sense judgement. They won't know who you are or what they're doing."
"We got it, kid. Don't worry about us," responded Tony. Jason frowned, knowing full well they probably did not 'got it' but stayed silent and continued to move through the trees.
"How far away are we?" asked Steve, keeping his steps light as they hurried along as fast as they could while trying to stay quiet. "Not much farther," answered Percy. He glanced over at the soldier, seeing the frown on his features, his eyes narrowed. "Why? What's wrong?" Percy asked.
"It's too quiet," Steve replied after a beat. Percy stopped and signalled for everyone to do the same. He listened, and noticed Steve was right when all he could hear was the trees moving in the wind.
There wasn't even the sound of rustling that animals and monsters would make in the night. But what struck Percy the most was that he couldn't hear any people.
If Shield had already launched their attack, why could they not hear any fighting? Yelling? Even their helicopters hovering in the air?
There was nothing. Nothing at all.
"Wait here," Percy told the Avengers, and for once they listened. He then began walking quickly forward, motioning for Jason to follow.
Thalia's tree came into view, and just as they were about to move into the opening at the base of the hill, they froze and quickly duked behind a bush.
Not far in front of them were the agents from Shield, very few mind you, frozen in place, their arms raised in surrender at the demigods surrounding them. Many lay sprawled on the floor, unmoving, and Percy was praying they weren't dead.
Fury was at the front, a demigod walking up to him. A demigod that looked awfully familiar...
"Travis!" hissed Percy, his eyes going wide as he looked at the boy. He quickly silenced himself but continued to stare at the boy, now completely deranged, fingers twitching and looking and Fury with raw hunger in his eyes.
The rest of the demigods looked the same, some swaying in place, others itching to rush forward and attacking the defenceless soldiers.
"You tried attacked us," Travis muttered, barely audible. "We didn't mean to aggravate you," said Fury, slowly. "We were just trying to-"
Travis grunted what must have been a laugh, a dark smile creeping onto his face. "You really thought you could overpower us?"
He stepped up closer to Fury so their faces were almost touching. "This will end with one of us defeated, but it won't be me."
Percy felt Jason tugging on his sleeve and looked across to see him jerking his head in the direction of where they had left the others.
He nodded and with one last glance back, they darted as quickly and quietly as they could back to the group.
They were standing waiting a short distance away; not so far that it took them long to get there, but far enough that they wouldn't be noticed.
"The demigods have your troops surrounded," started Jason. "Most of them have already been taken out."
"Taken out as in, killed?" asked Bruce, hesitantly. "We couldn't tell, but I wouldn't rule it out," said Percy.
They all looked extremely concerned, their bodies completely tense. "So what's the plan?" asked Steve, turning to face them and folding his arms.
"You all surround them as quietly as you can. I'll cause a distraction that will allow you to have a surprise attack when I give the signal," explained Percy.
Tony, who had flipped his helmet up, raised an eyebrow at him. "You're going to cause a distraction?" he asked sceptically.
"Sure," said Percy, shrugging. "What kind of distraction?" questioned Clint, slowly, frowning at him. An evil look formed on Percy's face, and he grinned mischievously. Jason groaned, letting his head fall back. "It's what I like to call," said Percy dramatically, "a Jackson speciality."
"Please no," Jason groaned louder, a look of defeat on his face when he knew he would not be able to stop him.
"I don't like the sound of this," muttered Bruce, glancing between the boys.
"Trust me," assured Percy. "I am the master of stealth and misdirection. They won't know what's hit em'."
...
"Hello there fellow Campers!" yelled Percy, marching right into the circle of angry occupants, their heads whipping towards him on hearing his voice.
"This is the plan?" hissed Natasha, looking at Jason accusingly, who raised his hands and backed away from her.
"Master of stealth and misdirection?" repeated Bruce, raising an eyebrow at him. "Hey, you all agreed to let him do it," defended Jason before they all separated off to their positions.
"It's been too long," sighed Percy, stopping near Travis and Fury and placing his hands on his hips. "I've really missed you all," he said, looking at them all sincerely.
They glared back at him, snarling and hissing.
"Awe, you've missed me too? You all are too kind," said Percy, pressing his hand to his heart and looking touched.
"And Travis!" continued Percy, ignoring the dagger looks he was receiving and turning to said boy. "You're looking well. Been working out?"
Travis stared at him, making no notion he had acknowledged what Percy had said. "Ah well, you and Connor always liked the element of surprise, so I guess I'll just have to find out in a game of capture the flag later, eh?" he said, nudging him lightly.
Travis growled at him, flinching at Percy's touch. Percy edged slightly away from him, stepping closer to Fury, who was eyeing him suspiciously.
"Anyway, there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding going on here," he went on, trying to sound casual and not at all put off by the infected demigods, who appeared to be getting closer and closer to him by the minute. Were there this many a few minutes ago?
"These guys were just being stupid and thoughtless." Percy saw Fury shoot him a look but ignored him, his smile growing. "So, if you guys wouldn't mind, I think it would be best to just let them go-"
"You shouldn't have come here," Travis said, lowly. His gaze was cast to the ground but it slowly raised up to meet Percy's, allowing him to see the darkness within and the plague taking over.
"Actually," said Percy, dropping his light façade and standing up straighter, his face now emotionless. "I think I did."
He glanced at the dark woods. "Now!"
He then charged Travis, knocking him to the ground just as Steve, Natasha, Clint, Tony, Hulk and Jason all launched out of their cover.
Yells rang out; grunting, shrieks, loud thuds as people were thrown to the ground. There was so much movement. Some were running; away, at someone, or just mindlessly, Percy couldn't tell.
He only had power over Travis for a moment when he was caught off guard before he shoved Percy off of him with force Percy was not prepared for.
The virus gave the infected what must have been strong rushes of adrenaline. Percy sure hoped it wasn't some new unlocked surge of strength.
As Percy quickly scrambled to his feet, he locked eyes with Travis, and a wave of emotion washed over him.
Percy could see the complete lack of recognition, the emptiness, the anger that fuelled his attack. Travis, like the rest of the demigods, could not stop himself. That brief moment of coherency he seemed to have while talking to Fury was gone now, meaning Percy couldn't hold back.
Travis roared out before running straight towards him. Percy dodged and knew he couldn't just stay on the defence and had to use aggressive offence attacks in order to actually do some damage. Not enough to permanently hurt Travis, obviously, but enough to subdue him.
As they traded blows, Percy could see the others out of the corner of his eye. Jason was using a similar tactic to him by the looks of it. The Avengers, on the other hand, used a wide variety.
Percy could tell Steve was trying his best not to hurt them while still trying to take them down. Natasha was more brutal and precise, using quick movements that took down her opponent before they could even comprehend what was happening. Tony had his blasters set to stun, and Clint seemed to be using arrows with the same stuff he had used to knock out Percy way back when, while also using strong hits when he got into close combat.
Hulk was taking on some of the more powerful kids, but he it was proving particularly difficult for him to do much damage without literally doing too much damage.
As Percy continued his fight with Travis, narrowly missing a strike to his head, he could feel the worry stirring within him.
The Avengers were great, sure, and they were actually doing a pretty good job of fighting all these demigods, but the kids were still so strong. And they seemed to just keep coming.
No matter how many they took down, more appeared from the trees.
We can't fight them all.
Percy realised this with dread, looking over to Jason when he managed to kick Travis to the ground and had a bit of a breather. His friend must have been thinking the same, as he locked eyes with Percy, panting, and shook his head.
Percy gulped just as he felt himself falling to the ground. He grunted when he landed, and tried to escape but felt his arms being grabbed, heavy breathing in his ear. Percy knew he had no choice.
"I'm really sorry about this, Travis," muttered Percy. He then jerked into a roll, throwing Travis off balance and managing to free his hand, shoving it into his pocket and grabbing his pen.
He uncapped it, releasing Riptide. He elbowed Travis in the jaw, causing him to lose his grip on Percy who then spun round and hit Travis in the head with the bud of his sword, resulting in him crumbling to the ground, unconscious.
He jumped over his body and ran to Jason. "There's too many of them," Jason yelled over the noise, ducking as a fist swung at where his head had been.
Percy went back to back with him as they fought while formulating a plan. "We need to subdue them without hurting them as best we can," Percy called back, swiping someone's legs from under them as they charged towards him.
"How are we going to do that? If we use our powers, it may cause too much damage," shouted Jason, glancing over at him. Percy gritted his teeth, kicking another screeching child away from him.
He thought desperately, trying come up with a plan. He thoughtlessly glanced over at the hill that led over to Camp and did a double take as he saw six figures emerging over the edge.
His eyes widened before narrowing in on one of their clenched fists, holding something that was just peaking through their hand. Then, a thought suddenly came to mind. A really crazy, no evidence or information to back up if it would actually work thought. So of course, Percy went with it.
"Not if we use them the right way," realised Percy, a sly grin growing on his face. Jason looked at him curiously. "Come on," ordered Percy, dashing towards their friends, Jason following close behind.