Hey everyone! We're down to the final chapters of the story. Sad I know, but also good because now we'll finally have a conclusive ending! This chapter answers a couple questions that were still inconclusive, but if there's anything that I haven't explained/left out from earlier chapters do let me know! There was so much going on in this story and I've lost track of everything I've said and have not said, so do say if you remember something! Anyways, hope you enjoy and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon!
Everyone had gotten to work cleaning up Camp and the ruins of the battle, and from the amount of debris, it was going to take a while. But that didn't matter, because they were all safe. Well, safe from the plague, because come on, how safe can you really be when you're a demigod?
Everyone was still shocked at what had transpired and that they were the ones, despite not being of sound mind, had caused it all.
Will was making sure that everyone was fully cured of the virus before sending them off to help in putting everything back together. The last thing anyone wanted was for there to be a lone demigod immune to the cure who would run off and spread it to the world.
Percy and Jason watched from atop the hill, surveying the scene below. Jason glanced behind them to see the Avengers in an intense discussion with Fury.
Steve, Natasha, Tony, Bruce and Clint had all agreed to keep their secret under wraps, but convincing Fury was another matter. Keeping it secret was one thing, but persuading him to leave them be, to reason they were not a threat; that was another thing entirely.
"You think he'll listen to them?" asked Jason, still looking at them. Percy glanced at him before turning his own gaze towards the group as well. "I don't know," he admitted. "I hope so. If not..."
At that moment, the conversation appeared to end with Fury looking at them angrily before storming off over to his agents, the others looking after him for a moment before heading up the hill to join the two teenagers.
"Well?" asked Percy, raising an eyebrow at them. "He's not fully convinced," said Natasha, folding her arms. "Well, it's his funeral," shrugged Jason.
He glanced over at them when silence followed, finding them staring at him, eyes narrowed. "Not literally," Jason assured quickly. They relaxed a little. "Jeez, you guys are so dramatic. We're not monsters," said Jason, giving them a look.
"Sorry, that's not what we meant. It's just kinda hard to tell when you guys are joking or not anymore," explained Bruce, apologetically. "Fair enough," agreed Percy.
They all turned forward to look towards Camp. "Is there really a camp down there?" asked Clint, squinting down the hill. "Yeah, there is. Although I'm guessing all you guys can see is a strawberry field and a lake," said Jason, looking over to see them nodding slowly.
"And we can't get through?" asked Bruce, raising his hand forward only for it to be stopped by an invisible force. "Nope," said Percy. "We could give you access, but I have a feeling the big guy wouldn't be all too happy about us letting a bunch of mortals in on top of revealing our world to them."
"That's okay," assured Steve, shrugging. "It's just bizarre to think there's an entire camp down there, and we can't even see it," he continued, narrowing his eyes as though it would help him see the invisible area.
"Speaking of things we can't see, we never got to ask you, and I presume it's okay for you to say now: what's up with those tattoos?" asked Clint, gesturing at their arms.
Percy and Jason instinctively looked down at their wrists. "Oh yeah, those," said Percy as though he had forgotten.
"They're actually a roman demigod thing," started Jason. "Oh yeah. As in you're... Jupiter instead of Zeus?" asked Tony, hesitantly as he thought about it. Jason nodded. "Exactly," he agreed. "Basically, it's a sign of being a Roman demigod and a member of a legion, with the letters SPOR representing Senatus Populusque Romanus, meaning The Senate People of Rome, the symbol representing our godly parent, and the lines signifying our years of service."
"Okay," nodded Clint, speaking slowly as he went through the information in his head. "But then, if they're a Roman demigod thing, why does Percy have one? Didn't you say you were a Greek demigod?" he asked, brows furrowed.
"I was a special case," said Percy, whipping his head back dramatically, resulting in an eyeroll from Jason.
"Why? What happened?" asked Steve, tilting his head, curiously.
"First thing you need to know is that they're actually two demigod camps," interjected Jason. "But that's not important right now," he continued, brushing off their startled expressions.
"Basically, my dear old Aunt Hera, his dads psycho wife," began Percy, jabbing a thumb at Jason as the sky rumbled above. "Decided to wipe our memories a few months ago and send us to each others Camp."
"Wait, what?" asked Bruce, taken aback. "Yeah, it wasn't fun, especially since at that point our Camps did not exactly like each other all that much," continued Percy. "Still don't completely, but we're getting there," shrugged Jason.
"Anyway, I was just my awesome self; went on a quest, amazed everyone so much that they made me a praetor, won over the entire Camp; the usual," Percy explained with a grin.
"Praetors...?" repeated Steve, shaking his head in confusion. "They're magistratus curulis leaders at Camp," elaborated Jason.
"Woah, that's a very high title," said Bruce, his eyebrows raised in surprise, impressed. "It is," agreed Percy, smiling as he then turned to Jason. "How long did it take you to become praetor again, Jace?"
Jason let out a long-suffering sigh, groaning eternally. "Here we go," he muttered.
"About twelve, thirteen years?" asked Percy innocently. "Let's just check your arm there," he said, grabbing Jason's arm before he could stop him. "Yep, that number sounds about right," said Percy as Jason yanked his arm out of his grip, glaring at him.
"You wanna know how long it took me to become praetor?" asked Percy, turning to them with an evil grin. "Oh my gods," groaned Jason.
"Two weeks if I remember correctly," Percy said, tilting his chin up smugly and placing his hands on his hips.
"That's amazing," regarded Natasha, impressed. "Why thank you," said Percy, bowing at them. "Shall we also get into how despite Jason being at his Camp longer, and therefore having more years of training, he still can't defeat me in a fight?" Percy suggested, tapping his chin and looking at Jason mischeiviously.
Jason gave him a dark look. "Okay, okay, story for another day," relented Percy.
The Avengers watched this interaction, but were able to actually smile in amusement for once, seeing as they were not completely in the dark about what they were talking about anymore.
They then all turned back to face Camp, looking down at it and feeling much more at ease at the peaceful state it was in, the lightness of their conversation no longer being a cover up for the worry they were consistently feeling.
Percy glanced over at their mortal friends, watching them look down but not see the wonders he and Jason could see. He turned to Jason, finding him doing the same. They then made eye-contact, and after a moment of silent conversation, Jason nodded. Percy smiled before turning back to the group.
"Hey," he said, getting their attention. "You know what? The Gods owe us. A lot."
They looked at him uncertainly, and watched as Percy stepped forward so he crossed the border into Camp.
"I, Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon, hereby grant Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton and Steve Rodgers permission to enter Camp Half-Blood," announced Percy.
The sky thundered, and the adults looking between themselves, startled. It quietened, and they all looked to Percy who was smirking at them.
They turned to Jason who nodded and jerked his head towards Camp.
They faced forward and Clint hesitantly took a step, and then another step. He looked up in surprise when nothing prevented him from crossing over.
"We...we can enter?" asked Clint, looking at Percy in shock. Percy, who had his arms folded, nodded. "You have my permission," he explained as though this made complete sense.
The rest of them soon all stepped across the border as well, their faces still looking shocked as they stared down at the ground they could now walk across as they moved forward. Natasha raised her head to look up, and her eyes widened. "Woah," she whispered.
They all looked up to see what she was seeing, gasping at the complete change of scenery.
"Yep, it's really there," assured Percy, as though he could read their minds.
Jason stepped up beside them, amused at their expressions. "What to come in?" he asked.
Bruce whipped his head to face him. "Absolutely."
...
Walking through Camp felt completely unreal.
To think they had looked down here two minutes ago and saw nothing but strawberry fields and a lake, and now there were multiple cabin-like buildings was crazy. Clint had to keep blinking to check it was real.
Sure they were all in a rather unflattering state right now, but it was still amazing.
As Percy and Jason lead them through the grounds, they all were constantly whipping their heads from side to side to try and take everything in.
"This is the Big House," explained Percy as they reached the largest building on the grounds. "It's where our Heads of Camp stay, and where the heads of each cabin come for meetings."
They continued on, Percy and Jason pointing out various locations as they passed.
"These are the volleyball courts, that's arts and crafts over there. This is the amphitheatre, and the climbing wall is just beyond that..."
As they talked, Steve could feel the eyes following them as they walked along, and he knew the others could too. Despite Percy explaining what they had done, he could still feel the wariness sent their way, and it was very unnerving.
"This is the armoury and the forge, there's the combat arena, archery range and pegasus stables-"
"Pegasus stables?" interrupted Tony, raising an eyebrow at him. "Yep, we have those here," confirmed Percy briefly before moving on.
"Just up there is the southern woods where we play Capture the Flag. Then up here is the Dining Pavilion, which is beside the canoe lake, which leads out to the beach. Then here we have the cabins," explained Percy, arriving at an area filled with many half destroyed cabins.
"They don't look it right now, but each cabin is designed for a different God, and you would stay in your parents cabin," continued Percy.
They looked around at all the different cabins, seeing the different symbols on each one and the many materials used to build them. In the ones that were still somewhat intact, anyway. Despite not knowing all the gods, though, you felt as though you could guess whose cabin belonged to who, or at least what each one represented.
There were many people outside and around the cabins, already working together to clear out the mess and making up new plans to rebuild the ruin.
As they followed behind Jason and Percy, though, it was even more noticeable how the kids were looking at them.
As they passed, they would all stop and stare at them until they were a good bit away.
"Don't worry about them," said Jason, bringing back their attention. "Some of them have never really left Camp, and we don't get many mortals here," he explained, apologetically.
Steve looked back to see all the kids back to work, though some of them still glanced up as they walked away.
"They're also all curious about you guys, seeing as they have no idea who you are but helped save them all," elaborated Percy, laughing as he spoke.
Tony glanced back and shrugged. "Understandable. Kids always are starstruck by our presence."
Natasha rolled her eyes as they continued on, feeling a bit more at ease now. Not fully, though.
"This really is just like a summer camp," stated Clint, looking around at all that was in what they had thought for too long was the supposed 'headquarters.'
"Still thought it was a child-soldier organisation?" commented Jason, chuckling. "I mean, you're not completely wrong," said Percy, looking to Jason, who thought for a moment before agreeing. "Yeah actually, you're right," he said, shrugging.
"Last but not least, here's the infirmary," said Percy, gesturing to another larger cabin they were approaching.
It had to be in the worst condition: the doors were broken down, the windows were smashed, a litter of broken equipment lay sprawled across the ground as they came closer. This is probably where it all started.
As they stepped inside, their eyes widened as they took in the mess. Beds were overturned, sheets looked as though they had been ripped to shreds, and cuffs lay across the floor. Steve didn't like thinking about what they had been used for, though he knew exactly what.
There was quite a bit of the clutter cleared, though, as room had been made for the children to line up and be checked out by the doctors, who were apparently...
"Where are your doctors? Didn't you say this was the infirmary?" asked Bruce, looking around the room, not catching on to what Steve was thinking.
Percy peered at him for a moment before something apparently dawned him. "Oh, well this right here is our lead physician, Will Solace," introduced Percy, walking up to a blonde boy who was sitting on a chair, talking to a little girl.
The boy, Will, turned at the mention of his name. He looked over at the newcomers before turning to Percy and smiling.
"Oh, hey!" he said. Will turned briefly away and said something to a passing boy who nodded and took Will's seat as the apparent lead doctor made his way over.
"Will Solace, nice to meet you," he greeted, offering his hand. Steve shook it but looked at him, warily. "You're a doctor?" Tony asked, bluntly.
"Sure am. My dad's Apollo, god of healing, and that's the gift I've inherited. So I'm the head physician here," explained Will. "You guys really don't have any adults here at all, do you?" Tony thought out loud before Natasha shot him a look. "Stark," she hissed.
Will laughed. "Nah, don't worry about it. It's understandable really, but I assure you I'm more than qualified to help all these kids. I've been keeping this one alive for years now," said Will, gesturing to Percy whilst giving him a look. "That's a massive flex," noted Jason, looking dead serious.
Percy, shrugged. "Yeah, it is honestly."
They all laughed at that, playfully hitting each other as they kept up the banter.
As this continued, Steve let his gaze wander around the room filled with kids ranging from young children to teenagers, before his eyes landed on a group near the back. A group he recognised.
He knew them from the battle, and was pretty sure they were Percy and Jason's friends, but the only two he definitely knew was the boy with the tool belt and the young girl with dark eyes and caramel hair, who was holding onto the boys arm.
Those are the kids who broke into the tower!
Just as he was about to voice this, Bruce spoke up.
"Hey, just thinking," started Bruce, looking to Will. "Now that I know you're probably the one who knows the most about the plague here, do you have any idea how we were able to make a cure? It was just strange that we were immune but couldn't help, and then one of you guys somehow also managed to be immune, and that was the one we were able to work with. "
Will smiled knowingly. "As a matter of fact, I do," he replied before turning to the group Steve had seen before. "Hey Leo! Get over here!" he called out. The boy from the tower looked up, said something to the girl he was with, then hurried over to join them.
"What's up?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips as he looked to Will.
"Sit here," he ordered, pulling Leo over to a nearby chair and taking out a fresh needle from a set of drawers. Leo groaned. "Not more needles," he moaned, watching as Will sterilised it and inserted it into his arm.
"Don't be a baby," scolded Will, giving Leo some cotton to put pressure on the trickle of blood that leaked through the skins breakage point as he removed the blood sample and moved over to a set of lab equipment, gesturing for them to follow him.
"I ran a diagnostics check on Leo's blood, wanting to find the answer to your question," Will explained, looking to Bruce. "When I analysed it, I noticed a different component that was not present in any other demigods blood. When I asked Leo about it, and he explained what happened to him, I was able to figure it out."
They all turned to Leo, who was looking out the window, distracted. At the sudden silence, he turned back, flinching at finding all eyes on him. "What?" he asked, eyes darting between them.
"Tell them what happened to you," said Jason, gesturing to the Avengers. "Oh, okay," he said, turning to face the group.
"Do you know about the battle with Gaia?" he asked. They nodded slowly. "Sort of," answered Clint. "Good enough," responded Leo, sitting up straighter.
He then went on to say how he fought in the battle they had spoke of but ended up dying, which was crazy on its own, then getting resurrected by some mystery cure for death, even crazier, flying on a dragon to a magical island where he found the girl they had seen with him at the tower, seeing his father, and then meeting them.
It was a lot, and all very weird. At this point though, after everything that had happened, they could almost believe it.
"Okay, so what does all this have to do with the cure?" asked Clint, confused by where this was going.
Will looked at them all with a mischievous grin. "You know how I said there was a strange component in Leo's blood?"
They nodded.
"That component was the Physicians cure," he explained. Their eyes widened as they started to piece it together.
"Because of its presence, and how fresh it was in Leo's system, it was able to act as a barrier and provide immunity to its host against a plague that only resulted in death, making Leo himself, immune," he finished, a proud look on his face at his explanation.
"So that's how," said Jason, looking at the ground, lost in thought. "And you're able to replicate the data created from his blood to reproduce more of the cure?" questioned Bruce, thoroughly interested.
"Definitely. I've already begun production on a batch and we will soon be able to distribute it to the Romans and have backups in case this thing rises up again," he assured.
"That's amazing," said Tony, his arms folded as he listened to what the boy had said. Tony, Bruce and Will then began an intense discussion on the inner workings of the cure, leaving the others to continue their own conversation.
"That's amazing," commented Steve, huffing a laugh. "It is," agreed Percy smiling. "One less thing in our lives to worry about now."
Jason snorted and Natasha smirked, understanding the life of someone always in the midst of danger, never truly safe.
"So," asked Clint, bringing Percy, Jason and Leo's attention back to them. "What now?"
The three looked at each other, and not in a way that gave the adults much encouragement. "What?" asked Steve, frowning.
After another moment of them looking at each other, Jason turned to face them.
"Now, the gods will probably call us up to Olympus to either congratulate or yell at us," he said.
Natasha frowned. "I feel like the possibility of getting yelled at is not the thing that's troubling you," she said.
Jason hesitated for a moment before speaking again.
"They're probably not going to be that happy about everything that has happened, what with you kidnapping us and keeping us locked in your tower while our world was dying-"
"Hey, I thought we had moved on from that," pouted Clint, folding his arms. "We have, but they might not," corrected Jason.
"So, what does that mean?" pushed Natasha, concern creeping into her tone.
Jason and Leo glanced at Percy uncertainly, who turned to them and shrugged as he spoke.
"We'll just have to wait and see."
