IX
It has been nine months since the climatic confrontation between the Avengers and Loki and publicly coined the Battle of New York.
And yet Sharon Carter was here on check up duty. She flicked through the file that was given to her by the Director of SHIELD.
After the entire debacle had died down and the Avengers officially forming, along with SHIELD being exposed to the world by Rising Tide, the secret government agency was not so much a secret anymore.
Between the New York clean-up, putting out the aftermath of the exposure, already existing SHIELD operations and looking for the dubbed 'Golden Warrior', there was much on the metaphorical plate for the world intelligence agency.
In her opinion, she should be anywhere but New York.
But Fury apparently needed a second opinion on the subject of the file before her.
That's where she found herself. In front of an apartment door waiting for an appointment to 'tour' an apartment studio as a prospective buyer from one Perseus Jackson.
She was early as was usual mostly just to stake out the place and ask a couple questions to the neighbors that were there under her usual handle as Kate Lockwell.
The SHIELD Director had briefed her personally on this matter. A strictly off-the-books observation/profile operation and if possible, tail the subject to his new place of residence so he can be further monitored.
He warned her that even though he looked harmless that there was something off about him. Whatever that meant.
Sharon would listen though. Fury wasn't the Director of SHIELD simply because he cut a menacing and intimidating figure. Even with his one eye, the man could see things that even the sharp-eyed Hawk would miss and his instincts were ones that hopelessly outmatched everyone else.
Disregarding those thoughts as she spied the late twenty year old coming up the stairs leisurely. He looked just as the file and the couple pictures they had of him. A little above the average height of a grown man with gaunt but not unhealthy features, pale skin as if he spent a little more than the usual amount of time indoors. With windswept raven hair and a small almost unnoticeable tuft of silver hair at the crown of his head, he was handsome.
If only he got a little more sun. Was her parting thought on the matter.
He wore a black leather jacket with a navy blue undershirt and jeans with boots. In his hand he had a sheen blue motorcycle helmet with an opaque hexagonal golden visor.
He took his time as he made his way over to her, not in a rush though as he exchanged some greetings with others that he passed by.
Sharon stood from her leaning position and approached the man who was also approaching her. The blonde flashed a dimpled smile and stuck out her hand. "Hi!"
The subject looked at her curiously as he accepted the proffered handshake. "Ms. Lockwell, I assume?"
"Please call me Kate, Percy!" She shrugged off the formalities, luckily the realtor had told her who to expect, a Perseus Jackson or Sally Jackson.
Get the target comfortable to share information. First name basis and nicknames often opened the gates so to speak.
"Perseus is fine." He said after a moment, though he didn't seem offended from the shortening of his name. "Just one question before we begin."
Sharon internally frowned but kept her face smiling. She had been hoping for a little more informal. She had expected the twenty year old to be a little more easy going and to be honest a college kid with his get-up, but his expression was one of neutrality. She didn't want to but if he was going to play the brick, she may have to break it with a hammer.
Though with more subtly that the instrument would normally have.
Pale eyes looked to her dark hazel ones.
"Sure thing!" She leaned back into the wall, crossing her to frame her chest, playing the part of the airheaded stereotypical aspiring actress from someone not of the Big Apple. He didn't react in the slightest and continued his question.
"Why not the realtor?" There was suspicion in his voice but only a tinge of it.
She answered the practiced answer. "The realtor doesn't live in the house." She flashed another smile. "I wanted a first hand account on how the place is and feels."
It was a gamble. Either the Mom, Sally Jackson would come out or the target. It was more likely the target however, as after other inquiries with the real estate agent the young man had been given leave to act in her stead regarding the apartment.
If it had been the mom, she would've played the part of being lost and needing a guide and constantly hinted how she never really had no one her age to help her out since all her fictitious friends lived out of state.
Perseus though seemed to shrug at the answer and fished out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door and ushered her in.
"I am legally obligated to tell that someone has died in here." He spoke suddenly before they fully entered. His voice betrayed no emotion and was looking inwards to the hall.
She had genuine shock and hesitation with a stumble as she crossed the threshold. "Excuse me?" Sharon of course, knew this already but his suddenness had caught the SHIELD agent off guard. Usually, people would want to avoid topics like that until the end of the tour, in a bid to make it as an afterthought and to close on those who would've already decided that they wanted the studio.
"My step-dad. He died in the Battle of New York. Collateral damage. The entire eastern wall was blown from the top half and fell on him." If not for the hesitation in his voice, she would've thought him emotionless and giving a report of all things. She made a mental note of that. "If you want to look at other apartments because of that, then feel free."
He sounded so careless. If it wasn't for his expression of remorse than she would have thought that he didn't care that that his step-father died at all.
Sharon would definitely be including that in her report but for the moment played it off as a coping mechanism. She had seen fellow agents sound just as mechanical when they returned from their missions that had suffered fatalities.
The SHIELD agent however, continued her mission. As sudden as it was, she was experienced in thinking on her feet. If there was one rule that all the good spies in SHIELD followed it was that thinking on the fly was near paramount to staying alive.
And Sharon was among the best.
"Well, I think I'll take a look first." She strayed away from the subject and stepped into the hall, he shrugged and followed her in.
It was sparse, only containing the show furniture of a more modern and simplistic taste but her mind wasn't on that.
It was on the subject as he guided her around the apartment. It was big with three bedrooms, a kitchen attached to the living room. He was very utilitarian in his explanation and she made a show of oohing and ahing at various points during the tour and asking various questions, mostly about the studio but it was intermixed with small talk as well.
"So why you here in Manhattan?"
"Oh I wanted to get a head start on my acting career."
"Oh where you from?" He arched an eyebrow as he guided her to another room.
"Illinois. Small town, not much there besides farms for miles." She said with practiced ease. "My dad comes from old money though so it wasn't that hard get out here."
"Know anyone in the city?" Perseus opened the door and led her in.
"A couple people that I'm rooming with until I can get my own place."
He hummed in response. All of it details of her cover. It was better to be safe than sorry if Perseus ever decided to look her up.
She also made a slight attempt at flirting and and a show at stretching. Sharon stopped after his quip about getting into yoga classes or seeing a chiropractor. It made her flush and had caught her flat-footed with how casually he had said it.
She didn't like that avenue of her line of work anyways and it was best left to the Black Widow's expertise.
"So how'd you like it?" Perseus asked, almost bored but seeping just enough energy into his words that he wasn't coming off as rude. He didn't seem concerned with dumping, as it were, the studio at the moment so she guessed his family wasn't hurting monetarily.
In fact the large studio had been up for close to six months already and had surprised the analysts at SHIELD that it hadn't been swiped up by those Avengers fans that had flooded the city in the aftermath of the battle with the Chitauri. Even if someone did die here, someone wouldn't care.
She thought for a moment, unconsciously folding her arms across her chest this time. She had two choices leave and report what she found out which wasn't much at all or begin a friendly chat.
It was quite the obvious choice for her to make.
"It's a good apartment." She spoke. "It makes me wonder why it hasn't been picked up yet. The listing did say its been up for a while."
"We don't want a bunch of knuckleheads picking up a piece of property that actually has decent value in it. At least, that was what the agent and I agreed on." Perseus paused as his voice taking on a tinge of suspicion. "You're not an Avenger groupie are you?" The way the words left his mouth made it seem like the Avengers were an…irritation.
She felt a need to defend the superhero band. Mostly because of the presence of Steve Rogers but they did thwart an alien invasion and she voiced as much.
"I wouldn't say that, but I have an appreciation for what they did when they did it."
He nodded but didn't look convinced. "I do as well, but did not one of them think to attack the source?"
"What would you have done?" Sharon asked, her voice more than a little defensive and he raised an eyebrow at the tone but she didn't really care.
He shrugged as he set his helmet on the coffee table before them. "The only one with any sense looked to be the golden guy." He smiled slightly at his words as if he just thought of some sort of joke. "And I don't think he's an Avenger."
"What if he is? He did help them after all." She conceded he did have a point. Whatever reports on the Battle of New York she was able to get her hands on pointed towards it. The 'Golden Warrior', as the public had taken to calling him because no one could agree on a name, had quite literally one objective in mind and that was Stark Tower because no one had seen him after that and only a handful of minutes later the portal had turned off after Stark's nuclear redirection.
And how would Perseus know if the guy was an Avenger or not? For all intents and purposes, the public assumed that he was an Avenger even if SHIELD knew differently and they didn't do anything to dissuade them of the notion.
"You're telling me that a guy that had brought a literal biblical storm onto the city of New York wants anything to do with people that are maybe a little above the average human?" He paused for but a moment. "Hell, even Thor got out of dodge the moment he could and he hasn't been seen since."
That…did make sense and brought up interesting points some that even Fury may be interested in if he didn't already consider them. Sharon admitted to herself.
SHIELD had been scouring the globe for even the slightest hint of where this guy may be and had absolutely nothing to show for it. Its like the guy had only showed to deal with Thor and Loki and then promptly left without a trace the moment the two Asgardians did.
Maybe this guy really did want nothing to do with them. Simple as that.
They didn't have anything to go off of regardless, other than the fact that he was male and wore golden armor. Not even the SHIELD analysts could agree on what kind of armor he wore nor the iconography that it bore.
Some thought it was medieval in origin with ancient Celtic script and symbols and thought him to be a legend from the Arthurian mythos while others thought him to be a Roman centurion with ancient Latin script and symbology on it.
Even further still, people thought him to be a Viking warrior and all that entails while others thought him as a zealous soldier from ancient Egypt.
It was a duck-rabbit case as she heard one of the newbies call it. But instead of just two simple animals, everyone saw a warrior clad in gold from eras and empires that have long since faded into history.
She pulled herself from her thoughts before any noticeable gap was left in the conversation.
"You may have a point." She trailed off wanting to veer away from this subject as it she had lost control. "Any-"
"Did you want the place?" He cut her off.
She hesitated. Perseus clearly didn't want to stay here any longer. Looks like she may just have to tail the bastard. Fury had briefed her that he would attempt to end conversation as soon as able and did not like beating around the bush so to speak.
Sharon must have figured somewhere in the back of her mind that this was going to end in a tail no matter what. Luck of the job as it were.
"I think it may be a little big for me alone. I would have to get roommates if I were to take it." She was as evasive as she could be.
He nodded probably having expected as much. "That is your business if you want to. For your information, there are a lot more affordable apartments on the other side of Central Park, closer to the Hudson."
"Thanks, it's a good apartment and if I can find people that want to share it, I'll definitely be giving the realtor a call."
Perseus didn't look at all convinced by her words. Probably having heard them countless times beforehand already or a variation thereof. Given his response to her own, it was most likely young adults and other college students that had toured the apartment on more than one occasion.
"After you." He gestured towards the exit and Sharon began walking beside him as Perseus escorted her. They were silent as they descended the elevator. Sharon having already made up her mind about following the bastard so she didn't really need to say anything else.
He, on the other hand, looked bored as all ever and simply fiddled with his helmet and wiping at the hexagonal visor with the sleeve of his jacket.
They entered the lobby where the elevator was quickly taken up by other residents as they made their exit. It was the late afternoon and a clear day but the sun was clearly on its way down.
"Well, thank you for the tour. It really was a good studio. I'm… sorry about what happened to your stepdad." And she was. Sharon didn't have to lie nor feign remorse that others often had. No one deserved to go out like that.
He waved her off moving to a sports bike that was parked but didn't say anything as he slipped on his helmet. It was an older model, one that didn't have most of the fancy gadgets that the newer ones did.
And with that, she watched as the subject of Fury's interest drove off, leisurely.
As soon as he was out of sight, her phone rang. "13 here. You got the plates and tracer on it?"
'Affirmative, lead. Want us to come pick you up?"
"Please."
A non-descript large grey SUV pulled up and she quickly slid into the small command center that was inside. It was a retrofitted one, with all the seating having been pulled out and replaced with a plethora of monitoring equipment. She could stand in it, but she would be a bit hunched over and quickly took the remaining seat inside.
There were only three others. The driver and the passenger who were the rapid response in case things went sour and the technician who she had just recently spoke to over the phone.
"Keep our distance. No need to get close with the tracer on the bike." She ordered and the SUV moved to follow the target. "Any news from on high?" She asked the tech guru.
"Zilch. Orders haven't changed. Tail the target to his place of residence and then bail." He said as he continued typing. He was simply browsing the internet while occasionally glancing to the GPS on the side. "Don't know how he doesn't leave a paper trail at all. We don't even have any bank records."
She hummed her agreement but didn't really pay attention as she texted on her phone. This was a cake walk assignment. One that was quite simply beneath her. Any D-list agent could have done this and yet she got saddled with it.
Sharon could tell that all the others probably felt the same boredom she did.
Perseus wasn't simply going to go to his home though and make it easy for them. No, he just had to stop for a pair of hotdogs and lounge for nearly an hour against his bike while he ate. The bastard. All she had was a bag of pretzels to tide her over.
The wasn't the only stop though. He did stop for gas, which he paid for in cash and filled his bike up. It was then did he finally begin to have a purpose in his little tour of the city. Pretty soon after his stop at the station, he lead them out of Manhattan proper and into Long Island.
They kept a respectful distance so as to not draw unwarranted attention given that they were moving further into the Hamptons of all places.
She figured that was why he wasn't overly concerned and being picky with a buyer with the apartment. The guy had to be loaded if he lived here.
Sharon was guessing old money. Perseus didn't look the type nor did he have the background for any lucrative career.
He continued to lead them through the town, weaving through the streets as less and less condos and houses made way for larger and larger estates.
The driver pulled over as Perseus took a turn on the GPS. "There is only one property down that road." He said his explanation before Sharon could ask why he did so.
"Bring it up."
The tech guru quickly went to work. A simple Google Maps search and property listings brought it up.
"Brought seven months ago…huh." The man looked surprised. "Through an intermediary. Anvil and Olive Enterprises and Contracting?"
She couldn't say that she knew the name. "It's a big name in the real estate and construction business and around since the early twenties." The guy explained as he continued to research. "They were one of the contracted companies to help with the clean-up in New York. All the fat wallets go there if they want something done right, pretty and fast. If we want information from them we are going to need a warrant or get a green light on an op that is less than legal."
He tilted the screen so Sharon could see. "Pride ourselves on Client Confidentiality." She read aloud and whistled in appreciation at some of their achievements. Ornate and elaborate architectural marvels, from mansions to cathedrals and skyscrapers across the world over.
Well that confirmed her suspicions. Sharon thought Perseus was loaded before but now she realized he was old money.
She shook her head. "We know where he is now. Let's get out of here." There was a series of agreements from the other three. Sharon could only think of what Fury was going to say in regards to this.
If she knew the Director, he would most likely want to dig deeper.
Sharon just hoped she could get a better assignment.
Percy found himself sitting on the sandy beach of Montauk, his legs tucked into his arms and simply staring out into the horizon of the sea.
He often found himself here. Maybe not in this exact spot but somewhere near it. Usually by the day's end he could almost always be found sitting simply staring into the horizon of the Atlantic.
To him there was a certain calmness. A serenity that he couldn't find anywhere else. It was like a focal point where all the world seemed to collide where he could just sit and do nothing as it happened around him. The crashing and lapping waves against the sandy beach and the discord of nature behind him seemed little more than a symphony of sounds that made music to his ears.
He resisted the urge to enter his father's domain. The fear that if the Son of Poseidon entered that he would never want to leave again. It had been much the same way when he had entered to see Atlantis for the first time, a couple months after the end of the Giant War.
But it was at times like these where Nature itself, desired and pleaded with him to join her hollow embrace.
Gaea, even in death, plagued him as much as in life as she did in his dreams and he wanted nothing more than to be rid of her.
A nearby dryad had told him of this spot when she learned that she would be playing host to the Son of Poseidon and he had spent the subsequent days simply sitting here and listening and taking it all in, sometimes with Calypso at his side or with Estelle. His mother hardly ventured to the beach nowadays, though Percy couldn't fault her.
Most likely all it did was dredge up old memories that she had long already gotten over.
It wasn't that far the main grounds of the estate as this technically was a private beach that he now owned.
In the aftermath of the Battle of New York as the mortals had taken to calling it and the untimely death of Paul, Percy was determined to move his family away from the city that was determined to be a magnet for chaos.
Despite not wanting to trust the Council, namely Zeus, Percy had called in a favor of them. An isolated property where he could live undisturbed by daily mortal happenstance.
Hephaestus agreed to head the project alongside Hecate.
After securing the permission of the local nature spirits and naiads who were living in the area, a property a little over a hundred acres on the edge of Montauk had been purchased.
The company contracted was one established by a demigod couple of Athena and Hephaestus back before the first World War and was used to employ demigods and legacies whose talents lay more in the intricacies of arts and crafts rather than the making of war and didn't strike as a particular morsel to monsters.
Annabeth would have loved to have been apart of that.
Of course given who the favor was from, it was done with nothing but the best of talent available. While the God of Forges was not physically present for much of the construction and only provided blueprints and some direction alongside Hecate, a half dozen Cyclops and even more automatons, under the direction of a demigod architect from the company had constructed a mansion in record time.
Hecate's hand in its construction had come in the form of wards for concealment. Mortals wouldn't wander accidentally into the property lines and would generally leave the area alone. As a result more than a few nymphs and dryads had found a home in the woods surrounding the property.
Calypso had demanded that he take her with him and he couldn't really deny her since technically she was still under his protection.
That had been an awkward and breaking conversation with his mom as he had spent the time they were packing, gathering the courage to inform her of what actually happened in the war.
And she knew something was bothering him as she had called it Mother's Intuition to corner him into telling her.
"Annabeth is dead. She died in the war." He said with as much stone as he could muster. It wasn't much and he broke down at the finality with which it was said. No noise from his sobs were heard but there were plenty of tears.
She stood shock still as she processed the information. Percy knew his mom viewed her as a daughter already so to hear such words from her son was a petrifying ordeal.
"H-How?" She asked as she knelt beside him. Luckily Estelle was being babysat by a neighbor at the moment.
He shook his head. The memories of the events even if it was so long ago were always fresh in his mind. The few times he did sleep, were done under exhaustion as in his dreams had no remorse in reminding him where he failed. He still explained as best as he could as she rubbed his son's back in an attempt to soothe him.
The words were broken and left out much detail.
The following morning he explained Calypso and that she was technically under his protection from Zeus.
Even though he knew it to be different, it felt all to like Calypso was to replace Annabeth.
The titaness had been nothing but supportive and helpful in all her time and Percy knew that, that could not be further from the truth.
He pulled himself from those thoughts. He was here to relax and wind down after what felt like a wasted day. Although playing the mortal girl and talking about the mysterious Golden Warrior had amused him somewhat.
It was dark out. Almost midnight, he guessed. He had sat out here for four hours already. A crescent moon was in force that night as it sat its vigil over the still ocean.
He blinked as he felt a presence to his side. He did not draw the weapon that was eternally hidden at the small of his back but instead felt his shoulders deflate in weariness.
"Perseus."
"Artemis." He made no move to rise from his seated position.
"Do you mind if I join you?" The Immortal Huntress asked hesitantly. There wasn't the usual warmth in her words she had when she often visited.
Percy assumed that she would just sit regardless of what he said so the Son of Poseidon said nothing in response. That was what she usually did when she would visit.
After a moment though, it seemed that the Olympian goddess was genuinely asking for permission to sit beside him. With a hesitant nod, the Moon Goddess sat down, a good meter away from him. She sat much the same way he did, with her legs tucked against her chest with folded arms.
They sat there, for a while, simply looking out over the water and taking in the scene in front of them. The calmness of the waves and the looming dark clouds in the horizon. It was mesmerizing. To him at least. There was just something…primal about it. On how one moment the sea could be so serene and gentle before turning into a bestial storm at the drop of a hat.
"What does he want now?" Percy mumbled. Thunder boomed in the distance over the ocean at his inflection.
Why couldn't they just leave him alone?
Artemis didn't respond right away and instead drew circles into the sand beneath her feet with her boot. "He does have a request." She answered eventually, her voice demure and low.
Request….order…it was the same thing when it came to the King of Olympus.
There was more silence as they continued to watch the waves lapping at the shoreline.
"What does he need from me?" Percy slumped his head into his knees. He could feel the frustration and anger bubbling within him. The waves grew in their intensity. He forced the feeling to be restrained.
Artemis had looked up from her small shifting of the sand and looked to the demigod at his voice. She was concerned and anger. Not that he could see.
But he could feel it and could read it. She did not want to be here. She did not take pleasure in being a messenger for her father.
She did respond though if only with the same mutter. "There has been rumblings. We believe to be a Asgardian artefact that is playing games with the heavenly realms. Since you are the most experienced we have with the culture, he wants you to investigate and neutralize it." There was a small silence as Percy didn't immediately respond and Artemis continued. "We have some information. Not a whole lot but it appears to be centered in London. Other than that, we don't know much."
She conjured the manila file that held the information they had and placed it upon the sand gently beside the him.
Percy looked up from his arms and gazed further out into the ocean. Artemis recognized that same lifeless gaze that seemed all too common when interacting with the Son of Poseidon.
It was different from the emotional and broken demigod that was found cradling the lifeless corpse of the daughter of Athena or the one fighting through the streets of New York that radiated power as he slaughtered everything that stood in his way.
"Reservations were placed in a hotel." Artemis said and Percy stood abruptly, deftly grabbing the manila folder. Artemis stood as well in response and grabbed the shoulder of the demigod lightly stopping him in this tracks before he could retreat further inland. "Perseus. More than likely this isn't anything important. See this as a vacation. Please."
No more words were said as Artemis relinquished her hand and the Son of Poseidon and left without another word.
'A warrior seeks to act rather than talk.'
-Carlos Castaneda