Chapter 2
Fury
"So you mean to tell me that the Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes, were defeated by a kid." Fury's voice was frighteningly low. He honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I told you," Thor said, shrugging, with a smirk playing on his lips.
"You're a god, you could have beat him! Why didn't you help?!" Fury's voice got louder with each word.
"Oh, no, I would never be able to defeat Perseus."
"Whatever. I gave you a job and I want you all to do it. Bring me the boy."
"I can convince him to come, but only if I go alone," Thor said.
"Then do it. Now. Go."
But after Fury sent Thor for the boy, someone with a higher status called him. Fury now had to fulfill that person’s order, even if he didn’t approve. He had to do it.
And those orders involved bringing Perseus Jackson to Stark Towers.
Fury sighed and muttered to himself in his empty office, “I truly hope you have a plan, Thor.”
Percy
Percy was having fun visiting his mom and Paul. She had made blue cookies and he was enjoying them while they chatted. At least until the doorbell rang. Fun never lasted long when it came to Percy.
Outside the door was none other than Thor, but this time he was alone. He still wore the red cape, his hand tightly holding his hammer. Percy only raised an eyebrow.
"Can I help you?"
"Young Perseus-" the god was interrupted.
"Percy." Thor nodded once before going on.
"Young Percy, before I go on with the business that brought me here, I want to tell you that I admire you, and so does everyone in Asgard. You are a legend there." He bowed his head like last time. "Now, I need you to come with me, please. The mortals I work with believe you are a threat. Foolish thing to believe, I know, after all you have done for the world. I am deeply sorry for this."
"I'll go with you. You just have to promise that I'll be free to leave whenever I want to." He knew that if they tried to lock him, he would be able to escape anyway, he just wanted to lower the number of people he would hurt as much as possible.
"I promise. Now come, I will guide you."
Percy hugged his mother in farewell. He knew she had heard the conversation so there was no need to explain anything. Sally didn’t like the situation much, having him leave after just coming back from war, but she understood he had to do it.
They both just hoped to see each other again soon.
.ψψψ.
"Can I put you handcuffs? My boss will kill me if I don't," Thor asked awkwardly. The demigod just shrugged, knowing fully well that handcuffs wouldn't give him any disadvantage if he had to fight or escape.
They entered Stark Tower, Percy in handcuffs, and Thor headed to the elevator. In the moment Percy noticed that, he stopped dead in his tracks.
"I'll take the stairs, thanks." He had had some bad experiences with elevators; he didn't use them anymore. Thor looked confused at first, but then seemed to understand. The arch and the Doors of Death. Bad memories.
They headed up for about 60 floors before finally reaching the place they were supposed to go to. Needless to say, none of them were out of breath.
The first thing Percy saw was a dark-skinned man dressed in all black clothes and wearing an eyepatch. He stared at Percy with what looked like discomfort and then led him through a white hallway to an interrogation room. It was identical to any movie Percy had seen, making him laugh silently.
"Sit," Fury ordered. Percy did, smirking as he dared himself to annoy the man in less than 2 minutes.
Percy looked around, searching for options to fulfil his dare. He noticed there was a one-way mirror on the wall, and he could sense five people arriving next to Thor.
Percy waved, his lips twitching in a little smile as he waited patiently for Fury to notice.
Steve
The whole team was shocked: Thor had somehow managed to get the boy. How?
At that moment, Steve was watching through the mirror as Fury prepared everything for the interrogation while the boy waved at them, his eyes focusing a moment on each person of the team for a second before moving on to the next one. Did he know they were there? Wasn't it a one-way mirror? Perseus was driving them all insane.
Wait. Didn't he have handcuffs? Steven checked and he, in fact, had handcuffs on. Then how did he wave?
Steve checked again and this time saw he didn't have handcuffs.
But now he did.
Steve blinked. What was going on?
And then he realized that Perseus was taking them out, only to lock them around his wrists again almost absent-mindedly. Now everyone was in shock (save Fury, who didn't notice as he was reading the file).
"Name?"
"Percy Jackson."
"Age?"
"17"
"Who are-"
"Why do you keep asking all these silly things? You obviously have the answers there." Perseus pointed at his file. Well, he was right after all.
Fury glared at him. The look he gave him would have made anyone step back in fear, but all the kid did was mock glare back. Fury's frown deepened, and Perseus mimicked him. The team could see in the teen’s face the faint struggle to hold back laughter.
Now Fury's annoyed.
"What can you tell me about all the explosions at your schools?"
"Wrong place, wrong time."
"7 times?" the man looked at him, exasperated.
"Yes," was all answer he got.
"And what about Saint Louis Arch?" Perseus scrunched his nose, apparently remembering.
"A woman and her chihuahua attacked me, I just fell off."
"A woman and her-" Fury sighed. "Never mind. How did you survive the fall?" All response was a shrug. "What about the illegal gun you were seen with when you fought your kidnapper in Los Angeles? As far as we know, you stole it from him but then, some years later, a camera spotted you carrying it again. Why did you keep it?"
"I didn't, I don't use guns." At this, Fury stood up, angrily pushing his chair back and stamping his fist on the metal table.
"There's no use in lying. We know-" Fury yelling suddenly stopped. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breath. "How did you take off your handcuffs?" Perseus looked up at the man; he almost seemed confused. Then he looked down, seeing that he had, in fact, taken off the thing that kept his arms locked.
"Oh." He put them back on, only to take them out again in less than a second. No one watching could see how he did that, it looked like a blur because of how fast he was doing it. It was clear that he was trying to annoy them, and he was achieving it, at least with Fury. The Avengers were just standing there, all of their eyes pathetically wide.
Fury snapped the handcuffs out of his hands, taking others out of his coat. He put them on the boy's wrists, double-checking that they were correctly closed.
"That's it. You won't be able to manipulate those." He had a look on his eyes that expressed with clarity that he believed firmly on what he said, a little superior smile in his lips.
"Like this?" Perseus didn't even look down while he took them off, leaving them neatly on the table while he stared at the man with big innocent eyes. Fury inhaled deeply, he couldn't kill the teen, he couldn't kill the teen.
"I can't believe I had the honor to see Persassy in action," Thor murmured, almost to himself, with excitement clear in his features. Per-what?
"Why do you even care? I didn't try to escape yet, did I?" The kid's eyes shone with mischief as he started playing with the handcuffs again.
Steve had to admit that the situation was funny. Nobody had ever dared annoy Fury.
"Well, just-" the director inhaled, exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, trying to calm down. "I have a proposition for you.” He started. “We won't arrest you for your crimes, but only if you join the Avengers." That was certainly unexpected (not the recruiting a criminal part, though, but the part that he was a kid). However, there was something in Fury’s expression, a kind of strain that showed he didn’t agree with what he was saying. Then why was he doing it?
"Those guys with weird costumes? Why would I?" Perseus asked.
"I believe you could be a great ally." Fury tensed his jaw.
"No."
"No?" Everyone's faces were filled with disbelief. Fury had asked the kid to join the Avengers? And he said no?!
"Can I leave now? My mom's blue cookies are waiting for me at home." Fury looked as if he was about to start shouting at Perseus, but Thor entered the room before that happened.
"Please, young Percy, offer us the honor of fighting alongside you." His eyes shone with hope and excitement.
"Give me one good reason and I'm in, god." He raised one eyebrow.
"After the seco-" Thor stopped, glanced at his boss briefly before starting all over again. "After the... thing last month, I believe it would be beneficial for you to train with us- not that you need it- so you can relax a little without completely stopping the fights."
Did Thor just imply that for Perseus it would be relaxing to be an Avenger? What kind of life did he have?
"I only know the entrance hall and the stairs and I already know this place is full of technology. You know what will happen." Nothing seemed to make sense to the rest of the people watching.
"The... visits would still be nothing compared to Ta- you know what. I can help you deal with them if you want, but please, it would be a privilege to have you in our team," he pleaded.
"Alright, I'll join you." Perseus gave in tiredly. "First, though, I need to IM camp. Do you have the thing I need to do it?" Thor nodded, taking something golden from a mysterious pocket and handing it to Perseus. "Where's the toilet?"
"I will show you." Both of them headed out of the interrogation room.
Perseus stopped at the doorframe, looked back at Fury and handed him the handcuffs again. He smirked as he left.
Percy
The Second Giant War had just finished and Percy already had another group of people who needed him to fight with them. What did they even do? He just remembered hearing the doctor say that they saved the world once.
Percy chuckled a bit. Mortals.
He was inside the bathroom and the god of thunder was waiting outside for him, offering privacy to talk to his friends and family.
"Oh, Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." The centaur appeared in the rainbow in front of him.
"Percy, my boy, is there anything I can do for you?" Chiron asked once he saw the IM.
"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I joined this mortal group of super-heroes, they call themselves the Avengers or something like that, soI'll probably stay in their tower for a while. Can you tell my friends and mom please?"
"Of course.” Chiron smiled at him, but he seemed tense. “There's something I have to tell you..." he looked a nervous. Percy didn’t like that look. After a few seconds of silence, the centaur spoke once again, "There's a new prophecy. It seems that it’s already happening based in what you're telling me."
Percy closed his eyes and bit his lower lip.
"What does it say?"
"The being of the pit will raise
Mortals will be needed to fight
For the key of victory is now part of both worlds
And this enemy will not fall for words"
"Wow, that was… straightforward." He tried to make a joke but nothing came out; he knew what the prophecy meant and he was terrified. "The being of the pit... Did it really had to be him? We already defeated a primordial a month ago!" He was trying hard not to cry; he was supposed to be a leader, he was supposed to stay strong for everyone’s sakes.
"I know, Percy. We wanted to leave you and the seven out of this but seeing as you joined this team of mortals..." Chiron massaged his temples, tired. "Percy, it seems that you are the key of victory that the prophecy talks about." The hero nodded, reluctantly accepting his destiny.
Prophecies couldn't be avoided.
"And what about the last line? 'And this enemy will not fall for words'." He frowned, deep in thought. "Maybe it refers to the fact that Gaea was defeated by charmspeak. So... he won't." He pursed his lips as his vision became a little blurry, he couldn’t avoid it. "Chiron, this means that nothing we say can stop him, charmspeak or nor. If that's true then... then the only way is fighting.” Silence. “So many will die." The last part came out as a broken whisper, matching his lost eyes. His efforts of holding back the tears were fruitless. A silent drop fell down his cheek.
"I'm so sorry, Percy." The centaur’s feelings matched the hero's.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. We will defeat him." Percy dried his eyes, turned around to face the door of the bathroom and put his hand on the doorknob. "I got to go, the mortals are waiting for me." The camp’s director finished the IM just as Percy went out.
"Is everything okay?" Thor asked him. Percy shook his head.
"New prophecy." The god fortunately understood what he meant; Percy didn't think he would have been able to explain it if Thor had asked.
Thor sighed. “Come, I will show you the living quarters.”