Chapter 7
Percy
Percy woke up panting, almost screaming. He stopped himself just in time.
He slowly sat up, his wounds making everything difficult and painful even if he had been healed a little before waking.
'It wouldn't be fun if you accidentally bled to death just because you couldn't move, would it?' Tartarus had said to him.
He made his way to the bathroom, silent tears falling down his cheeks for the agony. Half-healed stab wounds covered his thighs and shoulders, countless cuts adorned his abdomen and arms, whip wounds dripping with blood in his back. He shivered remembering the moment he was electrocuted and the movement hurt his broken ribs. It had been hard. Very hard. But he didn't scream. He was doing this for Nico, Leo and Annabeth, and he would do it a million times more if necessary.
Percy reached the bathroom after what felt like ages. He opened the water from the shower and tried to step in. Key word: tried. He fell to his knees just before the water touched him but he managed to call it to him anyway. He gritted his teeth as he felt his ribs unite again. The skin of his back then knit itself together and Percy closed his eyes, breathing heavily. The cuts closed, leaving behind gruesome scars. The stabs were the worst. They were poisoned so every time one started to heal, the poison that had already spread all around his body was pulled down to the leg and then fell outside. Have you ever felt a painful liquid being pulled through your body at a different rate than your blood? No? Well, it hurts.
He crawled inside the bathtub only with the energy that the water provided him with. He stayed there for about an hour, the water hitting his sore body at all times.
He'd have to get used to it.
.ψψψ.
Percy didn't come out of his room for the rest of the day.
Sometime around mid-day, Steve went to look for him. He knocked on the door and tried to enter when he didn't get any answer, probably thinking he just slept in.
Then his actions became frantic as he realized the door wouldn't open.
"Percy? Are you there? Is everything alright?" He got no answer. Percy wasn't in the mood to deal with suspicious mortals in that moment. "Percy? Percy?!" Steven banged on the door.
"Just go away!" he shouted. "Please," his voice cracked. 'Shit'
"Percy! What happened?" the attempts to get in became even more. No reply came, though. Percy didn't trust himself to speak again, it would only make matters worse.
"Steve, what happens?" Natasha's voice was heard through the door.
"The door is locked, he won't let me in nor come out-" he was about to say something else but he was interrupted by Percy's voice.
"Oh, you only want me to come out?"
"Yes, come," he said, still trying to force the door open without breaking it.
"Ok. I'm gay." The attempts stopped all of a sudden. Percy smirked.
"Are you?" Steven asked, shocked.
"Focus," Natasha scolded him. "You know that's not what we meant! Come here so we can have lunch!"
"Nah, I'm not gay," he said, ignoring Natasha. "Bisexual... Maybe. Who knows? Who cares? I mean, I'm Greek and Greek gods are basically a pansexual bunch of powerful people so sexualities don't actually matter. But if you think about it it's actually sad. Before people didn't care- at least in Greece- and now everyone makes a big deal of it! I never came out to anyone but I also never told anyone I'm straight. No, but seriously, what's wrong with this generation? They're all like 'Hey! Feel free to be yourself! Self-love!' and then you say you're not cis-het and they go 'Oh, no. Not you. Go die!' I mean, what the actual Hades?" he took a breath. "And then there's the whole 'saving the world' campaign. They're like 'Save the turtles! Don't use plastic straws!' and then they go and use a plastic cup instead. The hypocrisy... Oh, and don't get me started with-" he stopped, grinning as he heard two pairs of footsteps walking away. Sometimes his ADHD was a blessing.
Steve
'What's wrong with him?' was all Steve could think about. Percy had started ranting about how this generation was so hypocrite and all that. Well, Steve did agree with that but still.
"Where's the boy?" Tony asked as Natasha and him reached the kitchen without Percy.
"He won't come out," Steve answered.
"Why? What did he say?" the billionaire asked, curious.
"You don't even wanna know," Natasha answered while rolling her eyes. Tony shrugged but his curiosity didn't fade away.
"Anyway, let's go eat. I'm hungry."
They did, Thor, Bruce and Clint joining them.
It was a weird meal. Everyone was quiet as if they were expecting someone to start a conversation, and argument, anything. No one did.
They were just about to finish when Thor asked for Percy.
"He didn't want to come, he locked himself on his room," Steven told him. In less than a second, Thor was gone.
"Well, that was strange," Clint said.
"Yes. There's something about the boy that they are both hiding. Let's go and see if we can hear anything they say," Tony said and everyone agreed. Just like him, al the Avengers were curious and suspicious.
"I- I can't help it. They are always there, every time I close my eyes. It's too much. And Annabeth isn't here and I'm worried that she won't be able to sleep and that, if she does, she'll go insane- like I am. But she can't come here... It would only put her in danger- Wait," the team heard Percy's voice muffled through the door. The door that all of a sudden burst open. An annoyed teen was looking at them. Not looking, glaring. Damn, the glare was scary. All of them, even Natasha, stepped back. "Do you need anything?"
"We- we wanted to ask you why you didn't want to eat," Clint said.
"I didn't want to," was his answer, though Steve thought he heard him mutter something like 'I'll just end up throwing up anyway'. "Anything else I can do for you?" he asked sarcastically.
"Who's Annabeth?" Tony asked, blunt as always.
"That's actually none of your concern but there's no harm on telling you. She's my fiancé."
"Aww, the kid got a girlfriend?" Tony asked, half mockingly and half serious. He seemed to have forgotten about Percy's threat. How he could forget such a glare was a mystery.
Too fast for the eye to follow, Percy had a dagger at Tony's neck. He leaned in, close to his left ear.
"She's not my girlfriend. I'm not a kid. Annabeth and I have been through hard shit together, worse than anything you could imagine, so don't ever question nor underestimate our relationship just for our age. And last time I wasn't so serious on the castrating promise. You pissed me off so now I am. Go away," he whispered rather loudly for all the team to hear. They had tried to take out their weapons or move but they all were somehow kept in place. An unnatural force didn't let them move.
Percy headed to his room again. Just before he went in, though, he added something. He didn't even turn around.
"Oh, and I think you should learn to be less noisy if you're trying to eavesdrop. And eavesdropping is a little rude, don't you think?" and he slammed the door shut.
"Damn," Natasha said, raising an eyebrow.
Percy
These Avengers were really pissing Percy off. The only thing the didn't have to question, they questioned. Because he was young it didn't mean he had had a perfect life. That's actually pretty far from the truth. If there's someone who should understand it's them.
That's the reason Percy had used his powers in front of them. He would have wanted to do it when he started trusting them but if they forced him, just like they did in that moment, he didn't care to show them a little. They had to know at the end. After all, they were also part of that prophecy. That stupid prophecy.
The power he displayed was 'new'. It wasn't new really because he had always had it but he discovered it only during the final battle with Gaea. Everything, and I do mean everything, had water in or on it. His power was limitless. It was a way of blood bending that didn't hurt in the minimum and it was very, very, useful.
Percy started wondering if he was able to lift objects covered or filled with water. He spotted a full bottle over his nightstand and extended his hand. He took a big breath and exhaled while raising his hand just a little, willing the water inside the bottle to go up.
He was surprised when it did so he unconsciously dropped it.
A thousand ideas of how this could be useful entered his mind, but he had to train. A bottle was not a person. He also had to see if it was harmless.
"-rcy! Percy! Is everything alright?" Thor asked, concern showing in his face.
"Yeah, sorry. Just zoned out. Sorry."
"You're covered in sweat! What did you do this time?" Percy could almost hear him sighing mentally.
"I just discovered a new power, that's it." Suddenly, Thor stopped looking concerned and started looking excited.
"Can you show me?" Thor asked with a glint in his eyes.
"It drained me, I don't think I should try again until tomorrow" Thor looked disappointed. "Actually, tomorrow I'll go to Central Park to train. Would you like to come?" The glint returned.
"Yes, yes!" he was making little jumps. Then he realized what he was doing and stopped, looking embarrassed. "Please," he added, with a deep voice. He was obviously trying to retrieve his manhood. Percy just laughed.
"Fine, see you tomorrow. Here at 10 am." He knew perfectly well that such an hour was risky, for they could be spotted leaving, but he couldn't risk Tartarus not leaving him until late. Percy mentally sighed.
Tony
The ki- man was scary and fearless. He had dared to threaten an Avenger with a dagger! 'And ever worst, it was me!'.
"Let's go see the cameras. We need to know what happened in there and what's happening now," Tony said. Everyone followed him.
When they arrived to the cameras room, they were surprised to see that the ones in Percy's room where turned off. They tried the audio, but that too was off.
So, naturally, Tony started to hack it.
"I'm almost there..." he muttered.
"What's taking you so long?" Clint asked impatiently.
"I'm not only turning both things on, I'm also configurating it to never turn off, even when Percy asks and JARVIS tells him it's done."
"Good," Clint said, focusing on the screen and trying to understand anything Tony was writing. He didn't.
"I know, I know," Tony said. Natasha slapped Clint's arm playfully.
"Shut up, we don't need to make his ego grow. If that's possible," she said, muttering under his breath the last sentence. Clint glared at her halfheartedly.
"If you could shut your mouths maybe I could end this more quickly," Tony said. The team complied. One minute passed before he was done. "Finally! Let's see what's going on."
"Can you show me?" Thor was asking Percy, excited. They were all surprised to see the boy covered in sweat. They thought he never got tired. Plus, they had just left, how could he be on that state so quickly?
"It drained me, I don't think I should try again until tomorrow." What drained him? Is there even something that could drain him? Apparently, yes. "Actually, tomorrow I'll go to Central Park to train. Would you like to come?"
"Yes, yes!" He was making little jumps. The team laughed, none of them could get over the fact that Thor was a fanboy. "Please," he added, with a deep voice. Percy laughed. Wow, the boy could laugh. They didn't expect that.
"Fine, see you tomorrow. Here at 10 am."
As they saw Thor leave through the camera, Tony turned around.
"Team, you know what to do," he said. Everyone, including he billionaire, was feeling steadily more guilty, but it was their job to protect the people, so they nodded.