Chapter 7
*Percy Jackson*
While walking down the hallway I tried to repress the embarrassment from being seen crying by two strangers who had been trying to capture me. I thanked my lucky stars (or, properly, my unlucky/occasionally lucky stars) that I had gotten good at lying.) I had made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal that they had seen me crying, but the exact opposite was true. It was everything, my possible enemy now had one of my weaknesses. The fact that I had nightmares could be used against me to get me to talk. So that’s why I acted the way I did, like it was no big deal, even when it was.
I darted my eyes around, storing in every turn and sign I could in my memory, so I could escape if I needed to, even though I was probably being taken to their leader…Wow, that sounded like something off of an alien movie. I almost laughed at how alien basically explained me, even though I was a half-blood, I was basically half alien because the Gods were pretty much a force outside of nature. Aliens. I again almost laughed at what their faces probably would have looked like if I told them that they are practically aliens. Zeus’s face would’ve been hilarious. Just thinking about it made me snicker against my wills to keep quiet.
The flag dude looked back at me and raised an eyebrow at me suspiciously. “Sorry,” I apologized. “I have ADHD, so my mind comes up with random things. Like, for example, my thoughts somehow turned over to aliens and how people would react if I called them that.” I snickered again at the faces that would be made at that comment. “Priceless.”
Both of the flag dude’s eyebrows raised now as he said, “Oookaaay…” It sounded like he was feeling a bit awkward at my behavior, I couldn’t blame him…I mean I had been crying only moments before and now I was laughing like the world’s funniest thing just appeared in my brain…which it did, by the way. *Mentally laughing hysterically at Zeus’s face*
It then went into an uncomfortable silence, which put my ADHD into hyper drive. I started to turn my head look around, my fingers started tapping on my thighs, then I started humming the last song I had heard, which was from a commercial about the Lego Movie. The flag dude looked back at me with annoyance.
“Are you seriously humming ‘Everything is Awesome’?” He asked incredulously.
I nodded, “It’s the last song I heard, so it just came to mind. Besides, the silence was killing me, I’m not good with quiet… or keeping still for that matter. I wonder if it’s a side effect from ADHD?” I mostly asked that question to myself. “It probably is…” I answered myself.
“Any other disorders or things we need to know about?” Cap asked me.
“I’m also dyslexic, and I’m pretty sure I’m not allergic to anything… and I hate seafood, so whatever you do, don’t feed it to me.” I answered, the last part wasn’t really necessary, but I thought they should know. I still couldn’t look at seafood the same way after I found out I pretty much had to protect all sea life, and since Bessie, of course, so I never ate any. Cap raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged in a way that said he had heard weirder, which I respected him for, he didn’t judge me like I know a lot of other people would’ve.
We finally arrived at a door, Cap opened it, then stepped inside and held the door open for me. I thought it was kind of weird that he did that, but I didn’t comment, because, hey, goodness knows how much weirder stuff I’ve seen. So I just raised an eyebrow at him, and shrugged in a ‘who am I to judge’ way. I shoved my hands in my very messed up jean’s pockets, which were pretty much holding together by a couple of threads on my legs, and I thanked the Gods that there were no rips above my thighs. Goodness knows how embarrassing it would’ve been if they asked me to explain why I didn’t have decent enough clothes on to hide my undergarments. (Undergarments… what a strange and unique way to say underwear…)
While walking in the room I noticed a one-eyed dark skinned man with his hands clasped behind his back. I was instantly compelled to assume the same pose and close one eye to mock him, but I quickly quelled the compulsion and stood a few feet away from the door. “How’d you find me?” I asked.
The man’s frown deepened with annoyance, and I resisted smirking at that. “You were spotted visiting the cemetery, and your record made you a possible threat to us, it was only reasonable that we brought you in to make sure you would try to harm the whole world.” My mouth dropped in surprise.
“You know,” I said, annoyance laced in my words. “If you’re going to track someone down you might, just might, need to make sure you have all the information about your target. I was quite happy with everyone thinking I was dead, and it seems that you don’t know that fact. I do not want to be known as alive so if you excuse me, I’m going to take my bags, get out of your problem, and leave.”
“What makes you think we have a problem?” The man asked, raising a single eyebrow at me.
“There’s probably not a problem right now, but I guarantee there is going to be one with my bad luck. I’d rather not be the reason another bad guy shows up to take over the world because they get wind I’m alive, I’d rather not have to deal with that kind of thing again. By the way, what’s your name?” I asked.
The man looked shocked for about a second, then his mask of calm, and slight annoyance, slid back. “I am Director Fury, Perseus Jackson.” I flinched, what was it with everyone here knowing my full name?
“It’s Percy,” I said forcefully, pushing away all the memories that came with that name. Most of which had to do with my first stepfather, Smelly Gabe. That thought made the room start to dim, just like in the park. I immediately went to pinch myself on my leg with my hand still in my pocket. “Fury?” I asked him, I really hoped he wasn’t a monster, that would be really awful.
“Is there a problem with my last name?” Fury asked with his eyebrow raised.
“I hope not,” I muttered in response. By then the room had stopped getting darker, so I stopped pinching myself and I hoped that the wound left wouldn’t be like my arm had been.
Fury turned and headed toward a table that I just noticed was in the room because Fury now stood at the head of it. I mean seriously, how did I miss that table? It pretty much took up the entire room! I shrugged.
“Have a seat.” He said, though the tone of his voice made it sound that if I didn’t, I would be forced to anyway. So I sat down at the end that was closest to me, which happened to be completely on the other head of the table from Fury. I chose that seat for a number of reasons. Partly because it was the seat that was closest to the door, so I could get out fast, but it was mostly because it would annoy Fury. Cap and Arrow Dude sat down too. Cap sat two seats away from Fury on my left, and Arrow Dude sat four seats away from me to my right. A door opened across the room and in came in Tony, the redhead, and a guy wearing glasses. Then another door burst opened, and in came Thor holding a Pop tart.
“Do you know why you are here?” Fury asked me when Thor and the others sat down.
“Well, apparently I’m considered a threat to the whole world.” I answered truthfully.
Fury nodded, then asked, “Do you know any of the team members by name?”
I nodded, “A few, well, two, actually, but that was because they gave me something to remember them by. Thor came with the shocking news that he was the Norse God of thunder, and the only reason I know Tony’s name is because of how he reacted to me calling him a selfish billionaire with a machine for a heart. His face turn purple of all colors. His ego’s the size of my uncle’s desire for dramatics.” I said snickering at that last part, man would Zeus be mad if he knew I was talking about him, but hey, he thought I was dead along with the other Gods, so I could pretty much say whatever I wanted to about them at this point. A few others snickered as well at my comment about Tony, while the man himself deflated in his chair, turning red with embarrassment.
“I’d like to address why you faked your death. Why did you do it?” Fury asked me.
“I didn’t fake my death.” I answered truthfully. “I just failed to kill myself, but then I was thought to be dead, so I let it be.”
“Why did you want to kill yourself?” The glasses dude asked me.
I really didn’t want to answer that question, so I said, “My reasons will remain with me.” I glared slightly at the man who asked me that. He looked away quickly.
Everyone looked kind of shocked at my statement, like they were expecting me to spill my life story to them just because they asked me to. Fury looked at me calmly. “I’d like to address something else you said before the others came in. You said that there might not be problem now, which is true, but you also said that there was probably going to be if certain people knew you were alive. Why did you say that?”
I gave him a look that said, ‘Are you serious? I just answered that question!’ I sighed, then ran my hand through my hair. “Well, lets just say I have a lot of enemies who would gladly want to kill me themselves. I’d much rather have them thinking I was dead, than anyone getting hurt because they came after me.” I flinched at the words that came out of my mouth visibly, and shrank in my seat. I clutched the table with one hand, while with the other I pinched myself in my jean’s pocket. The world was still dimming down slowly. I steeled my nerves and pinched myself harder digging into my skin as much as I could with my nails. During all of this the words I said still rang in my head echoing, sometimes adding other words, sometimes overlapping to make nonsense, and sometimes the words rearranged themselves to something even more psychologically painful. *I don’t want anyone getting hurt because they came after me. Everyone got hurt because they came after me. Anyone who is near me gets hurt. They come after me, anyone close gets hurt. Everyone got hurt because of me.* The last one was like a punch in the gut. Everything else was blocked out, so I was numbly aware of someone yelling my name at me. I only jolted up and was aware when someone shouted like they were about to be killed, “Perseus Jackson!”
The voice turned out be Fury’s. When I looked at him, he had the most annoyed face that the human face could make, it was so utterly ridiculous, that for the first time in three years, I smiled for real. It wasn’t a half smile to hide my pain or a fake smile that I had practiced in the mirror, neither was it a forced smile to make everyone think I was okay. This was a full blown ear-to-ear smile. I smiled so big I thought my face was going to break. I didn’t think it was possible, but Fury’s face got even more annoyed. That made his face look, well, I can’t even describe how funny it was. I then started to laugh, truly laugh. I laughed so hard and so big, that I started to cry. I heard others start to go into giggle fits, which turned into full blown laughter, but their laughs couldn’t compare to mine. I was at the point to where I could hardly breath, I was laughing so much. It felt so good to laugh this openly, even if it was with a couple of strangers.
“Your…face,” I wheezed in between laughs and short breaths. “It’s hilarious…”
Fury glared at me, but honestly, it was the most pitiful glare I’ve seen in my entire life. Even Clarisse’s glare that was directed towards me when I was twelve was a better glare than his.
After my laughing was done, and I could finally breath normally I informed him. “And by the way, your glare is the equivalent of a slightly mad puppy.” Chuckles were heard all around the table. And Fury looked at me with frustration. “Before you say anything, I have a reputation for ticking off people more powerful than me. My Aunts, my Uncles, My Grandfathers and Grandmothers, and even my Great-Grandfathers, all of which are on my father’s side. I, luckily, haven’t ticked him off yet. Gods know what would happen if I did.”
Fury raised an eyebrow at that, “Gods?”
I forced myself not to look panicked and replied, “Yeah, I’m Polytheistic, I believe in the Greek and Roman Gods.”
“I thought that the Greeks and the Romans had different religions?” Said the guy wearing glasses.
“Nope, the Greeks had their Gods first, but then the Romans took their Gods, changed their name and some of their qualities, and they became Roman.” I answered.
“What do you mean they changed some of their qualities?” Asked the red haired chick.
“Well, for example, they made Athena into Minerva, and made her the Goddess of crafts and wisdom, they didn’t respect Athena and thought that she wasn’t a maiden Goddess, so they thought she shouldn’t be a goddess of battle strategy, like the Greeks did. They also took all of the Gods and made them more barbaric and strict in their personalities.” I answered.
“But Athena had lots of children in the myths.” The glasses guy inquired.
“Don’t use the M-word around me. And yes, she did have children, but they were born like Athena was born, from the mind, so she is still technically a maiden Goddess. Can we please stop questioning my religion now, I would like to know your names so I don’t have to refer to you by your appearance. I know that two of you already told me your name, but…well, my memory’s kind of bad, so…” I said.
The red haired chick looked at me and replied with, “Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. In case you didn’t know, that’s an Arachnid.” I mentally winced at the last word, it reminded me of *You-Know-Where. (*in case you’ve had a brain fart, that’s Tartarus.)
The guy who looked like a walking American flag replied with, “Steve Rodgers, Captain America. I’m a super soldier.”
I wisely replied with, “A what-what?”
“A super soldier.” Steve answered, I gave him a blank look. Everyone started to stare at me.
“What do you know about the Battle of New York?” Fury asked me curiously.
“The what?” I asked. Had there been another war, or did the mortals think that the Second Titan war was a war they were fighting too?
“Come on kid, aliens came through a portal in the middle of the sky and attacked New York, if we didn’t stop them, the whole world would be gone now.” Tony answered me, I gritted my teeth when he called me a kid.
“Aliens? Portal? New York? When was this?” I asked, I was so confused now.
“Three years ago, in this month a few weeks earlier than today.” Fury answered me. It made perfect sense now, that was when Annabeth and I were in The Pit together. “Where were you?” Fury asked.
“I was in Greece running an errand for my Dad, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.” I answered coolly.
“We don’t seem to have your father on file, why is that?” Fury asked me.
“Well, my Dad left before I was born, and became lost at sea. I never knew him until I was twelve , and have only seen him a few times since, he’s also one of the many people who think that I’m dead along with my Mom. He’s probably not on your file because my Mom and him weren’t legally married.” I answered.
“Why didn’t you at least tell your parents you were alive?” Asked the bow guy. “I’m Clint Barton, by the way, also known as Hawkeye.”
“They would’ve made me go back, they wouldn’t understand fully why I couldn’t go back.” I answered. “Believe me, I wanted to barge into my apartment and wrap her in a hug when I saw her crying over me, but when I got to where I was going to I would have to fake everything to my friends that were still there. I didn’t want to do that to them a second time.”
“I’m Dr. Bruce Banner, and excuse me if I’m passing on sensitive territory, but, you said that you would have to fake everything for your friends that were still there. Are you saying that some of your friends have died?” He asked.
I smiled sadly at him and answered truthfully, because he did ask nicely and insinuated that I didn’t have to answer if I didn’t want to, I liked that, so decided to answer his question in thanks. “It’s okay, and yeah, a lot of my friends have died, too many, in fact, and most died right in front of me.”
Everyone looked shocked at this, except Thor, who had a curious look on his face. I grew panicked, he knew me somehow, and I knew how to, sort of, but now I had to leave before Thor spilled the beans about my heritage. “Well, I can see my life is making you depressed, so if you will kindly tell me where my bags are, I will leave and leave you to get back to hearing slightly less depressing lives.”
Thor gasped suddenly and stared at me with amazement, he’d figured out who I was. “You are Perseus Jackson, Savior and Hero of Olympus! Stories of your adventures, your bravery, and your loyalty is told throughout the halls of Asgard. It is an honor to meet such a fine hero.”
I bolted out of my chair and sprinted out a door, behind me I heard yelling, warbled questions, and footsteps coming close.