- 9 -

Perci stalked into the gym, stopping suddenly to gaze at its size. There were running tracks, equipment, punching bags, an archery range and mats which were presumably for fighting. For the first time since she got told about the engagement, she smiled. Granted it was small and fleeting, more reminiscent than joyful, but it was something. She walked over to each section, checking the equipment they had, obviously avoiding the archery range (she was still incredibly bad at it. Chiron was pretty sure it was a curse). She was impressed with how hardcore some of the machines were, going up to tons at a time.

At camp, they didn't have much of the fancy equipment. Well, it would have been a monster hell hole, and these machines looked barely useful on inspection. But Perci didnt care much about that at the present time.

"Hey. Umm British Voice Man?" She called up to the ceiling, not sure where to look.

"Yes, Miss Jackson?" She heard the voice echo around her. The sensation reminded her of the gods booming voices.

"Please call me Perci. Everyone does. Anyway, there are cameras here right?"

"That is correct."

"If I asked you to shut them off, would anyone be able to see it?"

"Boss would be able to, but I can put the footage in a secured position to prevent access without override codes."

"Umm, okay sure." To be totally honest, Perci had no idea what he was talking about. It's not like she had to deal with technology before, let alone an AI. Maybe that could be added to the list of positives out of this experience. What is that, like 3 positives, to a bajillion negatives.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear the thoughts as she walked over to the track. Perci began by running laps they had set up but eventually opted for the huge treadmill in the corner with obstacles built into it to replicate different environments. Speed didn't matter if you had little to no agility. She got the hang of it after two tries and started turning the speed and difficulty up. And though most would not call almost getting burnt by fire and rolled over by boulders fun, Perci found it relaxing to just let go and rely on her ADHD. She stopped once the higher settings became boring. She was lightly sweating but other than that, felt better than she had in weeks.

She moved over to the punching bags to test their capabilities. She knew she was stronger since the immortality blessing (or curse depending on how you look at it) and she didn't want to end up breaking things all the time due to an inability to measure her own strength. Like doors for example. Would Tony want Perci to pay for that?

She pushed the thought out of her mind and went to punch the bag with about 50% strength. Well, what she thought was her 50% strength. It was definitely not the same as before. The bag went flying across the gym, hitting the wall on the other side with a loud hit. It rolled onto the ground, but it had no visible damage.

Okay, I guess that's not an option. She muttered to herself. She looked over to a door nearby the fallen bag and went to investigate what lay behind it. As she (very gently) opened the door she peeked inside. There were rows of weights and punching bags, obviously designed for stronger punches. Some were even made of metal.

She dragged one out that had a metallic shine to it. She hung it on the clip and gave it a test punch, but it stayed hooked in. She began rhythmically punching the bag to experiment with holding back her strength. Every now and then she would hit it too hard and would fly off the clip, but it never went all the way to the other wall like the original bag.

Holding her strength back was no easy task as she soon realised. The extra mental concentration was exhausting, but she revelled in the burning sensation her muscles gave her. This mental focus was shortlived, as to a certain someone coming up behind her and slamming her against the wall. She felt the blade against her throat before recognising the face behind it.

"I believe we were never properly acquainted. Natasha right?" Perci smirked at the annoyance on the redheads face.

"Who are you?" The redhead leaned her knife in closer against Percis throat. This question annoyed Perci herself. Why did these people not listen to the first 5 times she introduced herself.

"Perci, I've already said that. You'd think that a spy would remember that." Natashas eyes widened and narrowed in triumph.

"You claimed you didn't know who the Avengers were, yet you know I'm a spy. So who are you? How did you trick Thor into bringing you here?" Perci frowned at her slip up, but it quickly turned to confusion. How did she know that? Natasha Romanoff; wasn't she that woman Piper and Annabeth ogled over? That's right, she was the first female member of some team and in their opinion the strongest. Perci didn't put the name to the face till now, at least not knowingly.

"I have some friends who really like your work. I didn't connect that you were on the Avengers though until you snuck up on me." Natasha seemed disappointed by the answer, Perci imagined she was hoping for an entire spill on how Perci had fooled Thor into bringing her to meet the Avengers. Perci couldn't help but grin at her disappointment, the smile growing wider when Natasha's frown deepened.

"Then how were you punching that bag without breaking your hand? That's infused with vibranium, you shouldn't be able to do that." Well, that explains why the bag was stronger. Perci grappled for an answer in her mind but it came up blank.

"For that, you will have to ask Thor." Nailed it. Perci lightly pushed past Natasha and moved started walking over to the punching bag.

"Then tell me why you were sent here with Thor? Because whatever you said upstairs was an extremely obvious lie." Perci felt she couldn't not answer, at least not again. She awkwardly turned back to the spy who was still holding the knife, thankfully by her side instead of at Perci's throat.

"A combination of three things. An absent father, a shitty family and a life long contract I did not agree to willingly." Perci smiled at the mystery in her answer. She had revealed enough to get the redhead off her trail, but not enough to find out what was really happening.

Her gloating was cut short when she heard an intake of breath that sounded a lot like a revelation. The next words out if the spies mouth felt like a wave of ice flowed over her body, her minding falling down a chasm of confusion, regret and fear.

"You're a demigod."

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