Interrogation
"You're quiet."
"I'm just thinking."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Once he had woken up, she quietly repeated her plan into his ear. She was suprised to have recieved such a dead reaction to the news. She gestured for him to continue. He forced a smile on his face and laughed bitterly before turning away. "I'm just thinking about how long I'm going to be grounded for."
Her heart dropped. She hadn't even thought about that aspect of the issue. "Your poor mother..."
Percy shook his head sadly. He was mute until another thought crossed his mind. "It's just-" He stopped suddenly, either not wanting to continue or from a distraction of some sort.
"Just...?" Annabeth prompted.
"Well she just had Chloe, so she's going to be stressed enough all ready, and she was already freaked out after everything that happened last year, and I promised her it wouldn't happen again-"
"That was a stupid promise, Percy."
He sighed and dropped his hands to the floor defeatedly. "I know," he whispered.
"None of this is your fault," she reminded him, settling down besides him. "It's not that bad, anyway. I mean, it could be worse."
"How?" he muttered.
Annabeth dropped his hand and sat back. "Really? We've lived worse, you idiot. You could be dead right now for gods sake."
Percy chuckled harshly. "Maybe that wouldn't have been so bad."
Annabeth glared at him. "That's not funny at all."
His lack of a response caught her off guard. He didn't follow up with another snarky comment. Instead, he his head and stared at his hands, as if he was actually considering the thought.
If he was actually considering the thought.
"Perseus Jackson. That better have been a joke."
He sighed heavily, ripping himself out of the bed and onto the floor, dropping her hand. He grabbed his hair and pulled slowly in frustration. "It just gets so old sometimes, you know? I'm sick of being the laughing stock of the gods. It just keeps coming, and we keep hoping for an end, but who says there's even going to be one?"
"Percy-"
"I mean seriosuly? We just got out of fucking Tartarus to save their godly asses. The least they could do is let us go on one fucking date."
"Percy!"
He shut his mouth and turned to look at her. His chest rose and fell rapidly and his raven black hair stuck up chaotically in every direction. Annabeth's eyes met his, which practically glowed with anger.
"Tell me you didn't mean it," she pleaded, popping up off the ground.
Her words startled him, halting his anger. Before he could respond, she grabbed his biceps and forced him to look at her. "Percy-" she said warningly.
"I'm fine, I didn't, I'm just- bitter," he lied.
"You think?" she replied. She let her annoyance seep through her tone. If there was anything that frustrated her about her boyfriend, it was his tendency to turn from calm to raging hurricanes in about three seconds. It wasn't all his fault; after all, Poseidon was one of the moodier gods.
The conversation ended there. The door to the front of the cell clicked and slid open. Percy bristled and pushed away from her when Bobbi tilted her head to the side by judgingly. After she had finished staring at the two of them, the red head pulled out two pairs of cuffs.
"Since Water Boy over here decided to flood the plane and fry the electronics, we're relocating. Get up."
"Water Boy, that's clever," Percy sneered as she tried to snap the device into place; she struggled to get it to fit over the bulky brace and eventually decided to link his free arm to Annabeth's.
...which, in all honesty, was probably for the best.
Annabeth unravelled his clenched fist before sliding her hand into his, smiling slightly when she felt him relax. They began to follow the agent when she spun around at the door.
"Okay, look. I need your word that you're not going to try and fancy water bending tricks. Because we know how to stop them, and Coulson's sick of wasting our I.C.E.R.s on you. Understood?"
"Maybe if you say please."
"I'm taking that as a yes," Bobbi sighed before ushering them out the door and towards the cargo bay. The rest of the team was waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp; Annabeth felt a little unappreciated when they ignored her and instead glared at Percy.
"Hey, mate!" Hunter called out, swapping guard positions with Bobbi, who jogged over to talk to the head hauncho. He gave Percy a once over as he opened his mouth to speak. "On behalf of the team, I'd like to thank you for trying to kill us all."
Percy didn't respond when Annabeth raised an eyebrow questionly at him. Instead, he clenched his jaw and glanced away. She decided to let it go with a sigh for the sake of diplomacy. "Sorry about that," she responded.
The British agent narrowed his eyes and began to form a comeback in his head when Coulson appeared behind them. Bobbi hurried away from the group off the plane and toward one of the Quinjets they had waiting for flight preparation.
The man's eyes bore into them steadily. In a lot of ways, Annabeth realized he reminded her a lot of Chiron- minus the horse part, of course. From just a few minutes experience with him she could tell that all he really cared about was his agents' safety. Behind his calculating eyes lay loads of experience, as though he had lived a lifetime.
After what seemed like forever, the man finally spoke. "Perseus Jack-"
"Percy."
Coulson's jaw clenched, and Annabeth stomped on Percy's foot to indicate it was time to stop acting childish and let the man speak. Despite the fact that this director was scrawny and only eye level with her, there was no telling what power he had attached to him. The last thing they needed was to end up in some prison camp halfway across the country.
"Sorry," Percy hissed angrily under the pain, sending Annabeth an annoyed look. "Please continue."
"Thanks. Now look. Your stunt earlier injured several of my good agents, and you're lucky they weren't serious. You destroyed my plane and we still offered you medical treatment, as our prisoner. What I'm saying is, try something again and see how it works for you. We're done being nice. Don't think that we're not afraid to use lethal force on either of you. Now, Jackson, you're coming with me."
What had Percy done?? That was a conversation that needed to be had soon. But first, Annabeth had to figure out where they planned on taking her boyfriend.
"Um-" she began as Coulson cautiously moved the cuffs from around Percy's wrist to hers. Hunter restrained her boyfriends arms behind his back while making sure to brandish the pistol he had hanging casually in a hollister at his side. The tan teen squirmed in his grip, his frustration rising. The sight was quite amusing; Percy had at least a head on his captor and could definitely take him out easily, even without a right hand and Riptide.
"There isn't enough room on the Quinjets for all of us. May, Daisy, and I will be on one with him. " Coulson cut her off.
Percy stiffened. "Quinjet?"
The director narrowed his eyes at the kid. How could he have never heard of the specialty plane? They were all over the news recently, especially with the inhuman outbreak that was sending the world into chaos.
"It's a plane. Do you want to destroy that one too?"
Percy ignored him and instead rolled his eyes dramatically to look at Annabeth. She knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth. "Jason's dad is going to be pissed," he stated the obvious.
Annabeth shrugged. There wasn't much they could do, unless they wanted to explain to the government the fact the rivalry between Poseidon and Zeus and how it applied to them. Best case scenario they ended up in a psych ward, worst case the team was ravaging through Camp Half-Blood and experimenting on them. Besides, Zeus had to give Percy a break. He'd - quite literally- gone to hell and back for the gods. The least he could do was not shoot him out of the sky.
"Wait, who's Jason?" Hunter wanted to know. Coulson cocked his head as well, debating whether or not the statement was important enough to question before arriving at base.
"Do the two of you have enemies we should know about before take off?" he settled on asking.
"If you count you, then probably not," Jackson smirked.
The older man ignored the comment and traded places with the short Brit. He gave Annabeth a once over as he shifted his grip on Percy's wrists, causing him to squirm. "I've been told you're equally experienced in combat. Don't try it."
"Yes sir," she muttered under her breath, although she didn't agree with his words.
Equally experienced. Ha. Percy could dream.
Coulson and Hunter exchanged a few words before splitting away with their respective captives. Annabeth felt spited in that they had paired her with Hunter, who was slowly sucking all the patience out of her (what little was left). She struggled to remain calm and decided to focus it on conversation. Hopefully one that would result in information.
"So, where are we going?"
The man laughed and plopped into one of the seats of the jet he had led her into after securing her into the seat in front of him. She appreciated that he was kind enough to not wrench her arms behind the seat; instead they rested comfortably on her lap. Or, as comfortably as they could be. Her wrists still stung mercilessly from her first encounter with the cuffs.
"It's classified."
He paused before speaking again. "I'll tell you what," he beamed. "You tell me about why you and your boyfriend got kidnapped, I'll tell you where we're going."
This time it was Annabeth's turn to laugh. "Even if I wanted to, why should I trust what you say?"
"Hey mate, you're the one that wanted to know."
The sound of footsteps caught her attention from the cargo lift of the small ship. The muscled mass known as Mack came in first, followed by the curly haired Fitz and stern faced Morse. Bobbi gave her little more than a glance before heading to the cockpit. Hunter smiled devilishly before climbing after her.
"How's it going, Blondie," Mack asked as he took a seat across from her. She jumped at the loud bang that preceeded the raising of the cargo bed to seal the jet.
"I've been better," she said between gritted teeth at the nickname. Fitz took a spot near Mack as he fiddled with a laptop. Annabeth was suprised to see that his nose was swollen considerably; it didn't seem to affect his productivity. His fingers flew across the keyboard.
"What happened to your nose?" she asked before she could stop the words. The agent looked up and frowned. "Really? Really?" he asked, exasperated. She couldn't help but snicker at his expression and rapid hand gestures. "Well I don't know, maybe just your boyfriend or whatever using my face as a punching bag," he huffed. He looked back down at his laptop, seemingly finished before his head flew up again. "I didn't appreciate it," he clarified.
"Sorry it happened," she bit her lip to keep him for letting her know her amusement with the story.
"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off dismissively. Mack squinted at Annabeth before leaning back to sneak a peek at Fitz's computer. "What the heck," he muttered after a minute or so.
Mack leaned forward in the seat to ask his question. "Why are you two carrying around weapons from Ancient Greece? And why did it take us this long to see swords and daggers and not baseball bats and poles or...?"
Well, this should be a fun story to improvise, Annabeth grimaced.
"Wait, no. Before you answer that: do you take fish oil supplements regularly? Or have you recently?"
Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Do you?" Mack ignored her way around the question.
"No, I don't."
Mack nodded. "Do you eat fish? And what about Percy?"
Annabeth huffed angrily. They were wasting her time now. "No, yes, and the world would end before Percy ate fish. He hates seafood."
Mack nodded, taking a mental note or what was said. It confused him, but the sword thing confused him more.
They needed answers, and they needed them now.
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"Are you alright?"
Percy peeled open one eye to peer at the source of the voice laced with laughter. Daisy stared at him with a face of skepticism from across the row. The plane jerked forward suddenly, sending a wave of nausea through him. He slammed his eyes shut again and swallowed before he even dared to speak.
"What do you care?" he spat. He opened his eyes just in time to see her shrug. "I don't really, I just thought it'd be polite to ask."
He scowled. "How thoughtful."
"Hey, it's the least I could do after you almost amputated my arm."
"I didn't realize you were so attached to it, sorry. I'll go for the head next time," he quipped, not fully remembering when he had done that. He raised his hand to relieve a sudden itch at the back of his neck. The movement caused Daisy to whip a pistol out of one of her many hollisters. They hadn't bothered to find a normal pair of handcuffs after Fitz's newly engineered kind failed to fit around the brace. They had resorted to adding a lock around the safety harness attached to the seat so that he couldn't move (in theory).
"I'm going to scratch an itch, not murder you. Chill out," he muttered. She glared at him until he dropped his hand. "What?" he demanded. "Jumpy much?"
"Coming from the one who went crazy when we were trying to help you."
Percy clenched his jaw. "Help me? You shot me!" She opened her mouth to respon when Coulson cut off the bickering. "All right!" he boomed with authority. "Ladies, you're both pretty. Daisy, drop the gun. Jackson, cut the act."
Daisy apologized hastily and did as she was told. Percy, on the other hand, didn't like following directions. He stared at Coulson with wide eyes until he questioned it.
"Do you really think I'm pretty?" he replied with mock awe.
Coulson mumbled something under his breath. He was done trying to talk sense into the teen and decided that his best option was sitting with May in the front. So, he did.
Daisy cracked a grin at the stupidity of the joke and shook her head in disbelief. Percy frowned at her. "What?"
"You're stealing my thunder as lead smart-ass, Jackson."
He shrugged, a sudden crushing weight hitting him. He knew very well that his smart comments were half the reason that he and Annabeth had ended up in this situation. It was embarrassing that he had lost a battle at the beach, his home turf.
He didn't have long to think about it when the plane bounced violently. Daisy cursed as she flew out of her seat, catching herself at the last minute. Percy himself shouted a choice word when his braced hand clanked against the metal chair below him.
"May!" Daisy called out after a few seconds of calmness. She strapped herself into a seat while waiting for an answer. "What the hell was that?"
Coulson popped his head in from the cockpit, grabbing a handle above his head for stability. "Storm. We're going to try to go around it."
"The radar was clear!"
Percy's knuckles were white on the bottom of the chair as another wave of turbulence sent them bouncing. It only lasted a few seconds, but he had no doubt that the bad weather was a gift from none other then his second favorite god: Zeus. Second next to Hera, of course.
Note the sarcasm.
"Jackson."
He looked up from his feet to see Coulson staring at him with the slightest hint of concern. He didn't say anything, but left them for the cockpit once again. He returned seconds later with a bottled water just as another wave of bumps shook them around like rag dolls. Coulson took a breath before making his way over to Percy and handing it to him. He took it warily, not sure if he should trust it.
The man gave him a curt nod. "Drink it. You look somewhere between puking and passing out, and I'd prefer neither.
Percy's green eyes stared at him in disbelief. "Thank you," he finally said. A genuine thanks.
The shorter man left it at that before returning to the front of the plane. Percy's stomach churned. He looked at the water in his hand and wondered how he was going to get it open; the black brace on his right hand restricted his fingers from moving, which was a bummer. He squeezed it between his thighs and tried that. He failed. They hit several more areas of rough air, and as a bile rose in his throat he leaned back into the chair and groaned.
"You're pathetic. I can't watch you anymore, here," Daisy opened it with ease. She handed it back and then hurried back over to her seat.
He casually spilled some over his injured wrist in harmony with the newest set of turbulence before bringing the bottle to his lips. The liquid cured some of his physical discomfort, but the rising panic inside him still persisted.
The roughness continued for nearly another hour, which felt like five times that to the son of Poseidon. Eventually, either Zeus got bored or someone must have told him off because the weather suddenly cleared.
"So, what's the story?"
"What story," the raven haired teen asked tiredly. The stress of the past hour had left him drained.
"Why are you so scared of flying? There has to be a backstory," Daisy questioned.
Percy swallowed. "My grandparents," he started. "They died in a plane crash."
"Did you know them?"
"No, I never met them. My mom was little when they died, like five or six I think."
Daisy clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "And your mom is Sally Jackson?"
She was suprised to see his face harden, his eyes suddenly furious. "Don't bring my family into this," he hissed. She raised her hands in innocence. "I'm just confirming facts. 'Chill out.'" she quoted him from earlier.
He sent her an unnerving glare before eventually growing bored with it. "How much longer?" he whined, crunching the empty plastic bottle. His question was ignored for questions about Riptide and his adventures up to his current one.
Time to make schist up.
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This isn't really a fulfilling chapter, but everyone has a bit more respect for each other I guess. And Coulson giving Percy a water awwwwww *I'm fangirling over my own writing is that even allowed sure whatever.*
Okay, happy new year, but can I please please please just take the time to thank you all so so so much for your votes and comments and reads!!! You all are so sweet, and I can not thank you enough. I would tag you guys, but I don't want to leave anyone out: just really, every ounce of support is why I'm writing this. Thanks for dealing with my continuity errors and mistakes and late updates and just everything. And especially those of you who private messaged me to tell me what you liked: it just all means so much. Every read, comment, vote, follow, message makes me jump for joy.
Thank you.
Happy new year.
YOURS TRULY: JUSTANOTHERGIRLMCG
p.s. halfway positive I owe a rantee a dedication: I'll probably tag everyone who did it in this because I loved them all, they were beautiful. movie hate woo!!
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