broken

chapter three

Fury POV

"He's broken, Sir. His eyes. They look like a soldier's. They look like Bucky's," Steve tells me after the interrogation.

"And they both have these scars. The boy has whip marks on his back and knife cuts all over. The girl has claw marks on her arms," Bruce says, "but that was all I could see when I talked with her."

"And when I said pain, the girl said 'Tartarus'. Isn't that from Greek Mythology?" Natasha says.

"Percy said that too," Steve says. I raise an eyebrow at the use of the subject's first name.

"Give them each a room to stay in. Not a cell, a room," I say, glancing at Steve's worried expression. "We need to keep a close eye on them for a while."

Clint seems to want to argue, but he holds his tongue.

Percy POV

A serious-looking man and Natasha come and lead us into a hallway filled with doors, and I count nine. Each has a name on it: Thor, Wanda, Tony, Bruce, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Perseus, and Annabeth.

"My name is Percy," I say through gritted teeth as I walk in.

The man follows me, Natasha Annabeth.

"You can go into each other's rooms during the day, but not at night. Don't leave the hallway," he says.

I nod my head.

"By the way, my name's Tony. Just yell if you need me, okay?" he says.

"Ok. Thank you," I say, shaking his hand. We make eye contact and his eyebrows furrow.

He leaves and I look around. One of the walls is covered in floor-to-ceiling windows. There's a huge bed that could fit like, 5 whole Percys, with identical nightstands on either side. A big white dresser with a TV on top of it (not going to use that), and an ensuite bathroom with a giant walk-in closet.

I go into the hallway and knock on Annabeth's closed door, and after a muffled "come in," I enter to see a room identical to mine, with a crying Annabeth on the bed.

Tony POV

Steve was right, there's something off with those kids. They look like they've been through hell. When Percy shook my hand and made eye contact, I realized these kids weren't dangerous, they're hurt.

What made them this way?

Annabeth POV

"Come in," I mutter.

Percy walks in and sees me crying.

"Annabeth! What's wrong?" He asks, sitting next to me and moving my head so that it's in his lap. He gently starts playing with my hair.

"They aren't letting us leave, Percy. We're going to be experiments. They took blood. We're demigods. Our blood isn't normal. They're going to know," I say without taking a breath.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay. It's okay. We'll get through it. We always do," he tells me. I nod.

He picks up my head and wipes my tears with his thumbs.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you too."

He starts to speak, but a knock at the door interrupts him.

"Time for dinner," a voice says.

Natasha POV

Percy and Annabeth walk in holding hands. Annabeth looks like she's been crying. Coulson escorts them to the table we're all sitting at, and they sit down next to each other.

"You guys okay?" Tony asks. I guess he saw Annabeth's tears.

"As okay as I'm gonna get," she says, giving us a weak smile.

It doesn't match her eyes.

"I'm making BBQ. Is that good with you guys?" Steve yells from the kitchen.

Percy and Annabeth exchange sad, knowing glances.

Percy hugs her.

"Fine with us," he says.

In less than 20 minutes, the food is ready.

Steve gives all of us a serving fit for Thor.

They both just stare at it.

Eventually, Percy starts picking at his food but notices Annabeth hasn't touched her plate. He mutters something to her and she starts eating slowly.

Soon, we've all eaten, but the kids both left a tiny amount. They both bow their heads and whisper something.

"I can take that for you," Clint says, reaching for Annabeth's plate.

"No!" Annabeth says as she grabs his wrist.

"Do you want to save it for tomorrow?" Steve asks.

The two of them have a conversation with their eyes before Percy stutters, "Um, yeah. Yeah, that's fine."

They stand up quickly and walk into the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

"Wasn't that suspicious?" Bruce asks, "She just lashed out."

"You're one to talk," Tony mutters, and walks to his room. We all follow.

Annabeth POV

Percy follows me back to my room and plops down next to me on the bed.

"My mom's gonna kill me," I say, "I haven't not sacrificed since I came to camp."

"Hey, it's okay."

"No, it's not. You keep saying that. It's not okay." I start to choke up, why am I crying so much? But he rests my head on his chest, shushing me. My eyelids grow heavy as I listen to the steady beat of his heart, and I fall into a peaceful sleep.

Percy POV

I let Annabeth rest her head on my chest. Her breathing steadies, and the shaking subsides. I kiss the top of her head and hesitantly slip away.

When I get in my room, I turn on the shower, as cold as I can bear, and try to forget. The war, Kronos, Gaea, and most of all, Tartarus. I step out and pull on some pants, but that's all I have time for before I hear the heart-wrenching scream I know all too well.

Clint POV

We all follow Tony to his room.

"Tony. Should we let the kids train with us tomorrow?" Steve asks, "We don't know how strong they are, but they look like fighters, and they put up a pretty good fight when they were detained."

My frustration kicks in. "I don't trust them," I say, "Something's off. Are we just glossing over their blood tests?"

"What about the blood tests?" Tony asks, looking at Bruce.

"Half of their DNA is nearly identical to Thor's," he says.

"What are they then?" Tony jokes. "Half-god?"

Bruce looks at him, but before he can speak, we hear it.

Her scream.