Percy Jackson and the Forgotten Heroes

18 - I get in deep schist

Percy's P.O.V

An arrow smashed through the window behind us and landed in the floor right between my feet. My first thought was the Hunters of Artemis, but that didn't make sense. Their arrows were silver, not black, and why would they be attacking me? Sure, I'd pushed Thalia in the canoe lake the last time she'd visited, but she couldn't still be mad about that could she?

"You liar!" Owen screamed at me "You lured me here on purpose! It's a trap!"

"Owen, get back, I think it's going to -"

The arrow exploded. The force of it sent me and Owen flying backwards in opposite directions, and I ended up on the other side of the building. I scrambled back to my feet, ignoring the sharp pain in my ankle, and looked around for where the arrow had come from. Crouched at the top of the building across the street was an archer clad in black. I recognised him from all over the news - it was Hawkeye.

I felt anger boil in my chest. The Avengers were working with the Triumvirate. They had killed Jason.

Before I could do anything, a flying figure in grey metal armour appeared hovering outside what had once been a window but was now a huge hole in the side of the wall. He held out both hands in warning "Freeze!"

I rolled behind a piece of rubble as he fired at me, hitting the ground where I had just been standing.

"That was a warning shot! Come calmly and we won't have to use force!"

Both of them were focused only on me. They didn't know Owen was here. And I would rather surrender than let them get him too. The poor kid had been through enough.

I looked behind me for a way out when I saw a huge figure gliding towards the huge window. From a distance it looked like a bird, or one of the giant eagles from Camp Jupiter, but as it got closer I realised it was a person. They had wings attached to their back and were carrying someone else. I didn't have much time to ponder this as they came smashing through the window.

The person with wings dropped whoever they were carrying and curled into a ball, protected from the glass by their wings wrapping around them. They landed on their feet, skidding slightly, and their wings folded in to his back pack. The person they were carrying rolled as they hit the floor, coming up into a crouch, in a classic superhero stance.

Owen took his chance and darted out from the wall he was hiding behind. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and threw it at War Machine before he could react. The knife was right on target, hitting the arc reactor at the centre of his suit. It shattered completely.

"Oh, not again!" War Machine just about managed to blast himself backwards, into the safety of the floor of the building opposite, before his suit shut down completely.

Owen then immediately turned to Falcon and pulled something out of his pocket that elongated into a sword. I followed his lead, drawing Riptide.

"Woah!" Falcon took a step backwards "These kids have got weapons!"

I was about to charge into battle when I had a startling realisation. They were mortal. Celestial Bronze wouldn't hurt them. That didn't seem to bother Owen through. He ran head on towards Falcon and slashed with his sword, opening a huge gash in his arm.

As the Winter Soldier ran to me, I sensed something behind me and dodged out of the way just as an arrow whistled into Bucky's metal arm.

He cursed and shouted "Watch where you shoot Clint!"

Through his earpiece, I heard Clint respond sarcastically "Oh, I'm sorry Bucky, maybe you could get him to stop moving!"

Bucky wrenched the arrow out of his arm and it clattered to the floor. Falcon was struggling with Owen. His sword must have been like Backbiter, a blend of Celestial Bronze and steel, because it was definitely still hitting him. Owen was bloody, bruised, and extremely frustrated, but he showed no sign of stopping. There was an arrow impaled in his calf that he'd snapped off at the shaft and another gash in his shoulder where an arrow had passed clean through, but the adrenaline must have been carrying him through. Hawkeye was firing a multitude of arrows at him - exploding, smoke, tripwire, fire - and all of them hit their target. I was thinking that he would make a good Hunter of Artemis when Bucky tackled me to the ground, knocking Riptide out of my hand.

He held me down with his hand on my throat "What's Hydra's plan? How are they back?"

I struggled to breathe but managed to answer "I - I don't know what - "

"Clint, we need you to sedate him - now!" War Machine ordered.

"I can't get a clear shot! Bucky, you need to let him go!"

Bucky ignored them "I won't ask you again. What is your plan?"

I didn't know what he was talking about and I didn't have time to think about that. I closed my eyes and sensed for any water nearby. There were pipes running all over the city, but they were floors below me. I dug deep inside myself, feeling the tugging in my gut I always did.

"Bucky, don't kill the guy!" War Machine warned.

Bucky didn't have a chance to respond because a wave of water flooded straight upwards from the ground, bursting through the floor and swirling around me. Bucky had loosened his grip slightly and I rolled away from him.

I spread my arms wide, the water obeying my every command. We were on my turf now.

"What the - how the hell did he do that?" Falcon exclaimed.

"Hawkeye - now!"

I threw the water with all of my strength at Falcon, slamming him into the wall, as Bucky regained his composure and growled "Right. That's it. He's going down."

I stepped to the side and slashed Hawkeye's arrow in half and it flew through the air towards me, then pivoted just as Bucky reached me. I slashed at him and he raised his arm in defence. My sword hit the vibranium arm and a shock wave sent both of us flying apart.

I must have been knocked unconscious for a few seconds, but when I woke up I was on a ledge hanging above the road. I scrambled away from the edge as some of it started to crumble.

There was a cry and I peered over to see Owen hanging there. The whole side of the building had been destroyed from Hawkeye's exploding arrow and Owen must have been sent over the edge by the shockwave. The ledge was starting to collapse and he was only just clinging on. Pretty soon the whole thing would collapse and he would fall into the road.

"Owen!" I ran to the edge.

"Leave me alone!" He cried "You traitor!"

I reached down as far as I could "Owen, just take my hand!"

"No!" He turned his face away from me and tried to shuffle along the ledge but it started to collapse beneath him. "You killed my brother! You killed Ethan!"

"No, I didn't! Kronos did!"

"That's a lie!" His voice trembled and he sounded 8 years old, the age he had been when Ethan had died "Ethan was on Kronos' side!"

"He turned on Kronos. He tried to stop him. He was a hero, Owen! You hear me? He was a hero! Now just take my hand!"

The ledge was crumbling, chunks of it falling into the street far below. Owen looked up at me, his eyes wide and fearful "Is this how my brother died?"

I reached out, trying to grab his hand, but he was too far away. And it was too late. The piece of rock he was clinging to broke off the building and Owen plummeted to the ground below.

I'm sorry, Owen. I looked away and heard a thud as his body hit the ground.

I sat by the ledge long after the Avengers had returned from consciousness. They sedated me and I didn't even fight back. All I knew was that someone else had died for me. Another innocent person's blood was on my hands. Was I really the hero? If it wasn't for me, would Owen have still died?

As I slipped into unconsciousness, Annabeth's face appeared in my mind and I knew that I had to keep going. As long as I had her, I would never stop fighting. It didn't matter what happened, even if we fell into Tartarus again like the prophecy said. With her by my side, I would never give up.