Percy Jackson Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent

2018 (3) Clint POV

It was 8 AM on what would have been Percy's birthday when the blackout spread across New York, and S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters shut down as gradually everyone in the building fell asleep, except for me (for some reason?) Even Nat couldn't be roused from her magical slumber, and she was by no accounts a deep sleeper.

Now, because I by my nature am a complete idiot with absolutely zero on the self-preservation scale, I decided to go see what the hell was going on. For science, right?

I ran up to the roof and, man, it was weird. Like something out of some kind of post-apocalyptic film, with smoke swirling into the sky from stray fires, presumably from unattended ovens. But the most frightening thing by far was the silence. I turned my hearing aids all the way up to try and snatch some kind of sound, but there was nothing at all.

New York is, to absolutely everyone, the city that never sleeps. Living in the city is never silent, whether it's cars idling in the streets or that one drunk yelling underneath your window.

It's never the city in eternal sleep, like this.

I went back downstairs and got my bow, grabbing the newest quiver of experimental arrows (which were completely untested and therefore might have blown up in my face), several pistols and three knives on a whim.

I stumbled into the street, seeing if I could find anyone else that was awake. From the pavements it looked slightly more normal, with a normal picture of New York traffic being seemingly frozen in time.

That's when I heard it: the squealing.

"What the fuck?" I said it more for my benefit than anything else, as it wasn't like there was anybody around to tell me off for cursing very loudly in the street (where children might hear you, gosh, you irresponsible young man).

I wrenched my eyeline upwards just in time to see the screaming creature fly away. It was a pig?

Well, that was certainly something I never thought I'd see, but it was awake so I decided to follow it.

(Hey, I'd have to make Nat do all those stupid things she said she'd only do 'when pigs fly'.)

I ran after it through Central Park, passing moving statues (so something was happening?) and countless groups of snoozing old ladies who had presumably been doing tai chi.

Then I heard it; the sound of yelling assaulted my ears: people. I ran faster, chasing the pig, with my bow, as it wreaked havoc and destroyed every tree it flew through. Then it stopped, and so did I. I pulled an arrow out of my quiver, and figured I'd attempt to hit it with my best shot; I mean it wasn't as if it was doing any good destroying the Central Park tree line. I nocked the explosive arrow and fired at the flying monstrosity.

Well, they don't call me Hawkeye for nothing. The arrow hit home despite strong, gusting winds, and the arrow exploded in a scarlet blaze. Quite violent, actually (at least it worked).

But, bacon did not rain down on me, as I kind of expected, but instead a vague golden dust scattered in the breeze and coated my surroundings. Weird.

The yelling quieted, and three kids, the eldest of whom couldn't have been more than about fifteen, appeared from the other side of the park. All three carried bows, although theirs were more traditional-looking than mine, which had been in the hands of R+D and therefore was basically a technological monstrosity. But their weapons and age (and apparent lack of adult supervision) were actually not the strangest thing about the group

No, the oddest thing about them was that they were wearing what looked like bronze plate armor. Most people would probably dismiss them as dedicated cosplayers for... something, but I could tell that their weapons were real, and my inner assassin was instinctively wary. My eyes darted around, checking for traps almost without my permission, but they didn't find any.