PERSEUS MEANS DESTROYER

Could Have Been Me

Don't wanna live as an untold story,

I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory.

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The blue Toyota Prius with the weird dents in the hood had been parked outside the Avengers' Tower for close to half an hour now, engine puttering away quietly. Usually, something like this wouldn't be cause for concern, but with the media claiming a chained god was in the building, and his new 'babysitter' scheduled to show up 40 minutes ago, anything out of the ordinary was now extraordinary.

"Percy..." Sally Jackson's voice was soft. It had been for months. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"'Want' would be an overstatement."

"Then why?"

"Because if I don't, what then? I'm useless."

"Perce, sweetheart..."

"Thanks for driving me here, mom. But I'm late. I'll call or something later."

He pushed open the door, and his crutch clattered to the asphalt. He muttered a quiet curse and bent down to pick it up, sliding it over his arm and blowing a quick kiss to Sally.

The first thing that struck Percy when he walked through the front doors of the building, was the size of the place. It was bright. And loud. But very, very modern.

This was going to be easy. Nothing like camp, not in the slightest.

The crutch clicked across the tiled floor as he made his way to the main reception. The woman sitting there looked up as he approached.

"Hi, I'm Pepper, how can I help you today?"

Percy tapped the handle of his crutch nervously. "Uh, I'm late, but I think I was meant to be meeting with... Tony Stark?" He scratched the nape of his neck and offered her a sheepish smile. "About half an hour ago, actually..."

"Oh! Okay, you were the three PM?"

"Yeah, probably."

"You are a little late, but I'm sure it's fine. I'll come with you to the elevator, since you need a key pass—" she picked up a laminated card— "and then you'll be on your own. Just so you know, they can be a little intense."

Pepper scanned the card on a reader inside the elevator while Percy held the 'open doors' button.

"Just press the 'A'. It's not super inconspicuous, but at least it's straightforward."

"Sure. Thanks, Pepper."

She smiled, waved, and walked back to her desk.

Percy jabbed the big, red, 'A' button, and then waited for the doors to slide closed before he inhaled again, and slumped against one wall. A shaking hand reached out for the doors, then realised it would look weird on cameras or for whoever else would see him stepping out, so he held down the 'close doors' button instead.

The ride seemed to last forever, to the point where his fingers had gone numb, clutched too tightly around the handle of his crutch.

When the doors shuddered open, he exhaled sharply and stepped out briskly, only to be faced with a highly unexpected scene.

"The car's gone." Tony looked up from the window at Natasha. "Someone got out, just entered the building."