lost (Hawkeye)

Chapter 46

Percy:

"But you have to take a test to show that we can trust you." Aha, so there was the catch. "A test?" I asked hesitantly. I had never been good at tests at school. "Don't you already know everything about me?" "The test will be matching your ability." Said Steve. "Er well then, but I must warn you, I'm not the smartest." I saw Tony roll his eyes. "I'm going to ask you a few questions about your fighting styles. After all, I'm going on the mission with you." Clint smiled kindly at me. "First, please tell me about your strengths and weaknesses." I thought for a moment. "I'm pretty good at sword fighting. I can also throw spears and knives, and handle daggers. I'm also pretty good at climbing and things with water, which means swimming, rowing and surfing. I'm also relatively fast and am quite okay at hand-to-hand combat. On the other hand, archery is a complete disaster. I have an incredible fear of flying and don't like spiders." The last point made me think of Arachne and I grimaced. "Well, that sounds pretty good. Where did you learn all that?" "At a summer camp." I replied to Clint's question. "I didn't realise they taught you how to handle guns at summer camps these days, let alone old-fashioned ones like that." Steve now interjected. "Well, the camp is run by my uh, I think cousin. It's owned by my family and they're pretty traditional." "Traditional?" Natasha asked in wonder. "They put a lot of emphasis on um, how should I put it? They're very old-fashioned, as you can tell by the weapons. We don't believe in one god, we believe in the Greek and Roman gods. We have to make sacrifices to the gods, learn Latin and Greek and the myths." Tony's mouth dropped open. He probably never expected to meet anyone else who was so "old fashioned". "Just asking, but who is your favourite god?" Bruce asked. "Da- Poseidon, of course. But the others are pretty cool too, at least for the most part." Fury cleared his throat. "Uh sure, back on topic. You said you already had combat experience, do you make plans or are you more like Tony?" I frowned. "Like Tony. Most of the time I don't have time to make plans or I make them very quick while I'm fighting or before the fight. I set a goal and try to achieve it somehow." The others smiled slightly. "Are you more of a lone fighter or one who fights as part of a team?" I pondered for a moment. "I'm more of a lone fighter, but I also fight as a part of a team.""To be able to size you up when you fight, I want you to fight one." I looked at Fury with a rounded brow." What do you want me to fight with?" "With a sword, of course. We will bring you one and then you will fight our best swordsman."

A short while laterAs Fury had promised, we met a swordsman in the training hall shortly after. He had black hair and brown skin. His stature resembled that of a refrigerator. He had huge upper arms and was generally a giant. He held a metal sword and held mine out to me with his other hand. I took it in my hand and frowned slightly. It was nowhere near as balanced as Anaklismos, but you couldn't have everything. We stood in the arena and looked at each other. Green eyes met brown eyes.Without hesitation, he leapt at me and swung at me.But I whirled to the side. As he hit the doctrine, I thrust my swordhandel into his back. He staggered but held himself upright, growled once briefly and turned to me again. This time I parried his blow. I groaned quietly as he began to push. He was stronger than expected. I pushed him off me and turned behind him. I hit him lightly on the back of the head, he staggered but regained his balance. Gasping and with glittering eyes, he turned to me. "Well old man, was that all you got?" I grinned cheekily at him, at which he turned red with anger. "Haha funny, Bruce turns into broccoli and you turn into a tomato." He pushed forward and aimed his sword at my chest. A wild thrust, far too fast, one he couldn't control. I dropped to a crouch. Again he struck the doctrine, meanwhile I knocked his legs out from under him. He fell, and before he could even scream or raise his sword, I was already crouching on top of him, pressing the blunt side of my sword against his neck.I stood up, I hadn't even started to sweat. I turned to the Avengers who were looking at me in amazement. "Please Fury, I wanted a challenge not a warm up exercise." The agent behind me, whose name I didn't even know, snorted indignantly. Tony leaned forward and whispered something in Fury's ear. The latter nodded and Tony stood up straight again, smoothed out his suit and began to speak. "This, my dear, is the MK 34," at his word, a robot flew into the room. It landed next to Tony and stood rigid. "It will analyse your every move and defeat you that way." Stark grinned in victory. I eyed the robot appraisingly; he looked strong and could defeat me with that sword. "Very well, but he must fight with this sword." I tossed my sword to the robot who caught it. "Now which sword do you want to fight with?" Clint asked, raising an eyebrow. I reached into my pocket and pulled out riptide. Thor's eyes widened as he recognised my pen. I pressed the button and Springflut appeared in all its glory. "With this one." I swished my sword around once, wanting the feeling of finally being able to use my old friend again. Tony looked at my sword admiringly. "I really need to take a look at this, is it made of vibranium? Who forged it? How did it turn into a pen?" These and more questions poured out of his mouth. "Then begin." Shouted the director impatiently. I nodded and walked back into the arena, followed by the robot.I positioned myself in my fighting stance and looked into the staring, cold eyes of my opponent. He was a machine, so he probably wouldn't stumble....We raised our blades and I slowly moved to his right side. The robot slowly turned with me. After a few steps I stopped. I would never be able to hit him unless I did something unexpected. Before I could put my plan into action, he feinted against my right leg as if he wanted to drive his sword into my knee. But in mid-motion he broke off and, with a small movement of his wrist and arm, sent the sword hurtling towards me, drawing it across my chest. He was fast, but I was faster. Realising his intention, I backed up half a metre and jerked my sword up. "Ha," I shouted as our blades clashed with a loud clang. I pushed him back, followed up and let a quick succession of blows whiz down on him. For minutes we fought, me being able to make the first two hits. One against his hip, the other against his shoulder. After that our duel was pretty even, the robot began to see through my attacks and defence methods. A sharp pain shot through me as his next blow found its target. He pulled the sword from my left shoulder and examined the blood on it. Again I let my sword lunge forward, only to be blocked. I shifted my face to my pads and thought. In my Greek style, I could not defeat him now. In my Roman one, I could. I grinned again and suppressed the pain on my shoulder. Before I could launch an attack, the black and red robot sent his sword hurtling towards my stomach. Thanks to my ADHD, I dodged elegantly and stabbed his arm. Normally I would have made an elegant slash at his leg, but now it was Roman fighting's turn and that wasn't so graceful. The robot could no longer dodge and so he had one arm less. He held the sword tighter and looked at me coldly again. He delivered a sweeping blow to my head, at which I simply ducked and pulled his legs away. He fell, but by standing on his hands he was in front of me again more quickly than he had intended. He let his arm whiz towards my injured left shoulder and I had no choice unless I wanted a chopped arm. I dropped Springflut and pressed Tysons's watch. Quickly, a round shield burst forth. I jerked my arm up and the sword smacked against it. It was  hard for me to keep  my stance as the MK 34 began to press. At first I held against it before dropping to the ground and reaching for my sword. He shrugged his left shoulder and I ducked behind my shild. A moment later I realised that it had been a fake attack and that this tin can was trying to pass my cover on the right. I spun quickly and saw the edge of the sword come down on my neck. I jumped back and struck at his side with a swift blow. I put a net of blows around the robot and pushed it further and further back. A repulsor struck against my shield."Yo, that's not fair." The robot shot at me again and my shield flew out of my hand. A thick dent imprinted in its centre. "That was from my brother you tin can!" I shouted at him and struck again. This time even harder and more determined. I pushed at his legs and pulled my sword up at the last moment. It stuck in the middle of his chest. I should have done this a long time ago, but then I wouldn't have been able to prove to them what I could do. The robot's blue eyes went out and he toppled over. I pulled my sword out of his chest and bent down to pick my shield up off the ground. I sighed once, briefly, when I saw the bump before I turned into his watch form. I ran back to the Avengers, who where slightly clapping, Tony having a big frown on his face. "That was so cool." Spoke Clint into the silence and Tony wagged his head in agreement. I put the cap back on my sword and put the pen in my pocket. "Where did you get the sword?" Steve asked me. "Magic, Stevilein, magic." I winked at him and gratefully accepted the water bottle Natasha held out to me. After a few sips, I noticed my strength coming back. "I should take a look at your shoulder." Bruce now said and I winced at the mention. I had forgotten all about it.In Bruce's lab I had to sit down on the couch and take off my top. I thought about it for a moment, I didn't want to show my scars, but if I could manage to manipulate the mist, Bruce could treat my shoulder and I wouldn't have to waste my energy on healing it. So I snapped my fingers and took off my top.