Agent Jackson

Chapter 2

Percy glared at Nancy, the school bully. She chose to target him almost immediately because of his abnormal appearance and smarts. It didn't help that he had chosen the weakest kid in the school to befriend.

Other than being the social outcast of Yancy, Percy's life wasn't too bad. He was liked by most of his teachers. He was at the top of his classes. He had a friend other than Piper. He still got to go on the occasional mission and trained whenever he could.

Of course, being bullied wasn't fun, but Percy could put up with it. It was harmless and it didn't get to Percy as much as he knew it would get to anyone else in the school. Nevertheless, he still got angry when she messed with Grover, his only school friend.

Which is why he was currently fuming on the bus to the museum. Nancy had taken to throwing small objects at Grover. Of course, Mrs. Dodds, the chaperone, saw nothing.

Mrs. Dodds hated Percy with a passion and loved Nancy. Percy wasn't sure why Mrs. Dodds hated him, since he had never done anything wrong in her class. He always paid attention and answered her questions correctly. He never insulted her or anything.

Luckily, the other chaperone for the trip was Mr. Brunner. Mr. Brunner was Percy's favorite teacher because he made class interesting. Mr. Brunner also happened to be one of the teachers that liked him. He was in a wheelchair, though Percy always got a weird feeling when he looked at it.

"Here we are!" Mr. Brunner exclaimed as the pulled up in front of the museum. "Alright, everyone off the bus!"

Percy and Grover were the last ones off the bus and followed the class inside the museum.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour, telling them about each exhibit as they passed and occasionally asking questions.

At lunch, Nancy started again and Percy snapped. He pushed her into the fountain and growled, "Leave him alone."

Of course, Mrs. Dodds appeared out of nowhere. After she promised Nancy a souvenir from the museum, she told Percy to follow her and led me inside the museum. At first, he thought she was going to make him buy Nancy something at the gift shop, but she walked right by it.

They finally stopped in one of the exhibits and she turned to Percy. "Tell me where it is," she demanded.

Percy furrowed his brow and tilted his head. "Ma'am?"

"You stole it from us," she said. "Where did you put it?"

Percy frowned, feeling offended. He wasn't a thief. "Ma'am, I don't know what you are talking about. I didn't steal anything."

"Don't lie to me, boy!" she growled. Her body started to shift until she had changed into an actual monster.

Percy's eyes widened and he began analyzing his situation. He was unarmed and, looking at the monster, running would do no good. That left hand-to-hand combat, but Percy wasn't sure he could hold up long against the monster. He would have to use his abilities if it came down to it.

With no other options, he got into a fighting stance and got ready to defend himself. Then, he sensed Mr. Brunner wheeling in and quickly moved into one of those silly defensive positions that civilians do, with his hands outstretched as if it would protect him.

"Percy, catch!" Mr. Brunner yelled.

On instinct, Percy held out his hand and caught the bronze sword Mr. Brunner always had in his classroom. He twirled it as soon as Mr. Brunner was gone, presumably to find help, and smiled at how well balanced it was. When he saw how Mrs. Dodds suddenly looked apprehensive as she eyed the sword, he grinned. "What's wrong? Can this hurt you?"

She growled and swung her whip at Percy. "Where is it?" she demanded. "Where?"

Percy sidestepped, nimbly avoiding the whip and swung the sword, slicing it in half. "Look, Lady, I don't know what you're talking about, but if you want to kill me, you're going to have a hell of a hard time doing it."

She threw the whip to the side and charged.

Percy rolled his eyes and sliced at her with the sword. She burst into gold dust upon contact and the sword in Percy's hand suddenly turned into a ballpoint pen. Percy shook his head, shrugging off the weird pressure on his mind and walked back out.

Mr. Brunner sat calmly in his wheelchair, reading a book and Percy walked over, handing back the pen/sword. "Thanks for letting me borrow your pen, Sir," he said, sending the teacher a convincing smile and opting not to say anything about the sword.

He looked up and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw his student, though it was gone in a second, replaced with a kind smile. "You're very welcome, Percy. Next time, please try to bring your own writing utensil."

"Of course, Sir," Percy said. Then, he walked back over to Grover.

Across the yard, Nancy yelled, "I hope Ms. Kerr gave you detention!"

Percy smirked, rolling with the odd changes, and yelled back, "Does it look like I care, Bobofit?" Looking at Grover, he said, "Definitely got detention, but it was so worth it."

Grover smiled weakly and said, "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I know," Percy said casually.

Grover sighed and the two began talking about other things, such as their plans for the upcoming summer.