Always The Prey (PART 3)

Chapter 7: It's All An Act

Natasha Romanoff POV

These were just children.

That's all that I could think of when Shield's soldiers raided the camp.

These were just children.

The kids put up a good fight, I could tell you that much. They fought and kicked as hard as they could. They just were no match for the technology that we had. Their demigod weapons couldn't hurt us, but our bullets and tranqs could.

The children were hoarded into trucks like animals. Their hands zip tied behind their backs and silenced with a blow. Percy and Annabeth, the two people I have slowly let into my circle and became my friend, were put into different trucks because SHIELD could tell they were the leaders, even without us, the Avengers, snitching.

What does fear make us do?

These were children, regardless of their powers. They have done no harm to us as of now. But the second thing goes haywire and we find out about their world, we're knocking on their front door, beating them up, and locking them in cages.

The trip back to SHIELD was silent. I was in the truck that was driving Percy and Annabeth. From the little window that allowed the passenger in the front to see the back, I saw the two demigods sprawled on the floor. Percy had multiple gunshot wounds and was bleeding profusely. Annabeth, whose hands were tied behind her back, struggled to help and provide comfort. They couldn't even put pressure on the wounds.

"The boy is injured," I hissed to the agent next to me. Agent Harrison just rolled his eyes.

"What are you even concerned about? These things, whatever they are, have sent monsters to kill us. He can sit around like that."

I was fuming inside and I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw hurt, but I needed to stop myself from retorting back.

I'm a spy. It's what I do. So I need to act like I don't care about Percy and Annabeth so that I can find information and help them.

Percy soon lost consciousness and Annabeth was screaming and yelling from the back. I told Harrison to stop the truck and I hopped out of the front and opened the back door.

"You monsters! You need to help him! Please! Wha—" Annabeth started screaming, her eyes blurred with tears, until I stopped her with a sharp slap.

Her face snapped over to the side, her body barely shuddering despite the force of the blow, and she looked at me dead in the eye.

Now, Annabeth was smart.

She made no sign of recognition when she saw me, but I'm fairly certain she understood my role in all of this. After all, they told the message to Tony who relayed it back to us.

The Avengers are on their side.

Even if SHIELD is not.

Back at headquarters, the children were all put into cells, three kids per cell. Percy and Annabeth were placed into their own separate ones, which caused looks of nervousness to roll around the kids, but none spoke out.

"Detainees," a voice spoke out from the overhead speakers. "You will be kept here for the unforeseeable future. Your existence poses a threat to the human race. Until we learn enough about you and your kind, you will be held here. I suggest you remain cooperative."

"WE'RE HUMANS TOO!" Percy shouted, shoving his entire body weight against the bars of his cage. "WE'RE HUMANS T—"

Suddenly the collar that was placed around all of their necks delivered a shock and Percy's passionate speech was cut off with him convulsing and writhing from the pain of the shock. Cries of protest rang out around the room.