Kept Behind Enemy Lines

C H A P T E R T W E L V E

Somewhere far away an eerie song sang out.

"There are no strings on me. There are no strings on me." More voices of the same joined the chorus. Abruptly the voices changed and became one, taking the shape of the children's puppet story boy Pinocchio.

"But you can see there are no strings on me!"

~~~~
Ultron had been through everything. Everything. Tony was in the shit box with Thor for using the sceptre for creating a "murder bot" as Steve so bluntly put it.

"Hey guys, how about we first of all deal with the comatose kid in the hospital wing?" Bruce suggested, breaking up the fight.

"Good idea." Natasha agreed. It certainly wasn't the time for this. One enemy was enough, let alone fractures between the group of mortal heroes themselves.

"Wait... Percy's in a coma?" Clint blinked.

"I never told everyone did I? Well, yes Clint. Percy is in a coma."

~~~~

Poke.

Poke.

Po-

"Clint stop poking Percy's face. It will not make him wake up." Bruce snapped.

"Worth a try." Clint said, shrugging it off.

"Do you know what sent him into a coma?" Steve asked.

"No. It wasn't the removal of the control pad, nor was it Thor's lightning strike. Although, as can be imagined, that wasn't exactly good for him either."

"Could it have been his contact with the sceptre?" Natasha inquired. Everyone was gathered around the seemingly peaceful boy. The image was shattered by knowledge of what lay beneath his clothes and the fact he may not wake up.

The steady blip of a heart monitor slaved away as the conversation continued on. It indicated that Percy was only sleeping. But either he was a ridiculously deep sleeper or he didn't intend upon waking any time soon.

"I don't think so. He knew how to use it." Thor supplied for Bruce.

"But still-"

"It was not the sceptre." Thor declared. Natasha deflated.

"But I assume it was magical. There is literally nothing wrong with him that I can pick up on. That only leaves us with the staff to blame." Bruce argued.

"It's Loki's magic. Who knows what goes on in that whack jobs head. This kid is our informant. But he isn't so useful if he's taking up the role of Sleeping Beauty." Tony stated unhelpfully.

"So we bring Loki down here. We make him fix this." There was silence that could kill and then sudden outrage.

"No."

"Absolutely not."

"Not a hope in hell."

"Why the hell would you even put that option out there!" Everyone had something to say, none of it positive.

Natasha calmed first, seeing the reason. But there were still a shit load of "what if"'s.

"What if he breaks free. Who knows what damage he could do. We already have one villain on our hands. We don't need another."

"I shall talk to Father. He will know what to do."

"No. I refuse to have him here." Tony vehemently rejected the very idea.