The Jackson Enigma

Saved By The Parker

"I don't know, you're the genius, why don't you tell me." Tony was resilient.

"Kid, I know you know. The sooner you get talking, the sooner we can move on." Percy shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm not a doctor. It just is, always has been and probably always will be. What explanation could I possibly give you?" Bruce knew it was a reasonable question, but somehow he knew Percy was withholding information. He got the feeling the others did too. Tony snorted.

"You're not fooling anyone, Jackson, why is half your DNA missing?" Jackson tensed, narrowing his eyes.

"In all honesty, I wouldn't be able to fully explain it to you if I was allowed to, which I'm not." Bruce furrowed his brows, not understanding why Percy couldn't tell them. Who was holding him back?

"Look, kid, now is not the time to play games, answer the question. Stop playing Mr. Mystery and put on your big boy pants." Bruce watched the tick in Tony's jaw as he spoke, saw his irritation, his apprehension, understood it. Whatever the reason for Percy's half missing DNA was, Bruce knew it could only mean something big.

"It's because of my dad." There was silence around the room for a few moments as everyone tried to make sense of what Percy had just said. Bruce's gaze swiveled from Percy and Tony back and forth, and if Bruce had not seen Tony's eye roll, he most certainly would have heard it.

"That's impossible." Percy shrugged his shoulders. Bruce nodded his head in agreement. It was impossible, scientifically impossible. "You can't play the mysterious 'daddy card' every time you want to get out of something, it's getting old. Tell us the truth." Tony took a step forwards and Percy's eyes flashed, him taking a quick two steps backwards. Bruce himself took a step back, not liking what he had briefly seen in Percy's eyes. He looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, only to find Clint and Natasha shooting glances at each other.

"Tony," Steve stepped forwards, resting a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Calm down, you're getting a little aggressive."

"Yeah? Maybe that's what this kid needs," he muttered under his breath. Regardless, he took a step back. Steve gave Tony one last glance before he returned his attention to Percy. For a while he just looked at him and Bruce had never wanted to know what was going on in someone's head as he did Percy's right now. Bruce was not a psychological doctor, heck, he was barely even a medical one— a fact that the members of his team persistently choose to ignore. However, it didn't take him being a genius to know that the scars on Percy's body indicated physical trauma, and that physical trauma often led to mental and psychological trauma.

Tony hadn't seen the scars in those photos, hadn't seen what Jackson refused to show to the others. Those scars held secrets, they held pain. They told stories and were landmarks of a life Bruce wasn't sure he wanted to know. They were moments and memories, each a sliver of time. Some were small and Bruce imagined not very important and forgotten. Others were so gruesome looking, Bruce doubted Percy could ever forget how he got them. Those scars were questions and answers, tales that wanted to be heard but not told. The doctor had no doubt that Jackson had more than just physical scars. So when Tony in his hot headed, aggressive manner advanced and Percy's eyes flashed, Bruce saw two things in his eyes. One bad, and one good. What they were, Bruce couldn't discern, and to be honest, he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Percy," Bruce's attention shifted back to the matter at hand. "I know you may not trust us yet because you don't know us, but we don't exactly trust you either. We're going to be working as a team and this team will fall apart without trust. Since you came here, all you've been doing is keeping secrets from us, we can't come to trust you if you're going to act so suspicious. We need to work together in order for this to work. That means you need to start answering some questions and Tony needs to stop letting his temper get the best of him." Tony snorted at that. "Now, I'm not going to act like I'm perfectly fine, because I'm not. You make me uneasy and that's going to have to change, and it's going to take effort from both our sides. Why don't you start by answering Tony's question?" Jackson's shoulders relaxed and he sighed.