Hero's Journey (A Percy Jackson X Young Justice Crossover)

chapter 7

Watchtower
September 5th, 22:16

Whole league gathered. Every member was present in person. They've already managed to deal with main fallout of the covert operation. Doctor's Sandsmark testimony was huge help and also caused in-detail investigation of Bialya by the UN. As of now, there was another problem: Neptune. This matter caused way more stir. After reading the raport on the whole event, League divided into two camps. One supported his actions and stood up for him. The other agreed with Batman and stated that killing is wrong no matter what. Previous meeting ended prematurely when they were called to natural crisis on Cuba. Now that this was all sorted, they could return to their debate.

"This is outrageous. He saved that woman!" John Stuart protested. "We cannot punish him for stopping execution."

"He killed Psimon. That's not how it works and you know it. He crossed the line." Superman protested.

"And so did I back in my army days." Protested Captain Atom.

"That was different. You had no choice. He could do something." Batman countered.

"He acted on instincts. You know his history. He is war veteran. He had to kill to survive. He fought for his life for six years." Wonder Woman justified.

"Exactly our point." Flash interrupted her. "He is not fit to be a hero."

"Let me finish. He is trained to kill, but he only resorts to it as last solution, when he knows that everything else is futile." Diana ended.

"That is not excuse. John is also trained soldier, but he don't kill." Captain marvel interjected.

"It's been years since I left the military. He came here straight after war. After I returned I had rehabilitation, I had help. What did we really give him? More military training, and then sent him on mission. It was wrong. We made a mistake. We pushed him into this life, only to withdraw our support. He is now alone God knows where."

"It was his choice to become a hero." Batman said in emotionless voice. Deep down he felt some regret, but he wouldn't admit it. He was still right in his mind. Percy crossed the line and instead of apologizing or showing remorse, he defended his actions.

"Oh really?" Aquaman sent Bat an irritated glare. "Forgive me, but I disagree. He did not look for trouble. We brought him to public attention and placed a target on his back. If we let him go, he would settle down and live a simple life. And even after we captured him, you didn't give him any real choice. You practically coerced him into fighting your battle. He wanted to join the league. He aspired to be like us. Instead, you put him into your 'secret team'." Aquaman raged at batman. Everyone (including himself) were surprised by this. Orin was actually one of three people who knew fully well about Percy's past (other two being Batman and Wonder Woman). At first he thought of him as some weirdo, then as a pretender to his throne, but after he learned full story he felt sympathy toward the kid. His visit in Atlantis only confirmed it. He didn't want spotlight. He did what was right and cared for people. During the attack he rushed head on to save others. Percy was a hero like no other in this world.

Batman wanted to say something, but decided to stay silent. Instead, Hawkwoman spoke. "What happened can't unhappen. We should focus on what to do next. Right now he is missing and we have no idea where to look for him."

Green Arrow rose his hand. "Actually, I found something on him on dark web. It's not good." He pressed some buttons and an article on Perseus appeared. It contained everything League had on him in their files and a bounty: 10 000 000 US$. "I think we have a big problem."

Washington DC
September 6th, 12:36

Percy arrived at the airport two hours ago. After examining the phone Luthor gave him he came to conclusion that this is some custom-made model. Of course he run it through every anti-malware program he could find, but he somehow doubted if it was bugged normal software would find anything. Luthor was smart. Percy had to give it to him that at least he was honest. This phone was equipped with tons of useful apps and contacts. Percy already set up a meeting with investment agency to do something with his money. He also booked a first-class flight to Jump City, California. This city was quite big, but did not have any superhero on it's own. Because of close proximity to Star City and Coast City, Green Arrow or Green Lantern usually dealt with major super criminals, eventually other leaguers took care of it, but they had no superhero on their own. Percy decided to operate from there. He found a list of major cities with superheroes 'assigned' to them. some people really need to get themselves a life. On the list there was also list of major cities with high annual crime rate. Percy analyzed it and after carefully taking everything into consideration he decided that Jump City was best for him. It had also two major benefits when compared to other cities on the list. It was right next to ocean, which doesn't need to be explain. The other pro was that since it was west coast, it meant that Batman was as far away as possible. No Dark Knight next door. Green Arrow and Green Lantern were both cool as far as their short-spanned relation went.