Broken (PJO/Avengers) (Complete)

Chapter 3

The boy went to a graveyard at midday. Somehow, it seemed shielded from the Avenger's eyes until he went into it.

Natasha shifted. Perseus had broken down crying at the girl's grave. Thor looked shocked and upset, as if someone had broken his toy.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth," he whispered. "It's my fault. If I had been a bit faster..."

The boy seemed to compose himself quietly. "I've been through so much with you. Do you remember that one time where you told me that humans once had two heads and four arms, but Zeus split them apart because they were too powerful, and ever since that they have been looking for their other half?

You were my other half. You made me complete."

Perseus broke down and cried. "I-I-I m-m-mi-isss you s*hiccup*o much."

That was actually kind of sweet.

Natasha wondered why they were hunting the boy if he was so broken.

After a while, Perseus got up and walked casually to a deserted beach.

The Avengers hid in the trees cautiously. The boy stared out over the water lost in thought. I was getting ready to signal Clint to shoot him when Perseus said quietly, "If you're here to kill me, please hurry up. If you're here to mess around with my life, especially the god, please just leave me alone."

What??!! How did he sense us? More importantly, how did he know Thor was a god?

Natasha had to admit that the 'If you're here to kill me, hurry up,' part unsettled her slightly. What kind of kid would have been through so much they had a death wish?

Captain America signaled all the Avengers except Clint to approach the terrorist. "We have come to bring you in."

The boy turned around to face us. He looked older than in the picture, and his eyes seemed very soulless. No, not soulless, shattered. Broken a thousand times over. "Who are you, and what do you mean, bring me in?"

Natasha scowled at the boy, and his fake innocence. "We're the Avengers, and we're here to arrest you for being a terrorist."

Out of all the reactions the boy could've had, Natasha was not expecting him to laugh humorlessly and kick at the ocean. "A terrorist," he murmured brokenly. "So that's what the Fates have punished me with now."

Perseus cocked his head at the Avengers. Natasha was surprised that he was not afraid or shocked.

"The Avengers," he thought out loud. "I've heard of you from somewhere..." he trailed off, contemplating. I gaped at him. He didn't know who the Avengers were!

"Boy, have you been living under a rock?" I scowled.

He flinched. "Yes, something like that..." he drifted off again. "I know where I've heard of you! You're those people who defeated some alien invasion. Piper told me about you!" He flinched at the last name.

"So, boy," Steve said. "Come peacefully."

The boy stood up, backing into the surf slightly. "I'm not a boy," he scowled through gritted teeth. "And what if I don't 'come peacefully'?"

Tony scowled. "Kid, you face the consequences! We are the Avengers!"

Perseus laughed joylessly again. "What would those be?"

By now, all of the Avengers were gaping at the boy. He wasn't scared of us at all!

Clint, from his position in the tree, shot his tranquilizer arrow at the boy's arm.

"Great!" Natasha grinned.

"Ummmm.... Captain?" Bruce said, "Perseus caught the arrow."

What?? Natasha turned to the boy, open-mouthed. He held the arrow in his hand, examining it.

"That's not very nice," he tsked.

Natasha lost it. She pulled out a gun and shot him as Captain America threw his shield, Ironman shot light at him, and Thor reluctantly threw his hammer at him.

The boy dodged her bullets, and caught Captain America's shield, throwing it back at him with such force that it knocked Steve to the ground.

As for Thor's hammer, he simply caught it! Caught it! Thor looked at him, surprised. "I knew you were strong, young hero, but not that strong."

The boy looked at him. "What do you mean? It's a hammer."

Tasha gaped at him. "Only those who are worthy can lift the hammer!"

He shrugged and threw it at Tony, who was getting ready to blast Perseus again. It hit him in the stomach, and he flew back, ramming into a tree with a sickening crunch.

Perseus seemed to have a quick zone out. Natasha used that to her advantage to leap at him, swinging my fist out.

He grabbed it and judo flipped her! Judo flipped! She temporarily lost conscious for a moment. When she looked back up he had retreated deeper into the surf, swaying.

"Annabeth!" he called, his voice broken, and fainted. Wasn't Annabeth the name of the girl who's grave he was visiting? Why would he call out her name?

I stepped toward the boy to retrieve him, but a new man stepped in my way. He had a Bermuda shirt and khaki cut offs on. He held a trident that even Natasha could feel the power radiating off.

"Who are you, and what do you want with my son?" he demanded. Natasha swallowed.

"Sir, we want your son on account of being a possible terrorist," Steve said, having recovered from his own shield.

The man frowned at him. "An Avenger," he said distastefully. "The World's Mightiest Heroes. Sorry to break it to you, I knew a lot of people who are better heroes than you."

Natasha was furious. Better heroes? They saved the world from aliens and Thor's own brother. The god was fighting family.

Thor, on the other hand, was cowering slightly.

"Lord Poseidon," he said respectfully, and Natasha gaped at him. Lord? "His trials look like terrorism and sabotage to the mortals."

The man nodded reluctantly. "I remember that incident with Echidna and the St. Louis Arch. What will you do with him?" Echidna? Who's that?

Thor swallowed. "That is up to Director Fury."

The man looked down at his son as the boy let out an ear piercing scream that rattled Natasha's bones. It was horrible. A sound of pure pain and torture.

Thor and the man Poseidon or whoever he was flinched. "My poor son," the man whispered. He glared at us. "Take care of him. He has suffered much and lost many." With that, he disappeared in a soft spray of water.

"What was that?" Clint demanded of Thor.

"The boy's father. Now, are we going to take the young hero or not?"